House Highlight
of the month

Contemporary
Art Gallery

Modern and Contemporary Art at Longue Vue

Edith Stern began to collect 20th century art in the 1960’s, relatively late in her life. Her new collecting interest was guided by her friend, artist Lillian Florsheim, with some influence from her son-in-law, Thomas B. Hess, a respected art scholar. On one of their art excursions to Denise Rene’s Parisian gallery, Mrs. Florsheim introduced Mrs. Stern to “Op” artist Victor Vasarely. The Longue Vue Collection contains many works by Vasarely, a testament to the friendship that he and Mrs. Stern enjoyed and an indication of the personal nature of this collection, as are the artworks by family and friends that also hang in the Gallery. Overall, the Collection is composed of a variety of artists working in early 20th century art movements as well as the “Op” and “Kinetic” styles of the 1960’s and 1970’s. These artists include Pablo Picasso, Naum Gabo, Robert Michel, Henri Laurens, Jaacov Agam, Jean Arp, Barbara Hepworth, and Jesus Soto.

Variation Tortion II
Bronze with Wire

Naum Gabo
(Russian), 1890-1977.

Naum Gabo and his brother, Anton Pevsner, worked in the Constructivist style of abstract art. They left Russia after the 1917 Revolution when
art became doctrinaire and tied to communist philosophy. They continued to develop their ideas and spread them through the Western World.