Robert Goodnough

Private Collection, New York

Acquired as a gift from the above by the present owner

“I like to work freely, to slash with the brush and let loose. I also like to work carefully and with discipline.” — Robert Goodnough

This apparent contradiction succinctly captures Robert Goodnough’s artistic practice. Described by The New York Times as a “painter who eluded categories,” Goodnough sustained a prolific yet often underrecognized career marked by continual stylistic evolution (William Grimes, "Robert Goodnough, 92, Idiosyncratic Painter," The New York Times, 13 October 2010, p. B19). After moving to New York in the early 1950s, he absorbed the influence of first-generation Abstract Expressionists such as Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, and Jackson Pollock. While he is most closely associated with second-generation Abstract Expressionism, Goodnough also engaged deeply with Cubism and Color Field painting. In later years, he developed a distinctive collage-like idiom of brightly colored geometric forms set against pale grounds, balancing spontaneity with control. The present work exemplifies this mature synthesis of freedom and discipline.