Mind and Body

Reading Public Museum features newly acquired works by versatile mid-century modern painter William Baziotes

Pennsylvania-born painter William Baziotes (1912-1963) defied easy categorization into any one school of artists. The exhibition, William Baziotes: Mid-Century Modern, which runs through September 25 is testament to the artist’s dynamic evolution throughout the course of his career.William Baziotes (1912-1963), Untitled (Circus Figure in Profile), ca. 1930s. Watercolor and graphite on paper, 127/8 x 95/8 in. Gift, The Ethel Baziotes Trust and Estate of William Baziotes.

The comprehensive Reading Museum exhibit features more than 60 works that include sketchbooks, drawings, watercolors, gouaches and oil paintings that track the artist’s career from the early 1930s through the early 1960s, as Baziotes progressed from his early WPA (Works Progress Administration) period into his early Surrealist period, followed by a Geometric Cubist period of the mid-1940s that grew into his lyrical, mature style of the 1950s and ’60s.William Baziotes (1912-1963), Untitled (Bird with Arrows), ca. 1934-36. Gouache, watercolor, and graphite on paper, 10 x 14 in., Gift, The Ethel Baziotes Trust and Estate of William Baziotes.

William Baziotes (1912-1963), Untitled (Pennsylvania Cityscape). Watercolor and ink on paper, 13 x 18 in. Gift, The Ethel Baziotes Trust and Estate of William Baziotes.

In contrast to the intense nature of some of Baziotes’ more abstract work that will be on display, are a selection of plein air Pennsylvania landscapes that demonstrate the sweeping spectrum of the artist’s styles, his ability to swing between the abstract and representational, and his versatility between mediums.William Baziotes (1912-1963), Untitled (Woman with Flowers). Watercolor and ink on paper, 12 x 9 in. Gift, The Ethel Baziotes Trust and Estate of William Baziotes.

“Baziotes was a bit of an artistic chameleon, absorbing and synthesizing influences from nearly every stylistic development in the 20th century,” says Scott Schweigert, curator of art and civilization at the Reading Public Museum. “Although Baziotes is often categorized among the first-generation abstract expressionists, he stands somewhat apart from that group—even though he was friends with and exhibited with many of its members—inasmuch as he did not explore the same bold, gestural painting that most in the group did. Instead, he landed on a more subtle, serene and, perhaps more intellectual version of abstract expressionism.” —