RALSTON CRAWFORD (American, 1906-1987)

Crawford, began his formal art training in 1927 at the Otis Art Institute (Los Angeles) and continued his studies at the Pennsylvania Academy. After travelling throughout Europe, he eventually settled in New York. It was there that Crawford created his first paintings in the sharp-edged, planar style that became characteristic of his work. These works, influenced by the Precisionist painters eliminate naturalistic details and brushed surfaces for tight planes and volumes.

The subjects of many of these paintings were urban landscapes and industrial imagery. His post war works are more abstract but retain the palette and motif of his Precisionist years.

Never formally trained as a photographer, he originally adopted it as a tool to document his travels and contribute to his painting. However, his photographs ultimately developed to be artworks in their own right- eventually his painting equally informed his photography.