Dorothy and Eugene Prakapas, Prakapas Gallery, 1970s
Phillips is honored to present a selection of artwork from the collection of pioneering gallerists Eugene and Dorothy Prakapas. Proceeds from their outstanding collection will benefit the Eugene and Dorothy Prakapas Scholarship Fund at Yale University in memory of Thomas C. Mendenhall. Gene’s attendance at Yale in 1949 was made possible by a scholarship, and it was his and Dorothy’s intent that the sale of artwork from their estate would support scholars of the future.
Gene (1932-2011) and Dorothy (1928-2022) founded Prakapas Gallery at 19 East 71st Street, New York City, in 1976. The gallery quickly became known for its adventurous curatorial approach and for showing a diverse range of artists and media. The couple set a demanding pace for themselves, mounting a new exhibition every four weeks, and keeping an ever-changing array of painting, photography, and works-on-paper on the gallery walls. Photography, especially work connected to the Bauhaus, was a particular interest of the Prakapases, and the broad theme of European Modernism threaded its way through many of their shows. Operating on a shoestring budget, the couple sought out little-known artists and underrepresented aspects of well-known artists’ oeuvres for their exhibitions. Gallery favorites included László Moholy-Nagy, Fernand Léger, Willi Baumeister, Albert Renger-Patzsch, and Werner Mantz, among many others.
[Left] Dorothy Prakapas, Prakapas Gallery, 1970s.
[Right] Eugene Prakapas with photographer Arthur Rothstein, Prakapas Gallery, 1978.
Both Gene and Dorothy came to the art world after having pursued successful careers in other arenas. Gene worked in publishing after graduating Yale, served in the Navy, and later pursued graduate studies at Oxford, which he attended on a Fulbright scholarship. Dorothy was educated at City University of New York and the Fashion Institute of Technology and worked in the fashion industry. Together, they made Prakapas Gallery into a mecca for collectors on the hunt for material that could not be found elsewhere, the esoteric and the avant-garde across all media, selected and contextualized with intelligence and warmth.
“Galleries that are powered by a completely idiosyncratic taste and with no regard for current fashion do not always live long. So it is good to see from their 10th anniversary miscellany that Eugene and Dorothy Prakapas are just as quirky as ever they were.”
—John Russell
Provenance
André Emmerich Gallery, New York Kasmin Gallery, Ltd., London Prakapas Gallery, Bronxville, New York Thence by descent to the present owner
Exhibited
London, The Hayward Gallery, Hayward Annual, May–August 1977 New York, André Emmerich Gallery, Howard Hodgkin: New Paintings, September 15–October 5, 1977 New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 30, 1995–January 31, 1996
Literature
Andrew Graham-Dixon, Howard Hodgkin, London, 1994, p. 162 Michael Auping, John Elderfield, Susan Sontag and Marla Price, Howard Hodgkin Paintings, Fort Worth, 1995, no. 141, p. 169 (illustrated) Marla Price, Howard Hodgkin The Complete Paintings, Catalogue Raisonné, Fort Worth, 2006, no. 141, p. 154 (illustrated) Art That Changed The World, New York, 2013, pp. 372–373 (illustrated)
One of the greatest colorists of his generation, Howard Hodgkin explores the very nature of painting as both cultured language and sheer expression. He disregards the classical polarities of abstraction and representation, past and present, canvas and frame, using gestural brushstrokes and a vivid palette to emphasize the picture plane, while simultaneously seeking to convey memories and emotions.
The seemingly casual, urgent quality of his paintings and prints belies a drawn-out process of making: it could take a year for Hodgkin to prepare to execute a single brushstroke. The resultant maximalist, saturated works on canvas, paper, wood and board can be intimately scaled and jewel-like, or oversized, opulent and theatrical. Whilst his early compositions have a collaged, geometric flatness, Hodgkin's later work (including etching and aquatint prints) increasingly incorporated more lush surface textures and complex, fluid patterns reminiscent of the Pahari miniatures from India, of which he was an avid collector.
signed, titled and dated "Howard Hodgkin Small Tree near Cairo 1973–77" on the reverse oil on wood 11 3/8 x 15 2/4 in. (28.9 x 39.4 cm) Painted in 1973–1977.