Rollin Crampton

J. C. Van Rijn 

Acquired as a gift from the above in 1969 by the present owner

"In the history of American abstract painting over the last two decades or more, Mr. Crampton occupies a special place as the man who was the first—or at least among the first; the question is sometimes disputed—to produce monochrome pictures virtually devoid of any image but the visible brushwork itself. These pictures did not resemble the "cool" single-color abstractions one sees nowadays, for the application of paint was in a more romantic and expressionist vein. But the pictures were nonetheless extremely radical for their time...Clearly, he is a gifted artist for whom the various abstract idioms are a natural form of utterance."

-Hilton Kramer, "Art: A Needed Reminder of Max Liebermann," The New York Times, 26 April 1960, p. 30