Black Mt. College

New York native Peter Grippe is known primarily for his sculpture, executed initially in terracotta and later in bronze. While serving as a sculpture instructor for Black Mountain College’s 1948 summer session, he also experimented with painting. Black Mt. College displays a reduction of forms and a rich, vibrant palette likely inspired by the college’s verdant surroundings. Grippe was one of the up-and-coming modernists who, in 1936, established the American Abstract Artists group, a collaborative forum that sponsored exhibitions, presentations, and publications to foster public understanding and appreciation of abstract art.