CROFT, LEWIS SCOTT (1911-1980)

"New York" (1965) 
oil on board
cm
signed lower right
*private collection, Sydney
 
Croft was a respected, award-winning Canadian Abstract Expressionist. He was prominent amongst abstract expressionists and pop artists of the 1960s, in an era of the Masters like Clyfford Still, Helen Frankenthaler, Mark Rothko, Yves Klein, etc. He based himself in New York City, which was a hot bed of artistic activity in the mid-sixties, with avantgarde collectors Peggy Guggenheim, artists such as Andy Warhol and his 'Factory' collective, and even a young Australian, Brett Whiteley, producing some of their best works in the city. Croft encapsulates the best in style and quality of the era, and earned him a Grand Prize Gold Medal at the Outdoor Art Show in Washington Square, NYC, in 1965.