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(American, 1885–1956)

Politics

1931
Oil on canvas
Image: 40 x 40 in. (101.6 x 101.6 cm)
Frame: 47 1/2 x 47 1/2 in. (120.7 x 120.7 cm)
Credit LineTerra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Art Acquisition Endowment Fund
Object number2008.1
SignedSigned and dated lower left Orange Block at lower left has artists name "STORRS" above european style date of the painting 19 2 31. Text and numbers in white.
Interpretation
John Storrs's painting Politics is an abstract composition of flat, overlapped, slab-like forms with complex irregular edges set against a pristine white background. The shapes' precise red and black edges suggest depth and three-dimensionality, but what appears to be a shadow of the dark gray shape on the left does not correspond with the shape's jagged outline, like the grotesque features of a speaking figure's head in profile. Storrs subtly mottled the surface of the canvas through patterned brushwork. He countered his precise lines and taut angles with a suggestion of the accidental in the series of dots—like pits on an otherwise smooth surface or an unintentional smattering of paint from an overloaded brush—that disturb the purity of the dominant white shape.

Politics is among the earliest of a group of non-objective paintings Storrs began making in 1931, when the economic strictures of the Great Depression made sculpture materials difficult to obtain. In the medium of oil on canvas, he explored the boundary between representation and abstraction through forms that are both biomorphic and architectural. The crisp outlines and severe angular shapes of this composition echo Storrs's sculpture of the previous decade in which he evoked the soaring planes of contemporary skyscrapers in the streamlined style known as Art Deco. The painting's limited palette of light and dark grays, red, and white further focus attention on pure shape and line. Storrs's reductive approach to the medium recalls his personal heritage as the son of an architect and a descendent of an old New England family. The artist planned his painting with the controlled precision of an architect, as demonstrated by his preparatory drawing for the work (TF 2008.2).

Storrs was among numerous American and European intellectuals and artists who in the 1930s viewed the rise of Fascism and Nazism with alarm. A socialist sympathizer who was appalled by the horrors of war after tending to the wounded during World War I, Storrs referred only obliquely to conflict in his work of the 1930s. Politics offers perhaps his most pointed comment on contemporary affairs. The hollow-eyed, open-mouthed face on the left suggests a host of politicians spewing hate-filled rhetoric, while in the edges of other forms, especially the light gray shape on the right, there are hints of distorted animalistic profiles of the all-too-receptive audience for their propaganda.
ProvenanceEstate of the Artist
Exhibition History
"John Storrs," Chester H. Johnson Galleries, Chicago, IL, 1931.

John Storrs, The Downtown Gallery, New York, NY, April 18–May 13, 1967.

John Storrs, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (organizer). Venues: Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, December 11, 1986–March 22, 1987, Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, TX, May 2–July 5, 1987, J.B. Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY, August 28–November 1, 1987. [exh. cat.]

John Storrs: Rhythm of Line, Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, NY, November 13, 1993–January 8, 1994. [exh. cat.]

John Storrs: Abstract Forms of the 1930s, Valerie Carberry Gallery, Chicago, IL, January 2–February 29, 2008. [exh. cat.]

Pathways to Modernism: American Art, 1865–1945 Art Institute of Chicago and Terra Foundation for American Art (organizers). Venue: Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, China, September 28, 2018–January 6, 2019. [exh. cat.]

Published References
John Storrs, (exh. brochure, The Downtown Gallery, New York, NY) The Downtown Gallery, New York, NY, 1967. Ill. No. 8 front cover.

John Storrs, (exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY). New York, NY: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1986. Text p. 93, ill. p. 92 (black & white).

John Storrs: Rhythm of Line, (exh. cat. Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, NY). New York, NY: Hirschl & Adler Galleries, 1993. Ill. no. 32, p. 32 (color).

John Storrs: Abstract Forms of the 1930s, (exh. cat. Valerie Carberry Gallery, Chicago) Chicago, IL: Valerie Carberry Gallery, 2008. Ill. No. 1, cover, p. 5 (color).

Pathways to Modernism: American Art, 1865-1945. (exh. cat. Shanghai Museum with Art Institute of Chicago and Terra Foundation for American Art). Shanghai: Shanghai Museum, 2018. Text p. 144; ill. p. 145 (color).

Bourguignon, Katherine M., and Peter John Brownlee, eds. Conversations with the Collection: A Terra Foundation Collection Handbook. Chicago: Terra Foundation for American Art, 2018. Text p. 267; ill. p. 267 (color).