Human Narratives2

Gerrie Gutmann (1921 - 1969)She studied at the Stickney Memorial Art School in Pasadena with Lorser Feitelson; otherwise, she was a self-taught artist. Gutmann explored many painting styles, Her divorce from Victor Von Probosic caused a custody battle over their son, and in much of her work, the imagery of childhood and loss is persistent. Her style ranged from the early Flemish masters to the fantastic to the surreal. During the 1950s, when many West coast artists abandoned imagery for abstraction, Gutmann rejected the contemporaneous trend of Bay Area Abstract Expressionism and isolated herself from other painters.

Funambulist

Figure of a Workerd. 1956Casein on Gesso24½" x 17½"ProvenanceStudio of Jean Halpert-Ryden

Figure of a Worker

I purchased this artwork by Victor Duena from Henry Lenoir In the late 1980s when I decided to research all the beat artists of San Francisco. I visited with  Lawrence Feringhetti at City Lights to see a few of his new paintings. Lawrence suggested I visit Henry Lenoir, who lived next door to City Lights in an apartment adjacent to the Vesusio Cafe he established in 1948. He sold me this rare Victor Duena and reminded me not to forget to visit Wally Hedrick. Within a few months, I purchased Wally's most important artwork,  Big Dick (Nixon) for President.

Untitled

Bernice Bing "Velasquez Family" d. 1961, oil on canvas

Velasquez Family

Exhibited 
SFMOMA Solo Exhibition, 1947 
 
Carlson Art Projects Collection 
30 Surrealist works exhibited 
in the 1947 SFMOMA solo exhibitionBorn . Daniel Harris and adopting the name Zev, he studied at the Master's Institute of the Roerich Museum in New York City, the National Academy of Design, and at New York University, where he also taught for two years. 
 
 
 
His artistic talents were discovered by Grace McCann Morley, director of SFMA, in the early 1940s, and she invited him to exhibit in the Abstract & Surrealist Art in America exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Art in 1944. She also gave him a solo exhibition at the museum In 1947 of his surreal drawings. 
 
 
 
While living on the Monterey Coast, he designed the interior of the world-famous Nepenthe restaurant in Big Sur. 
 
 
 
Harris changed his name to ZEV, which means 'wolf' in Hebrew when he moved to Europe in 1953. He first went to Paris, then Spain, where he created huge sculptures for a villa in Spain, and then Rome, where he died in 1987. 
 
​ 
 
Solo Exhibitions 
San Francisco Museum of Art, 1947 
 
Pinacotheca Gallery (Rose Fried Gallery), New York 
 
Furstenberg Gallery, Paris 
 
Arthur Jeffress Gallery, London

Felix Emmanuele Ruvolo (1912 - 1992)Art Professor, Berkeley, Emeritus- "Many former students will, with fondness, remember Felix as a profound teacher and artist who emphasized that subjectivity is truth. With a passion for jazz and its lyrical meaning, Felix instilled in his students a deep and emotive concern for painting and art in general."  One colleague made this observation, and another offered the following, "When Felix was recommended for appointment in 1950, the Art Department faculty voted unanimous approval.  This was amazing as usually much discussion of a candidate's merits ensued, and rarely was there such complete agreement. There was no doubt that Felix Ruvolo's reputation had gone before him."He was born in New York City in 1912 but raised in the home of his grandparents in Sicily where he first studied with an Italian artist. At age 12, he returned to the home of his parents, who soon moved to Chicago.  They were aware of his intense interest in art and had him continue his studies with a local artist and then at the Chicago Art Institute.  By 1938 he was exhibiting regularly and was accorded his first invitation to participate in an American Federation of Ar

Visualization

Lenten Liliesd. 1887Oil on canvas52" x 32"ExhibitedNational Academy of Design1887, Women's DivisionWon the Norman Dodge Prize for the best painting in the United States by a woman artist.

Lenten Lilies

Exhibited 
University Art Museum, Berkeley, CA. 
Solo Joan Brown exhibition. 1974. 
#43 in catalog

Portrait of a Horse

BranstenOil on canvas54" x 75"ProvenanceGumps Gallery label verso

Bransten

Exhibited Pittsburgh International Exhibition of Contemporary 
Painting and Sculpture

Lee - Ester

Exploring the human form amid modernism's figurative revival, this show highlights portraits and figures that capture identity, labor, and personal stories in the Bay Area scene. From Joan Brown's monumental enamel horse as a symbol of introspection to Jean Halpert-Ryden's casein worker evoking social realism, these works foreground women artists and diverse narratives—such as Gerrie Gutmann's surreal explorations of loss and Mary Curtis Richardson's prize-winning florals. Bios reveal intimate connections, like Victor Duena's Beat-era ties via Henry Lenoir, offering collectors a window into the emotional and cultural undercurrents of 1950s–1970s California art.

Human Narratives: Figures and Portraits