Lot 9023
Virginia Berresford (American, 1902-1995), Gulls, North Tisbury
Lot Details & Additional Photographs
Canvas panel 15 x 30 in.; Frame dimensions 20 x 35 in.
Virginia Berresford was an American modernist painter, printmaker, gallerist, and educator. She studied at Wellesley College, Teachers College at Columbia University, and the Art Students League before traveling to Paris in 1925, where she studied with Amédée Ozenfant, co-founder of Purism, at the Académie Moderne. His emphasis on simplified forms and structural clarity influenced her early work and contributed to her association with Precisionism, the American modernist movement characterized by crisp forms, geometric compositions, and a streamlined approach to representation.
Berresford maintained a long connection to Martha's Vineyard, where she operated an art gallery and school for many years, contributing to the island's artistic community. She also spent time in Key West, Florida, whose landscape and subtropical environment provided subjects for her work. Although closely associated with Precisionism early in her career, Berresford explored a broad range of styles and subjects over the course of her long career, including landscape, still life, abstraction, and watercolor. Her work was exhibited at prominent institutions including the Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Art Institute of Chicago, and Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
Good estate condition.
