George Bireline (NC, 1923-2002), Icarus

Oil on canvas, 1982, signed and dated on the verso, pine tacking edges for framing.

Stretcher size 84 x 84 in.

Originally from Illinois, George Bireline relocated to North Carolina to pursue his MFA at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he became a central figure in the region’s postwar modernist movement. In 1964, the highly respected André Emmerich Gallery in New York presented a solo exhibition of his paintings, bringing national attention to his work. Writing in The New York Times, critic Stuart Preston praised Bireline’s color-field paintings as “a handsomely endowed alliance arranged between Albers and Rothko,” noting that his colors and lines “vibrate like quivering blocks of Jell-O” and that “color itself is a generous feast” (“Variety Fair,” March 29, 1964).

Bireline taught at North Carolina State University’s School of Design from 1955 until his retirement in 1986, where he played a formative role in shaping generations of artists and designers in North Carolina and beyond. His work is held in numerous private and public collections, including the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh; the Mint Museum, Charlotte; the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond; The Johnson Collection, Spartanburg, South Carolina; and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C., among others.

Small paint flake to falling figure; several minor abrasions to surface; minor impact craquelure in lower right corner; some foxing to canvas verso.