Energy and innovation: the art of Irving Guyer

The work of Irving Guyer (1916–2012), a painter whose art spanned eight decades, will be featured at the

Bunny Fain Gallery at Temple Habonim. Reflecting his evolution from 1930s figuration to the New York School to landscape-based abstraction, his paintings are stunning, and the collection is remarkable. The show opens with a reception Thursday, Aug. 27, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.

Born in Philadelphia, Guyer studied at the Art Students League and was employed by the Works Project Administration (WPA) Federal Art Project as a painter and printmaker. He served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps during WWII, providing illustrations for technical manuals. After the war, he worked as an art director, graphic designer and illustrator.

Guyer returned to painting in the 1960s and produced gestural abstract paintings related to the New York School that integrated figurative elements within their overall compositions. “New York School” was a phrase coined by the artist Robert Motherwell to describe a group of abstract expressionists who painted in Manhattan after the war. There was no actual school; it was more an informal exchange of ideas through gatherings that reflected a movement away from the social realism of that time.

After moving to San Francisco with his wife in 1975, Guyer’s work changed significantly, reflecting his response to the Pacific coast landscape. Influenced by Henri Matisse’s cut-out compositions, Guyer’s work during the late 1970s and early 1980s is characterized by simplified, abstract shapes in dynamic compositions and a deep engagement with color and light.

The couple moved again in 1985 to the Sierra foothills of California, where Guyer continued his exploration of landscape and abstraction. His daily observation of the forest, skies and geology inspired his work as he progressed through a range of formal approaches. His mantra was to explore a given style of painting until he felt he had exhausted what he wanted from it and then to try another, very different style. In his nineties in the mid-2000s, with eyesight compromised by macular degeneration, Guyer continued his daily practice of painting with great energy, creating several bodies of innovative work.

Guyer’s work is held in numerous public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, National Gallery of Art, Brooklyn Museum, Baltimore Museum of Art, UC Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive, New York Public Library Print Collection and others. Many of his works are also in private collections, and several of these will be on exhibit in this show. Other works are currently housed in the Providence home of his son Mark Guyer, available for viewing upon request.  Mark Guyer will make a few remarks about his father and his work at the Aug. 27 reception.

The gallery at Temple Habonim at 165 New Meadow Road in Barrington is open Tuesdays to Thursdays 1:00 to 4:00 p.m., and 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 on Fridays, and by appointment.