Between Land and Sea: Artists of the Coenties Slip brings together examples of the early work of Chryssa, Robert Indiana, Ellsworth Kelly, Agnes Martin, Lenore Tawney, and Jack Youngerman. These artists were among a group of intellectuals, writers, filmmakers, and poets who lived and worked during the late 1950s and early 1960s in the old seaport at the lower tip of Manhattan called the Coenties Slip. Distinguished by its views of the Brooklyn Bridge and its position between land and sea, the slip served as an important inspiration for the artists, who frequently incorporated aquatic themes into their early work.
The exhibition will feature 27 aesthetically distinct works, united by the artists’ desire to locate new ways of thinking about abstraction. Curated by Michelle White, the exhibition draws heavily from the Menil’s holdings and is augmented by important loans from private collections in Houston and the Lenore Tawney Foundation, New York.