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EXHIBITION: William Wolff - The Invisible City

Saturday, September 15th, 1.00 pm-3.00 pm
Market Street Gallery: 1554 Market St., SF Map

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RECEPTION: Thursday, July 12, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. William Wolff, (1922-2004), was an artist who inspired other artists. Among his many bold, modernist works he created a series of woodblock prints called The Invisible City. These prints emphasized the unity of those living under the oppressive weight of an industrial sky. In these prints the dominating geometry of the sky is counter-balanced by the human interaction of the characters. For Wolff the Invisible City came to signify the unity of creative souls across time and space.

Following in this spirit Warnock Fine Arts presents the works of William Wolff alongside several artists who made up his community. From an early age William Wolff was living in the invisible city of artistic interaction. He went to high school with Richard Diebenkorn, as well as his lifelong friend and studio mate, painter James Weeks. In 1950 when Max Beckmann came to Mills College to teach for the summer, William Wolff was among the students.

From the 1960s on Wolff focused on printmaking, especially woodcut prints. His circle of artist friends from this period is made up primarily of printmakers such as Roy Ragle, Gordon Cook, Anthony Ryan, Art Hazelwood, Richard Correll, and Stanley Koppel. These artists each represent very different techniques and were active over a long span of time. However, the conversation that took place between these artists is the essence of the Invisible City.

The prints by William Wolff in this exhibition include examples of his mythological woodcuts, in which he brought a modernist esthetic to literary themes. From Ancient Greek and Biblical narratives to twentieth century literature, Wolff explored the human experience in prints that are bold, simplified and direct. Following a tradition linked to Fernand Leger, Diego Rivera and Max Beckmann, Wolff saw the human figure as the center of his art and yet turned that figure into a form of universal expression. His work differs from the Bay Area Figurative approach to abstracted figures. Wolff’s people are bold and clear cut but they are also universal symbols existing in a fundamentally mythological state.