Janice Biala (French/American, 1903-2000) Provincetown Harbor

Description:

Janice Biala (French/American, 1903-2000)

Provincetown Harbor, 1985
Signed "Biala" l.r. and on the reverse, identified on labels including Gruenebaum
Gallery, New York, affixed to the reverse.
Oil on linen, 59 x 59 in. (149.9 x 149.9 cm),framed.
Condition: Good.

N.B. Janice Biala grew up with her brother, the Abstract Expressionist painter Jack Tworkov, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. In her late teens, after a brief stint at the National Academy of Design, Biala studied in Provincetown, Massachusetts, with Edwin W. Dickinson. Biala returned to New York and remained in Greenwich Village, becoming a part of the local bohemian scene. In the early 1930s, however, Biala moved to Paris on the encouragement and financial support of a patron. She met and married the British writer Ford Maddox Ford, and remained in Paris until the outbreak of World War II. Biala moved back to New York City, and over the next decades, continued to exhibit both locally and in Paris, showing at such galleries as Passedoit, Jeanne Bucher, Bignou, Carstairs, Stable, Gruenebaum, and Kouros. (1)

Biala is best known for her delicate, Tonalist-inspired palette, working in both landscape and figuration. The present work recalls her Provincetown period under Dickinson.

(1) Smith, Roberta, "Biala, 97, Whose Paintings Were Cryptic and Luscious." New York Times. Late Edition, East Coast. New York, New York: October 12, 2000. Pg. A27.


Estimate $10,000-15,000

No additional condition issues to report.

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