Albert Green (1914-1994; USA)  

Tall Bottle Vase
ca 1980
Stoneware; ht. 9.5 in.
Artist signature on base.

In the New York Times obituary for Green (February 9, 1994) upon his death , Richard Lyons wrote "Mr. Green's abstractions in either basic or earth colors decorated the hundreds of bottles, plates, bowls and other containers either now or once on exhibit in museums and galleries around the world. Critics praised his works for their sweep and harmony. He also was a student of Chinese and Japanese glazes and adapted some of their intricacies to the surfaces of his pieces, infusing them with a shimmering light and a subtle sense of color. Mr. Green had become obsessed with the work of Chinese potters of the Sung Dynasty (A.D. 960-1279) and with their ability to create celadon glazes known as Kuan. He spent several years conducting experiments at his studio in Westfield before he was able to approximate the technique "So successful was this exploration that Fong Chow, former curator of Far Eastern Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art argues, if Albert Green were Japanese and had produced his body of work in Japan, he would have been declared a Living National Treasure long ago, just like Kawai, Hamada, Fujiwara and Arakawa.

Provenance: Exhibited at the Frank Caro Gallery, New York, 1988