William Gambini Paintings & Artwork for Sale | William Gambini Art Value Price Guide

May. 29, 2024
William Gambini 1918-2010 Expressionist Painting
Est: $100 - $1,000
William "Bill" Gambini (1918-2010 New York / California). Original oil on canvas painting. New York School Abstract Expressionist composition in black and white. Presented in a white painted frame. Artist signature and dated 1961 on verso. Work measures approximately 14.75" x 12" Work Size: 14.75 x 12 in. Dimensions: 19.25 X 16.25 X 2 in. Condition: Good condition with mild surface wear. Wear to frame. Estate fresh to the market. Shipping: Hill Auction Gallery offers in-house ground contiguous USA domestic shipping, excluding New Mexico, for $95 plus insurance. Gallery will refer third party shippers for international buyers. Purchaser pick up available upon request. Local Delivery: Florida door-to-door hand delivery service available for this lot; contact Toti@Zemaqua.com for an estimate.
Hill Auction Gallery
May. 29, 2024
William Gambini 1918-2010 Expressionist Painting
Est: $100 - $1,000
William "Bill" Gambini (1918-2010 New York / California). An oil on reclaimed board painting. New York School Abstract Expressionist composition with dark red, yellow and purple hues Presented in a wood frame. Artist signature and dated 59 on verso. Work Size: 8.75 x 14 in. Dimensions: 9.5 X 14.5 X 1.25 in. Condition: Good condition with mild surface wear. Wear to frame. Estate fresh to the market. Shipping: Hill Auction Gallery offers in-house ground contiguous USA domestic shipping, excluding New Mexico, for $85 plus insurance. Gallery will refer third party shippers for international buyers. Purchaser pick up available upon request. Local Delivery: Florida door-to-door hand delivery service available for this lot; contact Toti@Zemaqua.com for an estimate.
Hill Auction Gallery
Dec. 07, 2023
WILLIAM GAMBINI - UNTITLED (RED AND YELLOW COMPOSITION)
Est: $1,500 - $2,500
Lot 41 William Gambini American (1918-2010) Untitled (Red and Yellow Composition) (1956-57) oil on canvas comprising two attached canvases signed upper right and verso 60 x 50 inches frame dimensions: 60 3/4 x 50 3/4 x 1 1/2 inches, wood strip frame
Capsule Gallery Auction
Nov. 08, 2020
William Gambini (NY,CA,1918-2010) oil painting
Est: $800 - $850
ARTIST: William Gambini (New York, California, 1918 - 2010) NAME: Youth MEDIUM: oil on board CONDITION: Excellent. No visible inpaint under UV light. Wear to frame. SIGHT SIZE: 24 x 24 inches / 60 x 60 cm FRAME SIZE: 27 x 27 inches / 67 x 67 cm SIGNATURE: Lower left and on verso CATEGORY: antique vintage painting SKU#: 115643 US Shipping $75 + insurance. AD: ART CONSIGNMENTS WANTED. CONTACT US William Gambini (New York, California, 1918 - 2010) William Gambini was born in 1918 and grew up in Brooklyn, New York. In the 1950's, as a member of the New York School of Painting, his involvement in organizing the 10th Street Cooperative Gallery Movement gained him major recognition. Gambini was with the March Gallery until 1960, when it disbanded. Gambini's circle of friends included legendary painters like: Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and Elaine de Kooning, Franz Kline, Louise Nevelson, Joan Mitchell, Arshile Gorky, Hans Hofmann, Mark Rothko, and Adolph Gottlieb. The important writer and critic of the day, Harold Rosenberg, recognized Gambini as "one of the most promising young painters who would become an inheritor of Abstract Expressionism." - Art News Annual, 1959. In 1975, Gambini received the Mark Rothko Foundation Grant and moved to San Diego, California. He continues to maintain a rigorous schedule of painting and sculpting in his North Park studio. In 1999, he was awarded the prestigious Pollock/Krasner Foundation Grant. "Drawing and painting ... are intimately connected because I believe the "ACT" of expression of line, shape, contour, form, object, sound, and silence, with their relationship of the space on the flat surface, together with color definitions, such as hues, darks, lights, and implemented in pencil, pen, brush, ink, crayon, charcoal, or pigment, as desired by an individual's act, expresses the visual all at once, and becomes a "unity of the whole"." "Painting for me is a visual experience; a learning process of life and living. I do not have a technique; instead, I use a method which I have developed over the years. The arrangement of configurations, with pigment and color placed on the flat 2-dimensional canvas surface, creates light in time and space without shadows, modeling or perspective." "My thoughts and feelings are to create a vast climactic, mystic, peripheral condition on the canvas surface by controlling and balancing opposing forces to create a unity of events relating them in time and space." -William Gambini
Broward Auction Gallery LLC
Aug. 09, 2020
William Gambini (NY,CA,1918-2010) oil painting
Est: $800 - $900
ARTIST: William Gambini (New York, California, 1918 - 2010) NAME: Youth MEDIUM: oil on board CONDITION: Excellent. No visible inpaint under UV light. Wear to frame. SIGHT SIZE: 24 x 24 inches / 60 x 60 cm FRAME SIZE: 27 x 27 inches / 67 x 67 cm SIGNATURE: Lower left and on verso CATEGORY: antique vintage painting SKU#: 115643 WARRANTY: 7 days returns accepted if item doesn't match description US Shipping $75 + insurance. William Gambini (New York, California, 1918 - 2010) William Gambini was born in 1918 and grew up in Brooklyn, New York. In the 1950's, as a member of the New York School of Painting, his involvement in organizing the 10th Street Cooperative Gallery Movement gained him major recognition. Gambini was with the March Gallery until 1960, when it disbanded. Gambini's circle of friends included legendary painters like: Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and Elaine de Kooning, Franz Kline, Louise Nevelson, Joan Mitchell, Arshile Gorky, Hans Hofmann, Mark Rothko, and Adolph Gottlieb. The important writer and critic of the day, Harold Rosenberg, recognized Gambini as "one of the most promising young painters who would become an inheritor of Abstract Expressionism." - Art News Annual, 1959. In 1975, Gambini received the Mark Rothko Foundation Grant and moved to San Diego, California. He continues to maintain a rigorous schedule of painting and sculpting in his North Park studio. In 1999, he was awarded the prestigious Pollock/Krasner Foundation Grant. "Drawing and painting ... are intimately connected because I believe the "ACT" of expression of line, shape, contour, form, object, sound, and silence, with their relationship of the space on the flat surface, together with color definitions, such as hues, darks, lights, and implemented in pencil, pen, brush, ink, crayon, charcoal, or pigment, as desired by an individual's act, expresses the visual all at once, and becomes a "unity of the whole"." "Painting for me is a visual experience; a learning process of life and living. I do not have a technique; instead, I use a method which I have developed over the years. The arrangement of configurations, with pigment and color placed on the flat 2-dimensional canvas surface, creates light in time and space without shadows, modeling or perspective." "My thoughts and feelings are to create a vast climactic, mystic, peripheral condition on the canvas surface by controlling and balancing opposing forces to create a unity of events relating them in time and space." -William Gambini
Broward Auction Gallery LLC
May. 03, 2020
William Gambini (NY,CA,1918-2010) oil painting
Est: $850 - $950
ARTIST: William Gambini (New York, California, 1918 - 2010) NAME: Youth MEDIUM: oil on board CONDITION: Excellent. No visible inpaint under UV light. Wear to frame. SIGHT SIZE: 24 x 24 inches / 60 x 60 cm FRAME SIZE: 27 x 27 inches / 67 x 67 cm SIGNATURE: Lower left and on verso CATEGORY: antique vintage painting SKU#: 115643 WARRANTY: 7 days returns accepted if item doesn't match description US Shipping $75 + insurance. William Gambini (New York, California, 1918 - 2010) William Gambini was born in 1918 and grew up in Brooklyn, New York. In the 1950's, as a member of the New York School of Painting, his involvement in organizing the 10th Street Cooperative Gallery Movement gained him major recognition. Gambini was with the March Gallery until 1960, when it disbanded. Gambini's circle of friends included legendary painters like: Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and Elaine de Kooning, Franz Kline, Louise Nevelson, Joan Mitchell, Arshile Gorky, Hans Hofmann, Mark Rothko, and Adolph Gottlieb. The important writer and critic of the day, Harold Rosenberg, recognized Gambini as "one of the most promising young painters who would become an inheritor of Abstract Expressionism." - Art News Annual, 1959. In 1975, Gambini received the Mark Rothko Foundation Grant and moved to San Diego, California. He continues to maintain a rigorous schedule of painting and sculpting in his North Park studio. In 1999, he was awarded the prestigious Pollock/Krasner Foundation Grant. "Drawing and painting ... are intimately connected because I believe the "ACT" of expression of line, shape, contour, form, object, sound, and silence, with their relationship of the space on the flat surface, together with color definitions, such as hues, darks, lights, and implemented in pencil, pen, brush, ink, crayon, charcoal, or pigment, as desired by an individual's act, expresses the visual all at once, and becomes a "unity of the whole"." "Painting for me is a visual experience; a learning process of life and living. I do not have a technique; instead, I use a method which I have developed over the years. The arrangement of configurations, with pigment and color placed on the flat 2-dimensional canvas surface, creates light in time and space without shadows, modeling or perspective." "My thoughts and feelings are to create a vast climactic, mystic, peripheral condition on the canvas surface by controlling and balancing opposing forces to create a unity of events relating them in time and space." -William Gambini
Broward Auction Gallery LLC
Apr. 23, 2020
William Gambini (NY/CA, 1918-2010), Large Abstract Expressionist Painting
Est: $25 - $25,000
William Gambini (NY/CA, 1918-2010), Large Abstract Expressionist Painting oil on canvas, 1960, signed and dated to canvas verso, in black floater frame. DOA 35.75 x 53 in. Additional high-resolution photos are available at LelandLittle.com
Leland Little Auctions
Mar. 01, 2020
William Gambini (NY,CA,1918-2010) oil painting
Est: $850 - $950
ARTIST: William Gambini (New York, California, 1918 - 2010) NAME: Youth MEDIUM: oil on board CONDITION: Excellent. No visible inpaint under UV light. Wear to frame. SIGHT SIZE: 24 x 24 inches / 60 x 60 cm FRAME SIZE: 27 x 27 inches / 67 x 67 cm SIGNATURE: Lower left and on verso CATEGORY: antique vintage painting SKU#: 115643 WARRANTY: 7 days returns accepted if item doesn't match description US Shipping $75 + insurance. William Gambini (New York, California, 1918 - 2010) William Gambini was born in 1918 and grew up in Brooklyn, New York. In the 1950's, as a member of the New York School of Painting, his involvement in organizing the 10th Street Cooperative Gallery Movement gained him major recognition. Gambini was with the March Gallery until 1960, when it disbanded. Gambini's circle of friends included legendary painters like: Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and Elaine de Kooning, Franz Kline, Louise Nevelson, Joan Mitchell, Arshile Gorky, Hans Hofmann, Mark Rothko, and Adolph Gottlieb. The important writer and critic of the day, Harold Rosenberg, recognized Gambini as "one of the most promising young painters who would become an inheritor of Abstract Expressionism." - Art News Annual, 1959. In 1975, Gambini received the Mark Rothko Foundation Grant and moved to San Diego, California. He continues to maintain a rigorous schedule of painting and sculpting in his North Park studio. In 1999, he was awarded the prestigious Pollock/Krasner Foundation Grant. "Drawing and painting ... are intimately connected because I believe the "ACT" of expression of line, shape, contour, form, object, sound, and silence, with their relationship of the space on the flat surface, together with color definitions, such as hues, darks, lights, and implemented in pencil, pen, brush, ink, crayon, charcoal, or pigment, as desired by an individual's act, expresses the visual all at once, and becomes a "unity of the whole"." "Painting for me is a visual experience; a learning process of life and living. I do not have a technique; instead, I use a method which I have developed over the years. The arrangement of configurations, with pigment and color placed on the flat 2-dimensional canvas surface, creates light in time and space without shadows, modeling or perspective." "My thoughts and feelings are to create a vast climactic, mystic, peripheral condition on the canvas surface by controlling and balancing opposing forces to create a unity of events relating them in time and space." -William Gambini
Broward Auction Gallery LLC
Dec. 08, 2019
William Gambini (NY,CA,1918-2010) oil painting
Est: $950 - $1,050
ARTIST: William Gambini (New York, California, 1918 - 2010) NAME: Youth MEDIUM: oil on board CONDITION: Excellent. No visible inpaint under UV light. Wear to frame. SIGHT SIZE: 24 x 24 inches / 60 x 60 cm FRAME SIZE: 27 x 27 inches / 67 x 67 cm SIGNATURE: Lower left and on verso CATEGORY: antique vintage painting SKU#: 115643 WARRANTY: 7 days returns accepted if item doesn't match description US Shipping $75 + insurance. William Gambini (New York, California, 1918 - 2010) William Gambini was born in 1918 and grew up in Brooklyn, New York. In the 1950's, as a member of the New York School of Painting, his involvement in organizing the 10th Street Cooperative Gallery Movement gained him major recognition. Gambini was with the March Gallery until 1960, when it disbanded. Gambini's circle of friends included legendary painters like: Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and Elaine de Kooning, Franz Kline, Louise Nevelson, Joan Mitchell, Arshile Gorky, Hans Hofmann, Mark Rothko, and Adolph Gottlieb. The important writer and critic of the day, Harold Rosenberg, recognized Gambini as "one of the most promising young painters who would become an inheritor of Abstract Expressionism." - Art News Annual, 1959. In 1975, Gambini received the Mark Rothko Foundation Grant and moved to San Diego, California. He continues to maintain a rigorous schedule of painting and sculpting in his North Park studio. In 1999, he was awarded the prestigious Pollock/Krasner Foundation Grant. "Drawing and painting ... are intimately connected because I believe the "ACT" of expression of line, shape, contour, form, object, sound, and silence, with their relationship of the space on the flat surface, together with color definitions, such as hues, darks, lights, and implemented in pencil, pen, brush, ink, crayon, charcoal, or pigment, as desired by an individual's act, expresses the visual all at once, and becomes a "unity of the whole"." "Painting for me is a visual experience; a learning process of life and living. I do not have a technique; instead, I use a method which I have developed over the years. The arrangement of configurations, with pigment and color placed on the flat 2-dimensional canvas surface, creates light in time and space without shadows, modeling or perspective." "My thoughts and feelings are to create a vast climactic, mystic, peripheral condition on the canvas surface by controlling and balancing opposing forces to create a unity of events relating them in time and space." -William Gambini
Broward Auction Gallery LLC
Nov. 19, 2019
William Gambini American, 1918-2010 Bouyancy #5, 1963-64
Est: $2,000 - $3,000
William Gambini American, 1918-2010 Bouyancy #5, 1963-64 Signed Gambini, dated 1963-64 and inscribed as titled on the reverse Oil on canvas 66 1/8 x 70 3/4 inches Provenance: Galerie Internationale, New York Thence by descent to the current owner C
DOYLE Auctioneers & Appraisers
Jun. 26, 2019
William Gambini American, 1918-2010 Youth
Est: $1,000 - $1,500
William Gambini American, 1918-2010 Youth Signed Gambini (ll), signed Gambini (lr), signed Gambini and inscribed as titled on the reverse Oil on Masonite 24 x 24 inches C
DOYLE Auctioneers & Appraisers
Jun. 05, 2019
William Gambini American, 1918-2010 Untitled #4 (Raindrop Series), 1984-85
Est: $1,500 - $2,500
William Gambini American, 1918-2010 Untitled #4 (Raindrop Series), 1984-85 Signed Gambini (lr); signed Gambini, dated 1984-85 and inscribed Helen / #4 / Raindrop Series / In memory of Helen Wild the artist, mother-in-law March 13, 1984 on the reverse Acrylic on canvas 50 x 40 inches C
DOYLE Auctioneers & Appraisers
Jan. 25, 2019
William Gambini (1918-2010): Untitled
Est: $700 - $900
Oil on canvas with collage, 1960, signed 'Gambini' and dated on the reverse.21 x 26 in., 21 1/2 x 26 1/2 in. (frame).
STAIR
Dec. 08, 2018
William Gambini (1918-2010): Untitled
Est: $1,000 - $1,500
Oil on canvas with collage, 1960, signed 'Gambini' and dated on the reverse.21 x 26 in., 21 1/2 x 26 1/2 in. (frame).
STAIR
Dec. 08, 2018
William Gambini (1918-2010): Untitled
Est: $1,500 - $3,000
Oil on canvas, 1960, signed 'Gambini and dated on the reverse.33 x 50 in., unframed.
STAIR
Dec. 08, 2018
William Gambini: (1918-2010): Long Island Sound Night and Light
Est: $2,000 - $5,000
Oil on canvas, 1956-57, signed 'Gambini' lower right, titled and dated on the reverse.40 1/2 x 95 1/2 in., 41 x 96 in. (frame).Note: One of the last remaining artists from the New York School at his death in 2010, Gambini was part of the inner circle of Abstract Expressionist painters that included Jackson Pollock, Joan Mitchell, Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning. In 1975, he received the Mark Rothko Foundation Grant and moved from New York City to San Diego, where he lived and worked until his death. Actively painting until the end, Gambini made a large portrait of Michelle and Barack Obama at the age of 91.
STAIR
Mar. 13, 2018
William Gambini American, 1918-2010 Chief Rainbow, 1963
Est: $1,000 - $1,500
William Gambini American, 1918-2010 Chief Rainbow, 1963 Signed Gambini, dated 1963 and inscribed as titled on the reverse 68 1/2 x 53 1/2 inches (174 x 135.9 cm) Provenance: Galerie Internationale, New York Thence by descent to the current owner
DOYLE Auctioneers & Appraisers
Jun. 26, 2017
William Gambini (1919-2010)
Est: $50 - $75
William Gambini (1919-2010) one of the last remaining artists from the influential New York School of abstract expressionism of the 1950s. He was friends with some of the most prominent cultural figures of the mid-20th century. Famed abstract expressionists Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko and Franz Kline were among his friends in the New York City art scene of the 1950s. But Mr. Gambini also could regale listeners with stories about his experiences around the world. He drank with Ernest Hemingway in a Havana bar during World War II and created watercolors for the author. When on leave from the Army in Paris at the end of the war, Mr. Gambini knocked on the door of Pablo Picasso, who was very appreciative of soldiers and let him stay in his studio three nights. In the early 1950s, he painted murals with Diego Rivera in Mexico City and also did drawings for contemporary dance pioneer Martha Graham. He talked of working as an extra in a Hollywood movie in the 1940s with a young actress known as Norma Jeane Baker, who soon changed her name to Marilyn Monroe. Mr. Gambini earned recognition in his own right. He had solo exhibitions at museums in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego. His work was part of group exhibitions in Houston, Boston and Italy, among other places. His abstract expressionism won him prestigious grants from the Mark Rothko Foundation in 1975 and the Pollock/Krasner Foundation in 1999. Mr. Gambini was “brilliant but underrecognized” after the mid-1970s because he didn’t live in a major art center. Offered here is an 1953 [plate signed] original lithograph from IMPROVISATIONS. Noted artists drew directly on the lithographic plates. Each was used as an ad for various businesses. The proceeds went to Artists Equity. Sheet size is approx. 12 x 8-1/2. Very light right edge toning o/w VG.
East Coast Books
Apr. 18, 2017
William Gambini (1919-2010)
Est: $50 - $75
William Gambini (1919-2010) one of the last remaining artists from the influential New York School of abstract expressionism of the 1950s. He was friends with some of the most prominent cultural figures of the mid-20th century. Famed abstract expressionists Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko and Franz Kline were among his friends in the New York City art scene of the 1950s. But Mr. Gambini also could regale listeners with stories about his experiences around the world. He drank with Ernest Hemingway in a Havana bar during World War II and created watercolors for the author. When on leave from the Army in Paris at the end of the war, Mr. Gambini knocked on the door of Pablo Picasso, who was very appreciative of soldiers and let him stay in his studio three nights. In the early 1950s, he painted murals with Diego Rivera in Mexico City and also did drawings for contemporary dance pioneer Martha Graham. He talked of working as an extra in a Hollywood movie in the 1940s with a young actress known as Norma Jeane Baker, who soon changed her name to Marilyn Monroe. Mr. Gambini earned recognition in his own right. He had solo exhibitions at museums in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego. His work was part of group exhibitions in Houston, Boston and Italy, among other places. His abstract expressionism won him prestigious grants from the Mark Rothko Foundation in 1975 and the Pollock/Krasner Foundation in 1999. Mr. Gambini was ??brilliant but underrecognized?? after the mid-1970s because he didn??t live in a major art center. Offered here is an 1953 [plate signed] original lithograph from IMPROVISATIONS. Noted artists drew directly on the lithographic plates. Each was used as an ad for various businesses. The proceeds went to Artists Equity. Sheet size is approx. 12 x 8-1/2.
East Coast Books
Jan. 25, 2017
William Gambini (1919-2010)
Est: $50 - $75
William Gambini (1919-2010) one of the last remaining artists from the influential New York School of abstract expressionism of the 1950s. He was friends with some of the most prominent cultural figures of the mid-20th century. Famed abstract expressionists Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko and Franz Kline were among his friends in the New York City art scene of the 1950s. But Mr. Gambini also could regale listeners with stories about his experiences around the world. He drank with Ernest Hemingway in a Havana bar during World War II and created watercolors for the author. When on leave from the Army in Paris at the end of the war, Mr. Gambini knocked on the door of Pablo Picasso, who was very appreciative of soldiers and let him stay in his studio three nights. In the early 1950s, he painted murals with Diego Rivera in Mexico City and also did drawings for contemporary dance pioneer Martha Graham. He talked of working as an extra in a Hollywood movie in the 1940s with a young actress known as Norma Jeane Baker, who soon changed her name to Marilyn Monroe. Mr. Gambini earned recognition in his own right. He had solo exhibitions at museums in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego. His work was part of group exhibitions in Houston, Boston and Italy, among other places. His abstract expressionism won him prestigious grants from the Mark Rothko Foundation in 1975 and the Pollock/Krasner Foundation in 1999. Mr. Gambini was ??brilliant but underrecognized?? after the mid-1970s because he didn??t live in a major art center. Offered here is an 1953 [plate signed] original lithograph from IMPROVISATIONS. Noted artists drew directly on the lithographic plates. Each was used as an ad for various businesses. The proceeds went to Artists Equity. Sheet size is approx. 12 x 8-1/2.
East Coast Books
Dec. 22, 2016
William Gambini (1919-2010)
Est: $50 - $75
William Gambini (1919-2010) one of the last remaining artists from the influential New York School of abstract expressionism of the 1950s. He was friends with some of the most prominent cultural figures of the mid-20th century. Famed abstract expressionists Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko and Franz Kline were among his friends in the New York City art scene of the 1950s. But Mr. Gambini also could regale listeners with stories about his experiences around the world. He drank with Ernest Hemingway in a Havana bar during World War II and created watercolors for the author. When on leave from the Army in Paris at the end of the war, Mr. Gambini knocked on the door of Pablo Picasso, who was very appreciative of soldiers and let him stay in his studio three nights. In the early 1950s, he painted murals with Diego Rivera in Mexico City and also did drawings for contemporary dance pioneer Martha Graham. He talked of working as an extra in a Hollywood movie in the 1940s with a young actress known as Norma Jeane Baker, who soon changed her name to Marilyn Monroe. Mr. Gambini earned recognition in his own right. He had solo exhibitions at museums in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego. His work was part of group exhibitions in Houston, Boston and Italy, among other places. His abstract expressionism won him prestigious grants from the Mark Rothko Foundation in 1975 and the Pollock/Krasner Foundation in 1999. Mr. Gambini was Õbrilliant but underrecognizedÕÐ after the mid-1970s because he didnÕÇt live in a major art center. Offered here is an 1953 [plate signed] original lithograph from IMPROVISATIONS. Noted artists drew directly on the lithographic plates. Each was used as an ad for various businesses. The proceeds went to Artists Equity. Sheet size is approx. 12 x 8-1/2.
East Coast Books
Oct. 06, 2016
William Gambini (1919-2010)
Est: $50 - $75
William Gambini (1919-2010) one of the last remaining artists from the influential New York School of abstract expressionism of the 1950s. He was friends with some of the most prominent cultural figures of the mid-20th century. Famed abstract expressionists Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko and Franz Kline were among his friends in the New York City art scene of the 1950s. But Mr. Gambini also could regale listeners with stories about his experiences around the world. He drank with Ernest Hemingway in a Havana bar during World War II and created watercolors for the author. When on leave from the Army in Paris at the end of the war, Mr. Gambini knocked on the door of Pablo Picasso, who was very appreciative of soldiers and let him stay in his studio three nights. In the early 1950s, he painted murals with Diego Rivera in Mexico City and also did drawings for contemporary dance pioneer Martha Graham. He talked of working as an extra in a Hollywood movie in the 1940s with a young actress known as Norma Jeane Baker, who soon changed her name to Marilyn Monroe. Mr. Gambini earned recognition in his own right. He had solo exhibitions at museums in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego. His work was part of group exhibitions in Houston, Boston and Italy, among other places. His abstract expressionism won him prestigious grants from the Mark Rothko Foundation in 1975 and the Pollock/Krasner Foundation in 1999. Mr. Gambini was Òbrilliant but underrecognizedÓ after the mid-1970s because he didnÕt live in a major art center. Offered here is an 1953 [plate signed] original lithograph from IMPROVISATIONS. Noted artists drew directly on the lithographic plates. Each was used as an ad for various businesses. The proceeds went to Artists Equity. Sheet size is approx. 12 x 8-1/2.
East Coast Books