Balcomb Greene

1904–1990

Wikipedia entry

Introduction

Balcomb Greene (1904–1990) was an American artist and teacher. He and his wife, artist Gertrude Glass Greene, were heavily involved in political activism to promote mainstream acceptance of abstract art and were founding members of the American Abstract Artists organization. His early style was completely non-objective. Juan Gris and Piet Mondrian as well as Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse influenced his early style. From the 1940s his work "opened out to the light and space of natural form." He painted landscapes and figure. "He discerned the pain of a man, and hewed to it integrally from beginning to end…. In his study of the figure he did not stress anatomical shape but rather its intuitive, often conflicting spirit."

Balcomb Greene contributed to modernist cause through his writings: "It is actually the artist, and only he, who is equipped for approaching the individual directly. The abstract artist can approach man through the most immediate of aesthetic experiences, touching below consciousness and the veneer of attitudes, contacting the whole ego rather than the ego on the defensive."

Wikidata identifier

Q4850256

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Information from Wikipedia, made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License . Accessed May 26, 2025.

Getty record

Country of birth

United States

Roles

Artist, editor, painter, teacher, writer

ULAN identifier

500022015

Names

Balcomb Greene, Balcomb Green, Balcomb John Wesley Greene

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Information from the Getty Research Institute's Union List of Artist Names ® (ULAN), made available under the ODC Attribution License. Accessed May 26, 2025.

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First acquired
1946

Date of birth
May 22, 1904

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artists/523