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Avant Colony: Unearthing the Westbrook Gallery


  • Ely Center of Contemporary Art 51 Trumbull Street New Haven, CT 06510 USA (map)

Opening Reception Sunday February 4, 2024, 1-3 pm (storm date February 11, 1-3 pm)

Curated by Eric Litke & Peter Hastings Falk

Avant Colony: Unearthing the Westbrook Gallery presents the early history of an artist-run gallery and performance space on the Connecticut shoreline - the Westbrook Gallery, founded in 1956 by West Haven native Aage V. Hogfeldt (1925-2014) a Word War II veteran and 1951 graduate of the Yale School of Art. The exhibition presents original artwork which has not been seen publicly since the period by six artists who constituted the Gallery's core active group in the early years of 1956-64: the aforementioned Hogfeldt, William Kent (1919-2012), Leo V. Jensen (1926-2019), David T.S. Jones (1926-1996), William Skardon (1923-1983) and Robert Alan DeVoe (1928-1992).

Through paintings, works on paper, three-dimensional works, and artist books - as well as printed ephemera, period newspaper articles, photography, and accompanying essay - this exhibition is the first to explore this group of artists and their interest in formal innovation, collaboration, and exchange of ideas. Accompanying the exhibition will be a satellite gallery presenting 1960s paintings by a contemporary of the group, artist Ruth S. Tyler (1922-2006) including works last seen publicly at the Ely Center in 1963.

Avant Colony is being organized in conjunction with related shows at several museums across Connecticut devoted to the work of individual Westbrook Gallery artists.

Leo Jensen exhibition at the Florence Griswold Museum details HERE

Leo Jensen exhibition at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum details HERE

Dalia Ramanauskus exhibition at the Mattatuck Museum details HERE

William Kent retrospective scheduled to open at the New Haven Museum in spring 2024.

Earlier Event: November 12
Desmond Beach: Threads of Memory
Later Event: February 1
Marlon Forrester: Skyward Bound