Aaron Anderson
Specialist, Head of Sale
PROPERTY FROM A NEW YORK PRIVATE COLLECTION
Lot 10
John Ferren(1905-1970)Grey Scale Composition 35 1/8 x 45 5/8 in. (89.2 x 115.9 cm.)
30 April 2025, 14:00 EDT
New YorkUS$60,000 - US$80,000
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Morgan Martin
Head of Department
Mary Manfredi
Cataloguer & Sale Coordinator
John Ferren (1905-1970)
Grey Scale Composition
signed and dated 'Ferren / 37' (on the reverse)
oil and sand on canvas
35 1/8 x 45 5/8 in. (89.2 x 115.9 cm.)
Painted in 1937.
signed and dated 'Ferren / 37' (on the reverse)
oil and sand on canvas
35 1/8 x 45 5/8 in. (89.2 x 115.9 cm.)
Painted in 1937.
Footnotes
Provenance
Galerie de Beaune, Paris.
Private collection, Paris.
Sale, Fine Art Auctions Miami, Miami, April 23, 2014, lot 14.
Acquired by the present owner at the above sale.
John Ferren's exposure to both the Parisian avant-garde and later American abstract expressionist movements enabled him to cultivate a distinctive style that separated him from his peers. Ferren grew up in Oregon and California. Initially interested in sculpture, he enrolled in some courses at the San Francisco Art School and later apprenticed with a stone cutter until he accumulated enough funds for his grand tour of Europe. This trip left such a lasting impression that he decided to move to Paris for the foreseeable future in 1931, where he studied at the Académie Ranson, Académie de la Grande Chaumiere, and the Sorbonne. The move also coincided with a shift in his interest from sculpture to painting.
Grey Scale Composition is a major work marking the culmination of Ferren's formative years in Paris. Here, he found himself in circles with Piet Mondrian (1872-1944), Jean Hélion (1904-1987), Joan Miró (1893-1983), Barbara Hepworth (1903-1975), Ben Nicholson (1894-1982), and Pablo Picasso (1881-1973). Ferren blossomed in Paris, mastering and imparting his own twist on classical abstraction. In an interview he said, "Paris in the thirties was too intense to isolate any particular influence...the only one who really did influence me was Kandinsky, and he was only there in the latter part of my time there (John Ferren, interviews with Dorothy Gees Seckler, June 1965, Archives of American Art, 7.) Works from Kandinsky's oeuvre hailing from this period share striking similarities with Grey Scale Composition, which visually confirm the artist's influence over Ferren. The morphic elements blanketed with a muted palette illustrate classic abstraction. Yet, the curvilinear shapes enable Ferren to manipulate the plastic means of the composition, further enhancing the perspective and inherent movement that is ultimately present.
The following year, 1938, Ferren unexpectedly found himself enmeshed with the New York avant-garde scene following his passport being cancelled due to the onset of World War II. Here he would work alongside American Abstract Artists such as George L. K. Morris (1905-1975), Charles Green Shaw (1892-1974), and Carl Holty (1900-1973) who would influence his style. Ferren had the best of both worlds, whose exposure to profound members of both artistic circles morphed and cultivated his inspiration and style.