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Peter Saul New China #1, 1965

Peter Saul
New China #1

1965
Colored pencils on paper
40 x 48 inches
PSd 34

Peter Saul  Portrait of a Man, c. 1957

Peter Saul

Portrait of a Man

c. 1957

Chalk on velor paper

12 x 10 inches

PSd 159
 

Peter Saul  Woman in Green Shirt, c. 1957

Peter Saul

Woman in Green Shirt

c. 1957

Chalk on velor paper

9 x 9 1/4 inches

PSd 155

 

Peter Saul  Lampshade with Polka Dots, c.1957

Peter Saul

Lampshade with Polka Dots

c.1957

Chalk on velor paper

20 x 17 inches

PSd 148

 

Peter Saul Pimples, 1960

Peter Saul
Pimples

1960
Crayon and collage on paper
21 1/2 x 21 1/4 inches
PSd103 

Peter Saul Untitled, 1960

Peter Saul
Untitled

1960
Crayon, pencil on paper
9 3/4 x 12 1/2 inches
PSd 207

Peter Saul, Study for 'Valda Sherman', 1961

Peter Saul
Study for 'Valda Sherman'

1961
Pastel, marker, ink on paper
8 x 6 inches
PSd107 

Peter Saul, Gun Moll 1961

Peter Saul
Gun Moll

1961

Oil on canvas
55 x 43 inches
PSp 131

Peter Saul, Icebox #3, 1961

Peter Saul

Icebox #3

1961

Oil on canvas

69 x 58 1/2 inches

PSp 97

Peter Saul, Untitled (Mad), 1962

Peter Saul
Untitled (Mad)

1962
Ink, collage on paper
27 1/2 x 33 1/4 inches
PSd 210

Peter Saul, Untitled (Kutty Sark), c.1963

Peter Saul
Untitled (Kutty Sark)

c.1963
Ink on paper
10 x 11 1/8 inches
PSd 110

Peter Saul, Untitled (Barbara Rose), c. 1963

Peter Saul
Untitled (Barbara Rose)

c. 1963
Ink on paper
8 1/2 x 11 1/2 inches
PSd 112

Peter Saul, Untitled (Ha, Ha!), c.1963

Peter Saul
Untitled (Ha, Ha!)

c.1963
Ink on paper
6 3/4 x 9 1/4 inches
PSd 114

Untitled (Superman)

Peter Saul

Untitled (Superman)

1963

Crayon and marker on paper

27 1/4 x 31 1/2 inches

PSd 216

Toobs

Peter Saul

Toobs

1963

Crayon, marker on paper

27 1/2 x 24 inches

PSd 99

Untitled (Log/Ham)

Peter Saul
Untitled (Log/Ham)

1964
Pastel, ink on paper
28 x 33 3/4 inches
PSd102 

GI on the Cross

Peter Saul
GI on the Cross

1967
Color lithograph on paper
24 x 18 inches
Edition of 25
PSr 20
 

I Torture Commy Virgins

Peter Saul

I Torture Commy Virgins

1967

Oil on canvas

68 x 72 inches

PSp 126

Courtesy the Hall Foundation

Amboosh

Peter Saul
Amboosh

1975
Color lithograph
30 x 40 inches

Edition of 50
PSr 02

Press Release

During January and February the George Adams Gallery, New York will present an exhibition of paintings and drawings by Peter Saul at CB1-G in Los Angeles. The exhibition will feature 20 works made between 1957 and 1967 covering his development as an artist from the late 1950s through his transition from Pop in the early 1960’s to a politically engaged, topical artist whose works tackled the most pressing issues of the day in the later half of the decade.

 

Having spent most of the early 1960’s working in Paris, Saul claimed to have been largely unaware of the Pop Art movement, unfamiliar with the artists most typically associated with it. But critics reviewing his first exhibitions in New York and Chicago recognized him as a Pop artist though without the cool detachment preferred by most of Pop’s other practitioners.  As Ellen Johnson pointed wrote in her 1964 catalogue essay: “Where Lichtenstein appears to be amused and Warhol indifferent, Saul is angry…” And indeed he was – increasingly so.

 

Returning to the San Francisco Bay Area from Paris in late 1964, Saul’s work noticeably shifted to images of war, gradually displacing images from comics and the like. Soon his work was dominated by the war in Vietnam and topical social issues, such as civil rights. Increasingly Saul was dismissed by some critics as a ‘political’ artist, which only encouraged him, believing as he did that if what he was doing provoked the ‘tastemakers’ then he must be on the right track. As the artist wrote in 1967, “Now I think I have…paintings that could prohibit a sophisticated response. Not just because of ‘obscenity,’ which is prevalent, but because it is coupled with politics. I am polarizing things, want to see good and bad.”

 

The exhibition begins chronologically with a group of pastels, including a self-portrait. They were made in 1957, while Saul lived in Holland and demonstrate an early interest in distortion and the grotesque. In addition there are several paintings and drawings from the early 60’s dating to Saul’s time in Paris, including Ice Box #3 (1961), Gun Moll (1962), and Untitled (Superman) (1963). Examples of the later more political work include New China a large drawing from 1965, and the politically charged lithograph GI On a Cross and large canvas, I Torture Commy Virgins, both from 1967.

 

“Peter Saul: Pop to Politics” will be on view from January 7th through February 18th at CB1-G. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 11 to 5, Sundays 12 to 4.