20 | 21 Art  25 March 2020

The Visionary Eye of Allan Stone
Allan Stone; Allan Stone Gallery, New York, c. 1975. Images courtesy of the Allan Stone Collection


Founded in 1960 by art dealer Allan Stone (1932–2006), the New York gallery known today as Allan Stone Projects has been admired for over half a century. Celebrated for its eclectic approach and early advocacy of pivotal artists of the 20th century, Allan Stone Gallery was a leading authority on Abstract Expressionism, the New York dealer for Wayne Thiebaud for over forty years, and showed the works of Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, Arshile Gorky, Joseph Cornell, John Graham and John Chamberlain. Stone also promoted the work of a younger generation of artists that were in conversation with other artists in his collection, working in the mediums of assemblage, collage and new modes of abstraction. In addition to modern masterworks and contemporary art, Allan Stone also collected and exhibited international folk art, Americana and important decorative arts and industrial design.

John Vickery 1906–1983

John Vickery developed his paintings in the same spirit of other Op artists of his generation, using a deep understanding of color theory and composition to create works works that vibrate, heightening the viewer's sensory perceptions and deepening the process of looking at art. Born in Australia in 1906, Vickery lived in New York during the 1950s and worked alongside some of the great Abstract Expressionists of the era, such as Joan Mitchell and Willem de Kooning. He eventually broke away from this style to pursue Op Art, trading the visceral mark of expressionism for a more minimalist approach, valuing form over content and the eye above all else. His work is held in notable institutions such as the National Gallery of Australia, the National Gallery of Victoria, the New Jersey State Museum, Trenton and the Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, among others. Vickery passed awway in 1983.

Auction Results John Vickery

JOHN VICKERY, Untitled | ragoarts.com

John Vickery

Untitled

estimate: $600–800
result: $2,432