L ynne Drexler’s The Concert is a vivacious early work produced in the late 1950s when the artist was coming of age as a well-regarded member of the New York School group of post-war Abstract Expressionists. It was during this period that Drexler developed her characteristic exuberant brushstrokes and vibrant colour palette that has garnered acclaim in recent years, synthesising Post-Impressionist landscape painting with post-war painterly abstraction. The current work, with its distinctive and sophisticated array of rich reds and oranges punctuated by bright pinks and greens, is a prime example of Drexler’s eloquent technique and ambitious use of colour. Indeed, executed in 1959, The Concert is a rare early work of museum-quality and is one of the largest paintings to be created before 1960 by the artist. Shimmering with vibrancy, The Concert demonstrates Drexler’s comprehensive style that was largely overlooked by her contemporaries, who failed to see her defiant and extraordinary talent that has now finally been recognised.

Born and raised in Virginia in 1928 as the daughter of a distinguished Southern family, Drexler moved to New York City in the late 1950s. Mixing with the city’s community of avant-garde artists and living in the Chelsea Hotel, it is here that she began to establish her distinctive style of crisp, colourful brushwork. Under the tutelage of first-generation Absract Expressionist’s Robert Motherwell and Hans Hofmann, prominent figures in the New York School, Drexler took up painting full t.mes . Informed by Hofmann’s colour and spatial theories, Drexler’s early work is underlined by a formal approach to abstraction, with her small-scale painting relying on vivid colours and gestural, swatch-like shapes to animate the canvas. His influence was fundamental to her employment of color as a formal device, building composition through various tones and textures. The iconic patchworks Drexler produced in this period, lush with colour and dynamism, recall the stylistic modalities of Vincent Van Gogh and Gustav Klimt. Yet.mes ntioning these influences in no way diminishes the individuality of Drexler’s oeuvre and signature euphonious style, which culminated in her first solo show at Tanager Gallery, New York in 1961.

The relationship between music and colour was at the emotional centre of much of Drexler’s work, with the application of rhythm and tonality to colour and composition in full display in The Concert. The scalar approach to painting promoted by Hofmann would have a profound impact on Drexler, who had developed a deep-felt love of music at a young age, particularly opera and symphony. Drexler would religiously attend opera during this period, often three t.mes s a week. Bringing with her colored pencils and a sketchbook, Drexler would draw in her seat while the music played before returning to her studio, abstracting forms and shapes that she felt expressed the way the sounds affected her. Hofmann’s theory that each colour had a specific rhythm or “rhythmatic development” that affected how colour scales spread over a composition clearly resonated with Drexler (Hans Hofmann, quoted in William C. Seitz, Hans Hofmann, Museum of Modern Art, New York 1963, p. 28). The densely layered and energetically coloured composition seen in these early works, made up of Metricas lly applied swirls, stabs and geometric shapes, form spectacular eruptions on the canvas. In the present work Drexler knits her love of music across the canvas to create a rich tapestry of rhythmic technicolor. This translation of sound onto canvas is characteristic of much of Drexler’s work throughout her life, as seen for example in Red Concerta from 1961.

Despite Drexler’s distinctive and jubilant style and extensive body of work, few had a sense of the depth of her oeuvre, and it was not until the artist’s death in 1999 that the magnitude of her work was truly discovered. Often overlooked by the New York establishment, Drexler is now part of a generation of female artist being written back into the artistic canon. Finally recognised, Drexler’s work is now housed in the permanent collects ions of several prominent institutions including the Portland Museum of Art, Maine; the Monhegan Museum, Maine; and Museum of Modern Art, New York.

這 幅生機盎然、活潑斑斕的油畫作於1950年代，屬於琳恩・德雷克斯勒的早期作品。當時，二戰的硝煙剛剛散盡，領軍抽象表現主義的紐約畫派崛起，作為團體一員的德雷克斯勒亦逐漸嶄露頭角。她在這段時期糅合後印象派風景畫和戰後的抽象畫風，慢慢摸索出豐殷繁茂的筆觸和明亮絢麗的用色，而這兩者正是她的作品在近年備受青睞的重要因素。本作凸顯了她的純熟技法和奔放用色，畫面上灑滿腴潤的紅色和橘色，鮮粉紅和深淺有致的綠從中突圍而出。此畫創作於1959年，是一幅罕見的德雷克斯勒早期傑作，也是她在1960年之前所畫的巨幅作品之一。它充分展示了德雷克斯勒的獨特風格，雖然很多與她同時代的藝術家曾一度對之不以為然，但他們始料不及的是，時至今日，這種歷久彌醇的雋永風格終於得到世人欣賞。

德雷克斯勒在1928年生於維珍尼亞州的一個美國南部世家，她在出生地長大，直至1950年代末才搬到紐約市。她入住雀兒喜酒店，與城中的前衛藝術家群體打成一片，並且在耳濡目染之下逐漸發展出乾淨俐落、色彩繽紛的筆法。在羅伯特・馬瑟韋爾和漢斯・霍夫曼等來自紐約畫派的初代抽象表現主義藝術家的指導下，德雷克斯勒把所有時間都用來畫畫。她深受霍夫曼的顏色及空間理論影響，因此最早期的作品具有非常強烈的形體抽象風格：她經常在小型畫作中透過生動的色彩和筆觸、以及狀似布樣般的細小方塊，為畫面增添活力。霍夫曼的理論啟發了她以顏色表達形體、借助不同色調和顏料肌理來構圖的做法。這個時期，她筆下的色塊多彩而且充滿動態，令人不禁想起梵谷和克林姆的慣用技巧。然而，即使把藝壇前輩的名字羅列出來，亦絲毫不減德雷克斯勒的獨特之處，她的作品依然個性十足，艷麗而且賞心悅目。1961年，她終於在紐約的譚納傑畫廊（Tanager Gallery）舉辦了人生第一次個展。

音樂與色彩的關係是琳恩・德雷克斯勒創作的情感核心，在本作中，色彩及構圖的韻律和調性表現得淋漓盡致，反映了霍夫曼在繪畫上講求體量和深度的主張對她影響深刻。而德雷克斯勒本身從小就熱愛音樂，尤其是歌劇和交響樂。她會每星期三次，風雨不改地觀看歌劇演出，同時隨身帶備彩色鉛筆和速寫簿，在座位上隨著音樂作畫，然後回到工作室，改以抽象的形態和形狀，表達受到音樂觸動的心聲。霍夫曼認為，每種顏色都有特定的韻律，他稱之為「韻律的醞釀」，而這種特質決定了顏色在畫面上的分佈（漢斯・霍夫曼，引述自威廉・C・塞茲著《漢斯・霍夫曼》，紐約現代藝術博物館，1963年，頁28）。霍夫曼的觀點無疑引起了德雷克斯勒的共鳴，在她的早期作品中，富含韻律的曲線、戳點和幾何形狀組成了層次豐富的彩色畫面，有如湧泉般在畫布上噴薄而出。她在本作中運用了同樣的手法，以絢爛奪目的色彩編織出一地自帶音韻的花團錦簇，傾訴著自己對音樂的深情。把聲音化成圖像的概念貫穿了德雷克斯勒的創作生涯，1961的《紅色音樂會》可謂箇中典範。

德雷克斯勒畢生創作頗豐，作品中處處流露出歡欣喜悅之情，不過在她生前，並沒有多少人能夠理解其作品的深度，直到她在1999年離世，人們才開始發現箇中的深厚內涵。她長期遭到紐約的主流藝術界冷待，如今則以一代女性藝術翹楚的身份，被重新載入史冊。德雷克斯勒的作品已獲不少重要機構永久典藏，例如紐約現代藝術博物館、緬因州的波特蘭藝術博物館及蒙黑根博物館等。