Lyrical Abstraction: Works from the Permanent Collection by Natvar Bhavsar and Robert Natkin brings together the work of artists Robert Natkin (American, 1930-2010) and Natvar Bhavsar (Indian, b. 1934), both known for their use of color and texture, and active in the Lyrical Abstraction movement. The exhibition features work from the Hebrew Home’s permanent collection, including vibrant, textured paintings using dry pigment by Bhavsar, and lithographs that exemplify Natkin’s utilization of lively color and pattern.

Lyrical Abstraction in America was a period in the late 1960s-1970s that was characterized by a focus on color, texture and other painterly modes of working. It was closely linked with Color Field painting and Abstract Expressionism; a dramatic departure from the styles of minimalism and geometric lines and shapes that dominated the art world in the 1950s. Artists working in the Lyrical Abstraction movement, such as Bhavsar and Natkin, typically painted in an expressionistic, fluid style, drawing more from intuition than abstract aesthetic theory. Bhavsar’s heavily textured works on paper using dry pigment, a technique derived from an ancient form of Indian sand painting, appear as though they may be photographs taken from a telescope, exuding an otherworldly quality. Natkin used textured surfaces, such as cloth, as stencils in his work to create nebulous patterns that appear as faint shapes and cross-hatches underneath layers of lively, undulating color.