Southampton - Esteban Vicente: Portrait of the Artist, a gathering of paintings and works on paper from the 1940s through the 1990s, will open February 6, 2011, at the Parrish Art Museum and remain on view through April 10. To provide an insightful look into Vicente's life, work, and creative process, the exhibition will include, in addition to more than 20 works by Vicente, a suite of color photographs made in the artist's studio by photographer Laurie Lambrecht, and a selection of works on paper by his friends and former students. The exhibition is being organized by Alicia Longwell, Ph. D., Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Chief Curator, Art and Education.

An opening reception will take place Saturday, February 5 at 6 p.m., Alicia Longwell will discuss Vicente's life and work with photographer Lambrecht, whose photographs at Vicente's studio are part of the exhibition, and artist Susan Crile, who studied with Vicente when he taught at New York University. A reception with wine and hors d'oeuvres will follow the talk. The talk and reception are free for Parrish members, $10 for nonmembers.

"Untitled" (1950).

Esteban Vicente's death in 2001 at the age of 97 marked the passing of one of the last surviving members of the first generation of New York School painters. Vicente arrived in America in 1936, schooled in the old world academic tradition of his native Spain and fresh from a sojourn in the heady milieu of 1920s Paris. His openness to new influences and new friendships, including those with artists Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, and Mark Rothko, assured his crucial role in the evolution of Abstract-Expressionist discourse in 1940s and 1950s New York. Vicente and his wife Harriet first came to the East End of Long Island in 1963 and a year later bought an old farmhouse on Montauk Highway in Bridgehampton, where they lived for nearly 40 years. The barn in the rear of the property became his studio, and the surrounding garden, which Esteban and his wife cultivated over the years, provided a vital connection to the natural world.

Throughout his lengthy and distinguished career, Vicente remained attuned to the possibilities of experiment and invention, and it is this receptivity that assures his enduring importance. His legacy, as artist and as teacher, his vital role in the artistic community in New York and on the East End, and his lifelong pursuit of a singular vision are seen in the organization of this exhibition into three distinct segments. The exhibition will begin with a highly selective overview of works from Vicente's career, including the Parrish's own core collection, augmented with loans to highlight discrete passages in the artist's oeuvre, from an early oil on newsprint mounted on board (1949) to a large-scale (40 x 50 inches) charcoal on paper from the late 1950s, each displaying the fluidity and expressiveness of his approach; and from the energy and light of the paintings from the 1960s to the mastery of his final works, where a single brushstroke can evoke a summative statement, as in "Countryside" (1999), a lyrical study of the view from the back door of the farmhouse to the garden and studio beyond.

The next gallery will feature a remarkable suite of large-scale color photographs that chronicle a day in the life of the studio, taken in 1993 by Bridgehampton-based photographer Lambrecht. The dozen images document Vicente's studio practice and form a lyrical visual diary of his artistic practice.

Lastly, a selection of some 25 works on paper, by his close artist friends, gallery colleagues, and students, will round out the "Portrait of the Artist" and will include works by James Brooks, Chuck Close, Susan Crile, Robert De Niro, John Graham, Balcomb Greene, Willem de Kooning, Lee Krasner, Ibram Lassaw, Conrad Marca-Relli, Brice Marden, Mercedes Matter, Robert Motherwell, Alfonso Ossorio, Charlotte Park, Ray Parker, Philip Pavia, Jackson Pollock, Dorothea Rockburne, Mark Rothko, and Wilfrid Zogbaum among others.

All works included in the exhibition will be drawn from the holdings of the Parrish Art Museum, the Grey Art Gallery, New York University, and private collections. Concurrently on view at the Grey Art Gallery, New York University, from January 11 through March 26, "Concrete Improvisations: Collages and Sculptures" by Esteban Vicente will serve as the first major American museum exhibition to pair collages and sculptures by Vicente.