Jack Tworkov 1900-1982 – Pioneer of Abstract Expressionism – A Survey

De Sarthe is pleased to announce “Jack Tworkov 1900-1982: Pioneer of Abstract Expressionism – A Survey”, an exhibition of key works by the influential American painter from 1951 to 1982, organized with the support of the Estate of Jack Tworkov, Van Doren Waxter, and major US and Asian collectors. Marking this historically significant artist’s first major retrospective in Asia, the exhibition follows the evolution of his practice, characterized by the artist’s disposition toward creative fluidity and shifting identities, with a focus on the years in which he played a pioneering role in the Abstract Expressionist movement alongside peers including Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, and Mark Rothko. The exhibition offers a journey through history made via the eyes and hands of its maker.

Born in 1900 in Biała Podlaska, Russia (now Poland), Tworkov immigrated with his family to the United States in 1913. Tworkov’s oeuvre saw various transitions under the artist’s steady resolute and unique sensibility. Rooted in his diasporic upbringing, his every evolving work spanned five-decades from the early 1920s to the early 1980s and was positioned at the forefront of historic movements in American art, notably Abstract Expressionism. The late 1940s marked an important turning point in the artist’s career, as he returned to the studio after supporting the US war effort in World War II as a tool designer. The art scene in New York to which he returned had been renewed after the disruption of war. American artists broke from European influences establishing a complete creative independence emphasizing spontaneity, emotion, and universal themes. Tworkov was a leading member of this group, which has been known as the New York School of Abstract Expressionism.

Tworkov was receptive to a wide range of influences from the works of French Impressionist Paul Cézanne to the Fauves, to Homer’s “Odyssey” (800 B.C.E.), and much later, his own mathematical interests, Tworkov’s liberal and inquisitive visual language enriched his gestural approach to painting which would define the Abstract Expressionist movement in America.

As a respected teacher, lecturer, and visiting artist, Tworkov established the visiting artist program at American University in Washington, DC, in the late 1940s which recruited such artists as de Kooning to teach. Of additional note, Tworkov was a visiting artist at Black Mountain College in 1952, and in 1963 he was appointed Chair of the Art Department at Yale School of Art and Architecture (a post he would hold until 1969).

The exhibition highlights key works from Tworkov including Study for “House of the Sun” (1952), a rare gestural composition developed during his time at Black Mountain College; “Games III” (1956) a prime example of Tworkov’s trademark flame-like brushstrokes; “Five Spot” (1960) a bold painting titled after the famous jazz club the artist frequented located just blocks from his Bowery studio. The survey also includes six major works painted during the 1970s, defined by a cool monolithic clarity and a reductive and structured process. Each are painted during a significant decade for the artist that saw a solo show curated by Marcia Tucker at The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York (1971), the awarding of the Skowhegan Medal for Painting (1974) presented to the artist by artist and dealer Betty Parsons, and the career survey at Third Eye Centre, Glasgow (1978) which toured the UK. A major two paneled work “Diptych for Wally” (Q1-82 #1) (1982), completed the last year of the artist’s life, rounds out the exhibition.

Rounding out this major survey is the largest painting Tworkov completed before his death in September 1982. Only the third time this painting has been on view, “Diptych for Wally (Q1-82 #1)” (1982) spans nearly 4-meters and pulses with disciplined intensity. Blush reds, chalky greys, and vibrant lime colors are layered into rigorous grids, where calculated lines establish fields that jostle between control and vulnerability. Though the rigorous geometric structure establishes the overall composition, the mark and the marking remains human–revealing hesitations and accidents. Here color and touch refuse rigidity, creating a tense, luminous balance between thought and feeling. Scale amplifies the painting’s quiet urgency and intellectual resolve.

Opening hours Tue-Sat 11 am – 7 pm

Exhibition Duration 21 March – 09 May 2026

www.desarthe.com

Location:
De Sarthe
2/F, Block A, Vita Tower, 29 Wong Chuk Hang Road
Hong Kong
China