is very pleased to announce that the private collection of 68 Twentieth Century American Self Portraits in Prints has been acquired for the permanent collection at the Yale University Art Museum, New Haven, Connecticut.

This fall a selection of 19 or 20 prints from this collection, the Jane N. Haslem Collection of Twentieth-Century American Self-Portrait Prints in memory of Gabor Peterdi, will be installed in one of Yale's rotating galleries. The exhibition runs mid-October well into December 2017.

It is fitting that this body of work belong in the Yale University Art Museum because so many of the portraits included here were done by Yale associates, professors or students. Haslem acquired the self portraits over a period of 40 years with the help and advise of Gabor Peterdi who taught printmaking at Yale.

View the whole collection. Click on the artists' images to read what most wrote about why they made this image. You will also see a picture of the artist, biographical information and a second example of their work.

Judith Seligson is an important Washington DC area artist and the most recent to have her page added on artline. At mid-career she has worked quietly and studiously producing what art critic, Eric Gibson, in 1991 said were paintings that have a jewel like radiance and reflect visual intensity. While Seligson is a graduate of Harvard/Ratcliff, her work reflects the influence of the great colorist, Josef Albers. Seligson had two major exhibitions at Jane Haslem Gallery, Washington DC as well as other venues in New York and Virginia. She looks forward to an exhibition at AH Contemporary, NYC and the publication of her book, GAP.    read more

According to Julian Stanczak, when he had his first show at Martha Jackson Gallery, New York, a critic looked through the window, came in, and after a bit of discussion it was decided that Stanczak’s art should be referred to as "OP" art. The name stuck and the Op Art Movement was born. Stanczak studied at Yale University receiving his BA and MFA. He credited his Yale professor, Josef Albers, for clearing his mind making it possible for original, creative thought. In 1986 Jane Haslem Gallery, Washington DC installed a major exhibition of Stanczak’s paintings.     read more    see video

We ask Washington DC area artist, John Winslow, to discuss how he was influenced by Josef Albers. He replied:
Albers' influence on American art, along with that of others imported from the Bauhaus after WWII, was immense. At Yale he succeeded in conveying to his students the urgency of what it meant to be 'modern.' He basically changing the old Beaux Arts courses necessary for producing 'academic' art to ones which encouraged students to think abstractly, that is, in terns of the formal elements themselves - color, line and design, composition and the textural qualities of paint or sculptural materials. At the same time Albers didn't disparage traditional drawing (he loved Ingre for example) so it was a challenge for someone like me who loved drawing from life to find ways to combine that with abstraction. So while Albers may have helped produce many excellent abstract artists he has also inspired many 'hybrids' like me to never be satisfied until the formal elements themselves were as important as any 'depicted' or lifelike forms.

artline also asked Nan Montgonery about her memories of being an Albers student. She replied:
Josef Albers, who was my teacher at Yale Art School in the late 50's continues to inform the paintings I create today.

Beginning in the Fall of 1957 I was accepted at the Yale School of Art in New Haven Connecticut. Josef Albers was the head of the school and served as a teacher as well as an administrator. I was a painting major, and one of it's most relevant courses offered was his class on color theory. Studies using colored paper as a way to explore the relationship of one color to another or how a color could change it's hue or perception became a fascinating discovery.

Using color as a form of communication in unity with a minimalist aesthetic; intuitively and consciously driven by a credo of Josef Albers, "Less is More", are influences I have embraced as my own.