Due to size limitations, we will only show some of the paintings. The many other works of the 50’s and 60’s remain at the foundation and may be seen there next summer or by appointment, as well as at upcoming museum exhibitions.

Ernest Briggs was born in San Francisco, CA in 1923. He studied painting at the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco under the faculty assembled by Douglas MacAgy. They included Mark Rothko, Ad Reinhardt and Clyfford Still, who had a strong influence on Briggs.

He moved to New York in 1953 and from 1954 on he had several one man and group exhibitions at the Stable Gallery. He participated in several Whitney Museum Annuals and in 1956 was included by Dorothy Miller in MOMA’s powerful exhibition “12 Americans”.

Briggs paintings are non-representational, but their breezy composition and strong colors remind us of nature. The paintings have a fresh quality. We are trapped in illusion, reading the shape on a canvas as something real, but apart from its interpretation. We see wood, grass, animals, but paintings contain neither. The colors are pure and emotional; the brush strokes are energetic, volcanic, exploding in front of our eyes. The canvases are monumental and impressive; they catch our eyes and trap us in their powerful intimate world. Their physicality excites the senses of the viewer.

The 1960’s work begins to darken and light focuses the eye into a deeper pictorial space and a different emotional intensity. Until his death in 1984, Briggs continued to experiment with painterly strategies and compositional layouts.

The Anita Shapolsky gallery and the AS Art Foundation are proud to exhibit paintings of this active and splendid artist whose full recognition is yet to come.