Lawrence Calcagno

As the exclusive representative of the Lawrence Calcagno Estate, Addison Rowe Gallery continues its mission of promoting and resurrecting the legacies of significant artists whose contributions have been overlooked due to shifting market dynamics or moral and cultural challenges that have, at times, cast shadows over their work. Color and Light in collaboration with Amar Gallery, London, will be on display at Addison Rowe Gallery from December 5, 2024, to March 31, 2025.

Gallery owner Victoria Addison Rowe states: “This exhibition is deeply personal to me, as it springs from my longstanding connection to the work of Lawrence Calcagno and my years of collaboration with his estate. The estate has worked tirelessly to keep his legacy alive, and this exhibition is part of a broader effort to restore Calcagno's rightful place in the history of modern American art. Color and Light represents the third gallery exhibition of Calcagno’s work in the past three months, significantly broadening his reach and establishing his presence in international art markets, ensuring his enduring impact on the art world.”

Lawrence Calcagno is renowned for his bold, textured canvases that breathe new life into landscape painting. His seascapes are dynamic, pulsating compositions full of energy, while his landscapes are layered with vibrant strokes of color and thick, expressive impasto. Calcagno’s innovative use of color and texture imbues his work with a unique vibrancy and light that seems to animate the compositions, creating an exhilarating visual experience that shifts and evolves with each glance.

This exhibition places Lawrence Calcagno at the forefront, celebrating his remarkable contributions as an artist. It also acknowledges his personal and professional relationship with the pioneering modernist painter Beauford Delaney, underscoring the challenges they both faced in 1950s America. As an interracial, homosexual couple in an era of intense racial and societal prejudice, the pair endured personal and professional hardships. This exhibition honors their bond and highlights the resilience they demonstrated in the face of such adversity.

Calcagno was a self-taught artist until after World War II, when he studied painting under the G.I. Bill in San Francisco, working with influential figures such as Clyfford Still and visiting artist Mark Rothko. In the years that followed, Calcagno became an integral part of the second generation of Abstract Expressionist painters, exhibiting in both San Francisco and New York. During this period, he developed a distinctive personal style of landscape painting, one that can be viewed as a metaphorical exploration of nature itself. His color palette—often dominated by the fiery oranges and reds of the California landscape—reflects the vivid, saturated hues of his environment. His more minimalist pieces, in contrast, evoke the misty fog of San Francisco, where shapes and forms emerge and dissolve in a way that speaks to the subconscious mind.

Throughout his career, Calcagno exhibited at prestigious galleries worldwide, with numerous solo shows, including at the Martha Jackson Gallery in New York, which championed his work from 1955 onwards. His work has been included in major museum exhibitions at institutions such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Guggenheim Museum in New York, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, to name just a few.

The upcoming exhibition at Addison Rowe Gallery will feature a stunning selection of paintings and watercolors, many of which are drawn from the estate’s holdings. These works offer a powerful glimpse into the world of Lawrence Calcagno—his vision, his technique, and his place in the broader narrative of American modernism.