CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 10/20/2016

Four Generations: The Joyner Giuffrida Collection of Abstract Art

"I have been chasing the idea of the unit, as the plastic underpinning of abstract painting, for the past 50 years," painter Jack Whitten is quoted in Four Generations, Gregory R. Miller's extraordinary new catalog of the Joyner Giuffrida Collection of Modern and contemporary abstract African diasporan art. "Norman Lewis knew about the unit and spoke of it as a single gesture or point. My early 1960s visits to Norman Lewis' studio on 125th Street [were] a highlight of my life as a young artist. We spoke about painting, and we spoke about 'The Problem.' His insistence on the Black artists' freedom to investigate pure abstraction without the intervention of social narrative continues to nourish my commitment to abstract painting. His mentorship was a gift of cosmic proportions." Featured image is Lewis's 1969 oil painting, "Afternoon." Read more in the New York Times.