Jack Tworkov's work from 1955 to 1979 : the synthesis of choice and chance

Abstract

Jack Tworkov began painting in the 1920s and made his reputation later as an Abstract Expressionist working in a gestural style. At the age of sixty-five Tworkov put that reputation on the line by undergoing a radical transformation in style and, within a few years, emerged as one of the innovative geometric painters of the later 1960s and the 1970s. This dissertation focuses on works from 1955, when Tworkov began to paint wholly idiosyncratic canvases, to 1979, at which time he significantly changed his brushstroke, a stylistic element that functions as a thread throughout this period. Other binding concepts include a continuing attempt to reconcile painterliness and spontaneity with premeditated structure and the combination of choice and chance in generating new ideas and compositions . This dissertation attempts to provide a complete analysis of this specific portion of Tworkov's work, which has never been done, and to avail the reader of a significant collection of artist's statements drawn from a variety of sources including Tworkov's own diary notes, the art historical literature , and personal interviews with the author. The analysis of the works is contextual, within the frame work of Tworkov's career itself, and proceeds stylistically rather than chronologically, identifying, explaining, and pursuing trends in Tworkov's works over an extended period of time. Iconographic analyses are provided where most appropriate and where most illustrative Tworkov's relationship to other artists has been discussed. The work from 1955 to 1979 has been divided into three major segments: Transitional Works, including the Painterly Abstractions and the Fields; the Structural/Geometric Works, subdivided into early geometric canvases, further experiments with geometry, and the Bisections; and the System Works, including both the Knight Moves and the Three-Five-Eight series.