William Scharf, Bright Vibrant Pop Art Silkscreen NYC Abstract Expressionist, c.1970

Description

Red Angel, intensely and seductively colored: swooning purples and reds, ecstatic lemon yellows, and black construction paper. Jostling shapes, geometric … more Red Angel, intensely and seductively colored: swooning purples and reds, ecstatic lemon yellows, and black construction paper. Jostling shapes, geometric and biomorphic, lyrical and hard-edged, refuse to resolve neatly Assemblage, a bold strategy to keep viewers unsettled and curious, the reward for which are profuse and luscious details: varied incidents of refinement, suggestive signs, most in a private code, not merely ornamental but integral to the overall message.

William Scharf (born 1927, Media, PA) is an American artist from New York, he teaches at The Art Students League of New York. Painting with acrylics, he was a member of the New York School movement. Often categorized as a late generation Abstract Expressionist, Known for producing paintings with abstract compositions incorporating biomorphic and geometric forms in vivid colors, the artist was influenced by Surrealism, the Color Field painters, and symbolism.
He apprenticed with Mark Rothko and was influenced by his color field paintings. The surrealist painter Arshile Gorky and the Abstract expressionism style found in 1950s New York City also influenced Scharf. His exhibits include San Francisco Art Institute (1969), the Pepperdine University's Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art (2001), and Richard York Gallery in New York City (2004).
In the heyday of Abstract Expressionism, being serious meant following the tenets of the New York School, which required abstract paintings to be spontaneous improvisations, the messier the better. At once hedonistic and disciplined, his brazen paintings are nothing if not promiscuous. The best ones mix the dynamism of gestural abstraction with sensual rhythms of decorative patterning, sometimes souping up the stew with cartoonish symbols and flourishes so ripe they belong in a dandy's fantasies. His exhibits include San Francisco Art Institute (1969), the Pepperdine University's Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art (2001) and Richard York Gallery in New York City (2004).
Scharf's work has been exhibited in a number of galleries, including the Anita Shapolsky Gallery, Meredith Ward Fine Art, and Hollis Taggart Galleries in New York City.
Scharf has been an instructor of art at various institutions including The Art Students League, the San Francisco Art Institute, and the School of Visual Arts in New York. He is a member of the Society of Illustrators and the Artists Equity Association.

EDUCATION
1944-49 The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts — Philadelphia, PA (1948 Cresson Scholar)
1949 The University of Pennsylvania — Philadelphia, PA
1948 The Academie de la Grand Chaumiere — Paris, France
1947 The Barnes Foundation — Merion, PA
1939-41 Samuel Fleisher Memorial School— Philadelphia, PA (also known as Graphic Sketch Club)

TEACHING HISTORY
Instructor: Painting & Drawing
1987-Present Art Students League, New York, NY
1989, 74, 69, 66, 63 San Francisco Institute of Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA
1965-69 he School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
1964 Art Center of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY

Guest Lecturer
1979 Pratt Institute, New York, NY
1974 Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA
1974 California College of Arts and Crafts, San Francisco, CA

Recent Solo Exhibitions:
2005 Meredith Ward Fine Art, New York, NY
2004 Richard York Gallery, New York, NY
2002 P.S.1/MOMA, Queens, NY
2001 The Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art, Malibu, CA
2000-2001 The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC

Selected Group Exhibitions:
2005 National Academy of Design, New York, NY
2005 Peter McPhee Fine Arts, Stone Harbor, NJ
2003 National Academy of Design, New York, NY
2002 Richard York Gallery, New York, NY
2000 Anita Shapolsky Gallery, New York, NY
2000 Emporia State University, Emporia, KS
1999 Denise Bibro Gallery, New York, NY
1998 Colgate University, Hamilton, NY
1998 Germillion Gallery, Houston, TX
1998 Art Students League, New York, NY
1996 Anita Shapolsky Gallery, New York, NY
1995-96Phillips Collection, Washington, DC
1994 David Anderson Gallery, Buffalo, NY
1993 Zimmerli Museum, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
1992 Anita Shapolsky Gallery, New York, NY
1991-92Nat’l Museum of American Art (Smithsonian), Washington, DC
1991 Anita Shapolsky Gallery, New York, NY
1991 American Acad. & Institute of Arts and Letters, New York, NY
1989 American Acad. & Institute of Arts and Letters, New York, NY
1988 Nat’l Museum of American Art (Smithsonian), Washington, DC
1982 Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
1980 Hirschl-Adler Gallery, New York, NY
1980 Summit Art Center, Summit, NJ
1978 Smith-Anderson Gallery, Palo Alto, CA
1978 E. P. Gurewitsch Gallery, New York, NY
1977 Summit Art Center, Summit, NJ
1976 Galerie Alexandra Monett, Brussels, Belgium
1976 Les Ateliers Du Grand Hornu Galerie D'Art, Brussels, Belgium
1974 San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
1973 Martha Jackson Gallery, New York, NY
1970 San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
1963 Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
1963 American Gallery, New York, NY
1963 Aldrich Museum, Ridgefield, CT
1963 The New Arts Gallery, Atlanta, GA
1962 American Gallery, New York, NY
1962 University of Illinois Annual, Urbana, IL
1962 The Vanderlip Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1959 Charleston Gallery of Art, Charleston, WV
1959 The National Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
1959 Reynolda House, Winston-Salem, NC
1958-59 American Fed. of Art, "New Talent", Travelling Exhibition
1957 Avant Garde Gallery, New York, NY
1958 MOMA, European Travelling Exhibitions, New York, NY
1958 The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA
1958 The Houston Museum of Contemporary Art, Houston, TX
1957 Tanglewood Gallery, Stockbridge, MA
1956 Poindexter Gallery, New York, NY
1956 Am. Fed. of Art, "Museum Dir. Choice", Travelling Exhibition
1955 Poindexter Gallery, New York, NY
1949 Dubin Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1947-48 Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Annuals, Philadelphia, PA
1946 The Philadelphia Art Alliance, Philadelphia, PA
1946 The Philadelphia Print Club, Philadelphia, PA

Selected Collections:
Boston Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
Carnegie Corporation of New York, New York, NY
Fogg Museum, Harvard university, Cambridge, MA
Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
National Academy of Design Museum, New York, NY
Nat’l Museum of American Art (Smithsonian), Washington, DC
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Phillips Collection, Washington, DC
Rockefeller University, New York, NY
Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
The High Museum, Atlanta, GA
The School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI
University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT less