Abstraction,

1944–50

Gallatin was among the earliest American artists to adopt the principles of Cubism, emphasizing the planar geometric relationships of an object from various perspectives at a time when the arts community in New York was still resistant to abstract, nonfigurative art. Here Gallatin produced the illusion of depth through the suggestions of shadows in his arrangement of layers of geometric shapes and color tones. In 1927 he founded the Museum of Living Art at New York University, where contemporary modes of European abstraction from his personal collection were on display and were debated in discussions he organized there. Many influential abstract artists of the postwar generation in New York—including Adolf Gottlieb, David Smith, and Willem de Kooning (artists whose works are on view in nearby galleries)—credited Gallatin with influencing their practices and fostering memorable debates about art.