POST-COVID SPRING BEAUTY
The More You Look The More You See
A solo exhibition of new work by Judith Seligson on view at
Galerie Mourlot through June 26, 2022.
Galerie Mourlot
16 East 79th Street, Suite 21
Between 5th and Madison Avenue
New York City
When I entered Galerie Mourlot on E. 79th Street two days
ahead of Judith Seligson’s new solo exhibition, the more I
looked around, the more I saw boxes everywhere, each
containing either a painting, a pigment print, or a sculpture
Seligson, a geometric abstract artist, created during the
pandemic. On one wall, John—the installer—was carefully
calculating the distance between two frames: on top, a
series of photographs of flowers painted over—snapshots of
nature blooming and blossoming despite the pandemic,
aptly titled “Covid Spring”—and below a selection of bold
striped paintings, or intervals paintings, as Seligson
described them to me.
In the center of the room, the artist was busy unpacking and
deciding how she wanted the body of work to come together
at her second solo exhibition of Galerie Mourlot, a name
more associated with the print making for the likes of
Picasso and Miro, but which also has a strong contemporary
art program. Her daughter—journalist and author Hannah
Seligson—was dispensing advice. She became her mother’s
unofficial “art agent,” or manager, five years ago.
Hannah marveled at the exhibition slowly taking shape, the
new series of what she describes as “hard-edged,
geometric abstract paintings,” in which her mother, Judith,
explores “her interest in the interactions of colors, patterns,
and space that all push the boundaries of the pictorial plane
and create a sense of spatial tension.” “The Washington
Post once decided it was ‘reminiscent
of Stella and Albers,’” Hannah explained.
As I found my way to gallery owner Eric Mourlot’s desk by
the tall windows overlooking 79th street, to sit down and take
my recorder out of my bag, I marveled at the artistic poetry
of the pieces. “It is a musical composition, almost a rhythmic
movement,” the 72-year-old artist and author who studied
with Flora Natapoff, Philip Guston, Leo Manso, and Victor
Candell explained to me. Some of the paintings are small,
discreet, miniature even, “a feminist statement,” Hanna said,
quoting her mother.
I have always been told people are born artists, so I asked
Judith Seligson when she first realized she was an artist
and no one else. Before she could utter a word, Hannah
interjected: “Mom, tell the story of when you were drawing…”
Judith Seligson (c) JC Agid | 2022
So, here it starts, I said looking straight into the eyes of
the painter. This is the first question. And your
journalist-agent-daughter already wants to answer for
you.
Judith Seligson: She is my manager!
Hannah: no, no, no
See, your daughter is interrupting you again.
Judith: We have really developed a fantastic interaction. She
is a manager and an artist agent.
When did you feel you were an artist?
Judith: I was 25, and I was graduating from college. I had
started premed courses in San Diego, and I discovered that I
was much more interested in the drawings in the margins
than I was in the biology in the main section. So, I’ve been
working steadily as a studio artist since.
Judith Seligson (c) JC Agid | 2022
Hannah Seligson (c) JC Agid | 2022
How have you gone about studying your craft?
Judith: I went to Harvard Radcliffe and studied with my most
important painting teacher, the Canadian American Phillip
Guston. He looked at my work and said, ‘Well, what’s the
most interesting thing here you would like to paint,’ and it
turned out to be the door; and so, the next question was,
‘Why don’t you just paint the door?‘
What about your biology studies?
Judith: I did both. I use a lot of scientific references in my
book, Gaps and The Creation of Ideas.
Have you ever worked as a biologist?
Judith: No, I say I have a fake medical license!
It means that you, Hannah, were raised by an artist
instead of growing up with a scientist mother!
Hannah: I always said I would call a memoir, which I have no
intention fo writing, “My rebellion to be normal,” which is a
bit of statement about growing up with creative, free-spirited
parents. My mom was committed to what she was doing that
it was wonderful and inspiring, at least later on, but it also
meant that I was sharing my mom with another child: art.
Now the mother of two, I totally understand why only one
child gives someone their creative space.
How did your mom be an artist influence who you are?
Hannah: Just for the record, I would much prefer being the
one asking the questions. These are tough question!
Sorry, Hannah, not this time… Back to you as a writer.
Hannah: I think the idea of doing what you want to do, and I
know it sounds so cliche and privileged, but I think a lot
about something my mom has said: “You don’t choose to be
a painter; painting chooses you.” The same could be said
about being a writer. You certainly don’t do either for money
or for fame, but it’s something that you would have to do
even if you don’t always want to do it. It’s a real discipline
and a practice.
You practiced the art of miniature paintings.
Judith: A lot of paintings have been judged according to
scale. The abstract expressionists went very big, but quality
shouldn’t always be equated with size. I started working
small in 1978 and had works that are much smaller than
those exhibited today. Every painter must ask what the
painting is, where is the line between not painting and
painting, between design and artwork. I wanted to ask how
small a painting can be and still be a great painting. At that
time, smallness was almost disqualifying.
Walking on unknown paths! That makes you a feminist
Judith, doesn’t it? And feminism is a topic you wrote
about on many occasions, Hannah. Do you think that it is
harder for women artists?
Hannah: Absolutely. Just look at the numbers of women in
major institutions and museums. I think it’s something like
10%. So, with my mom, you have the double wearing of
ageism and sexism in the arts.
I try to paint melodies, whether they are stripes or
flowers. I want to keep the viewer interested and playful in
a dynamic symmetry.
Judith Seligsonnone
Was it part of the reason for your engagement to work
alongside our mother?
Hannah: I decided to get involved with my mom’s career
right after Donald Trump won the election. It was not a great
moment for women. I wanted to help my mom, who I saw as
coming up against sexism and ageism, succeed in her. This
was my very minimal way of taking some action, on a very
personal level, to further the empowerment of the woman
who is most important in my life: my mother. At her last
show, which opened in November 2016, we sold 50
paintings.
Has it been harder just because you are a woman?
Judith: In the sense of financial remuneration? Yes, I do
think so. When I started in New York and had my loft in
Tribeca—before anybody else did—on Leonard St, only 10%
of artists represented by galleries were women. It is easy to
discount more minor things and things that are female.
Artists and women artists want to sell and make a living.
People put money where they think there’s value, and if they
don’t think there’s value, they won’t.
Hannah: We need to give a shout out to Eric Mourlot
because he shows a lot of women artists in his gallery.
Eric Mourlot: I’m not doing it for political reasons. It just
turns out that I’ve been responding lately to more women
artists because I think that male artists are not really
exploring enough. It might be a vast generalization, but I’ve
found more lately that female artists’ vision is much broader.
Did you make a living from your art?
Judith: No. I made ends meet when I was an administrative
assistant at Yale just after I decided to become a painter.
Then I also became a graphic designer in 1983. When
Hannah decided to put her enormous talents in my direction,
she felt for me; she saw some of the indignities, the people
who stood me up.
Hannah: I remember the day one of the top art consultants
in the United States made an appointment and just didn’t
show up. No phone call—this person couldn’t even give that
courtesy. It says something very profound about how artists
who haven’t entirely “made it” are treated because that
certainly wasn’t an isolated incident.
Music is a fundamental language for every art, and I use it
in painting.
Judith Seligsonnone
Tell us about this show. There are two different kinds of
works. First, the flowers.
Judith: Photographs drawn over with pastel and pencil and
then photographed again and a few little magic tricks. I love
flowers and I get a lot of inspiration from looking at nature.
This series is called COVID Spring. I did them in the spring of
2020, which needs no further introduction; they were
photographed on my daily walk.
The stripes are more traditional. Your work on spatial
dimensions?
Judith: I would say intervals are really the central theme; it is
an essential word in my own vocabulary; intervals are a
visual musical. They become short notes; they compose a
melody, a visual melody, something coherent and beautiful
that you can’t define. I try to paint melodies, whether they
are stripes or flowers. I want to keep the viewer interested
and playful in a dynamic symmetry.
Do you listen to music while painting?
Judith: It is not synesthesia. I studied music theory when I
was young and played the piano for several years. My work
is a different kind of musical translation and has nothing to
do with sound—music is a universal language for everything;
it’s a fundamental language for every art, and I use it in
painting.
Speaking of what is essential, I think I should go. There
are still so many paintings to install on the walls.
Judith: I never fail to enjoy this exact moment when we hang
a show. It really brings the work into another dimension.
Eric: This is going to look amazing. This is a sort of a middle
process for the artist, post-studio and before the viewer
comes in and interprets the artwork; before he emotionally
or intellectually responds to it. This is an exciting part of the
process that people don’t ever see, which is when the work
is displayed in the studio, when the artist and the curator
work together to present the paintings to create a narrative.
And the narrative would be?
Hannah: Beauty. Simply, post-Covid Spring beauty.
About the Author: JC Agid
JC Agid is the founder of 37EAST, a brand strategy and
business development agency based in the United States.
He is also a trustee on the advisory boards of the American
Friends of the Paris Opera and of LeaderXXchange.