Art I'm Looking At: Arthur Monroe at Sonoma Valley Museum of Art

Arthur Monroe, Untitled, circa 1980

I recently visited the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art (551 Broadway, Sonoma, CA 95476 (707.939.7862)). Currently showing is "Arthur Monroe: A Tow to Carry," a retrospective look at the work of the late Oakland-based artist Arthur Monroe – an artist I had never heard of. Apparently he had a long career, first in New York, later in the Bay Area. He worked mainly in an Abstract Expressionist style strongly influenced by jazz. According to the wall text, among his friends in New York were saxophonist Charlie Parker, drummer Max Roach, and Thelonius Monk. He studied with Hans Hoffman – as so many advanced abstract painters In New York did (and it's hard to overemphasize the influence of Hofmann on an entire generation of painters in New York). Monroe was among those who frequented the famous Cedar Bar and he is known to have visited the studios of some of the most prominent Abstract Expressionists, including Willem de Kooning, and Franz Kline. The exhibition raises the question of why there weren't more black artists associated with the movement, particularly considering the affinities between jazz and action painting, both improvisational forms of art.

Arthur Monroe, Cluster, 1980

After a stint in the service during the Korean War, he moved to San Francisco, eventually settling in Oakland, working at what became the Oakland Cannery, a live-in studio building that he converted from an industrial warehouse. He also worked for 30 years as the registrar at The Oakland Museum of California. He thus became a kind of bridge between the New York School and the West Coast Abstract Expressionists. The show, which  runs through September 8, 2024, includes 23 works, mostly large canvases characterized by the use of patches of bright colors that seem to hover over underlying layers. There's some very strong work here. Well worth a visit.   

Arthur Monroe, Untitled, 1990-1995
Arthur Monroe, Untitled, 1990-1995