Jack Wolfe: Beyond the Known - An American Artist’s Legacy Revisited

Wolfe is commonly associated with the Boston Expressionists, however his varied body of work does not neatly fit into a single category. He combines cubist, abstract expressionist, and hard-edge techniques with rich colors and an acute sense for emotional pitch. Wolfe earned early recognition, and in the 1950s, was included in several group and solo museum exhibitions, with work on display alongside artists such as Pollock, Calder, and Frankenthaler. With his artwork added to the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and the deCordova Museum, Wolfe was poised to become a successful mainstay of the New York art scene. However, after only four months there, Wolfe became disillusioned with an overtly commercial "art system" to which he was unwilling to bend his creative vision. He returned to Massachusetts, cleared land in rural Stoughton and built a home and studio where he began his lifelong commitment to creating a significant body of work, consisting of expressive and compelling abstractions, emotionally charged portraits and powerful political paintings.