May 3, New York, NY - Forum Gallery presents an exhibition of paintings and sculpture by Hugo Robus (1885-1964) spanning his 60-year career. The exhibition will include seven paintings created from 1913 to 1920; and 24 sculptures from every decade of Robus’ work, including original plasters, lifetime castings, and newly-realized castings of previously uncast models. This is the first exhibition of Robus’ work since 1990.
Born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1885, Hugo Robus attended the Cleveland School of Art on scholarship. There he met fellow students Max Kalish and William Zorach; and teacher Horace Potter, a master craftsman who recognized Robus’ talent and recruited him to work in his jewelry studio. From the proceeds of his work, Robus saved enough money to attend two years of classes at the National Academy of Design in New York City, where he concentrated on painting and drawing. The paintings Robus created incorporate bold experimentation and innovative modern imagery. They are fully-realized and striking modernist works.
After 1920, Robus settled in New York and began to draw his inspiration from the dance movements and musical experimentation of the Jazz Age. Fascinated by form and motion, he turned to modeling, incorporating the facial expressions he saw in the masks of Japanese Noh Theater and Greek comedy with the exciting and dynamic jazz dances of the era. Like Degas, Robus was involved with motion throughout his career, as seen in the sculpture Blackbottom, which is surely his homage to Josephine Baker. But Robus was equally involved with the figure at rest, as exemplified by both versions of Quiet Form, among his best-known and most popular sculptural images.
Hugo Robus’ work is represented in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Walker Art Institute, Minneapolis, MN; The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York among many others.
The exhibition is accompanied by a 56 page, full color catalogue and opens Thursday May 10, 2007 at Forum Gallery, 745 Fifth Avenue at 57th Street, and continues through Friday June 8, 2007. The gallery is open from 10am to 5:30pm Tuesday through Saturday. After Memorial Day gallery hours are 10am to 5:30pm Monday through Friday. For more information please contact the Gallery.
CONTACT: Rachel Feinberg
