After Bell, 1966; Artist - Kenneth Noland; A Gloria F. Ross Tapestry (carpet); Hooked (tufted) wool on canvas (sheared); Edition 5 plus 1 AP; only 2 known to exist and only one complete with the black splatter, bottom right; Size: 96" x 96"
To purchase this work or to visit the Art Gallery, CLICK HERE
To purchase this work or to visit the Art Gallery, CLICK HERE
Gloria Ross, sister to the artist Helen Frankenthaler, worked with Kenneth Noland, Robert Motherwell, Louise Nevelson, Jean Dubuffet, Frank Stella, Jack Youngerman, Romare Bearden, Paul Jenkins, Hans Hoffman, Helen Frankenthaler, Gene Davis, and many many more of the twentieth century's greatest artists making tapestries of their paintings by has she has said, "translating paint into wool." For the majority of her projects, the weaving was done by professionals in Felletin, a small French town near Aubusson and at the Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh; however it can not be overstated how vital and hands-on Gloria was in the process. Much like the famed lithographer printers who worked with such titans as Picasso, Matisse, and Chagall; Gloria Ross was in total control of the artistic endeavor from beginning to end.
Cropped detail of the Tapestry
Gloria Ross and Kenneth Noland collaborated from 1966-1997, and represented the longest running working relationship that Gloria ever had with any artist. Gloria Ross, "When I started working professionally and established my workshop, Ken Noland was the fist artist to embrace the world of tapestry. It was like stepping out into space in those days." In 1966, "after Bell", was Gloria's earliest work executed professionally outside her extended family; and is of course the first work created by Noland in this medium. The image for this tapestry was created from the Kenneth Noland painting entitled "Bell" painted in 1959. For this first and early Kenneth Noland tapestry, the weavers for "after Bell" were George Wells Ruggery and Anna di Giovanni, both from Glen Cove, NY. Below is an extremely rare photograph from the Richard Feigen Gallery, Chicago in 1971 showing works by Gloria Ross.
Kenneth Noland's "after Bell, 1960" being shown in the gallery along side of Robert Motherwell's "after Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 78, 1963" copyright Gloriia Ross Foundation
Close-up detail of "after Bell, 1966"
Although the edition was: 5 plus 1 AP; only 2 examples are known to exist and this is the only one that is complete with the black splatter on the bottom right. The other known example, without the black splatter, hung in the American Bank building in Kansas City and is now in private collection. The catalog raisonne reference for "after Bell" is: Hedlund #56, pg. 239.
Close-up of the black splatter located in the bottom right.
Link to the Gloria F. Ross Center for Tapestry Studies and "after Bell"
Link to the Gloria F. Ross Center for Tapestry Studies and "after Bell"
It can not be overstated that Gloria Ross works are extremely rare in the open market; and that her tapestries are collected by individuals, major corporations, and the world's finest art museums. Works by Robert Motherwell and Helen Frankenthaler rendered as tapestries by Ross, hang in the entrance to the Philadelphia Convention Center and the museums owning Ross tapestries include the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Textile Museum in Washington, the Denver Art Museum, and many more.
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