New York, New York — We had an exciting chance to return to one of our favorite galleries, the stately Mnuchin Gallery on the Upper East Side ensconced in a very beautiful and elegant townhouse between Madison and Park, a quiet neighborhood bursting with old-style New York charm last February 7th.

The current show, entitled Abstraction, brings together a host of modern and contemporary works that are quite simply beautiful works, eye-catching and carefully curated. Included in the stellar line-up are works by John Chamberlain, Beauford Delaney, Willem de Kooning, Lee Krasner, Elizabeth Murray, Gerhard Richter, Susan Rothenberg, Kazuo Shiraga, Sylvia Snowden, Frank Stella and others. Spread out over the gallery’s three levels, the show offers a gracious look into what Upper East Side townhouses were made for: beautifully decorated, spacious rooms with a view. 

There is a stunning painted metal stabile by Alexander Calder juxtaposed with a serene oil on canvas by Philip Guston entitled Branch. Not to be missed is the dreamy Celestial Drift by Mark Tobey, a delicate tempura on paper mounted on board as well as the always amusing and whimsical Lobster sculpture in signature mirror polished stainless steel and its transparent color coating from Jeff Koons.

Abstraction is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon, with practices varying widely among its contributors working in two dimensions, as well as three. While commonly understood as the absence of clear representation or figuration, abstraction naturally evades a singular or straightforward definition, explains the gallery which is specialized in exhibiting prominent American artists from the 1950s to the present. Exhibition through March 23rd. ©Trish Valicenti for The Gourmet Gazette. 45 East 78th Street New York, NY 10075,tel: + 212 861-0020. https://www.mnuchingallery.com/