Anne tabachnick
Anne Tabachnick (1927–1995) had a lifelong admiration for what she called “the Grand Tradition,” with her enthusiasms ranging from the Old Masters to the European Modernists. She was particularly interested in Henri Matisse, El Greco, Arshile Gorky, and the altarpieces of Renaissance painters such as Matthias Grunewald, Raphael, and Titian. She attended Hunter College, earning a BA in anthropology and art, and then attended graduate school for art at the University of California–Berkley in 1951. She was awarded a scholarship by Hans Hofmann and attended his schools in both New York City and Provincetown.
Tabachnick created mixed-media abstract interpretations of landscapes and still lifes, characterized by the use of diluted acrylic paint in a light wash, overlaid with sharp contours of forms rendered in charcoal. Tabachnick’s interest in Old Master art led her to investigate traditional techniques, such as glazing. She was also significantly influenced by Chinese painting. Like the Chinese masters, Tabachnick worked fast and spontaneously, and the influence of Chinese landscapes, with elements rendered in just a few brushstrokes, is evident in her work.
Her many honors and awards include the Long View Foundation award (its first woman recipient) in 1960; Radcliffe College’s Bunting Institute grant (its first out-of-state recipient) in 1967 and 1969; and a CAPS grant sponsored by the New York City Council on the Arts in 1975 and 1978. She received an Adolph and Esther Gottlieb fellowship in 1982 and, a year later, a John Solomon Guggenheim fellowship. Her work can be found in public collections that include The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art, New York City, The Hyde Collection in Glen Falls, New York, and the Dayton Art Institute in Dayton, Ohio.
