Spector, George

Little is known about George Spector. He was a Russian immigrant to the United States and lived in the New York City area. Between 1913 and 1914 he got a diploma from the Cooper Union Night School of Art and received recognition for the category “Drawing from Life.” Given Spector's grasp of detail and three dimensional modeling, it seems possible that he had formal art training prior to the Cooper Union. He exhibited at the Salons of America in 1926 and 1927. 2 works at the Index of American Design. 7 more images at FAP.

Works in the New Deal Collection at GVCA by George Spector:

Featured
Tulips
Tulips

Two curtains in warm yellow and pink frame the painting from the right, with the rest of the background in a mesh of cool blues and greens in a quasi-watercolor style. The brushstrokes are evident and very thick in some parts of the background. The middle ground houses an emerald vase with seven pink tulips, six yellow tulips, and two red tulips all in full bloom. The area of the clearest focus is in the foreground, centered on the pink paint jar, with paint splotches around it, but an obvious absence of a paint brush. Even in the darkest shadows of the painting, there is no black paint used, and other colors mixed together to create darker hues. This demonstrates formal art training, because the usage of black paint, when mixed with white paint, grays out a painting. By not using black paint, the vibrant hues stand out more.

Peonies
Peonies

The focus of the still life painting is a vase of multicolored peonies. Spector shows skillful creation of the 3D geometric forms of the flower petals and vase, with a light source coming from the bottom right. The background is unusual in its abstraction, it suggests the idea of a corner of a room. It uses the same color palette as the flowers, with thin paint and visible brush strokes.

spectorGVCA