Golden Tondo II

Ilya Bolotowsky was born in Petrograd, Russia, but emigrated to New York in the 1920s. There, he pursued a traditional artistic course of study. This included travel to Europe, where he and his South Carolinian artist friend, William H. Johnson, were influenced by French Expressionists and Spanish Surrealists. Dutch Neoplasticism was the most influential approach he observed. Bolotowsky’s work is characteristic of the style: void of representational associations and spatial illusion; he also used unconventionally shaped canvases. In the 1930s, Bolotowsky worked on WPA murals in Brooklyn and collaborated with local artists to define abstract art for American audiences who were used to paintings of traditional rural scenes.

After WWII, he took Josef Albers's place at Black Mountain College. Though the two instructors shared visual tendencies, their artistic and teaching philosophies were very different. Bolotowsky was more gregarious and relaxed, which is largely what led to his criticisms of BMC’s cloistered community. Nonetheless, both luminaries encouraged exploration and cross-culturalism.