Background
Gertrude Glass was the daughter of Siegfried and Berta Glass who owned a department store in Brooklyn, New New York
Gertrude Glass was the daughter of Siegfried and Berta Glass who owned a department store in Brooklyn, New New York
Glass married Balcomb Greene in 1926 after he graduated from Syracuse University, and traveled with him to Vienna, Austria, where he pursued graduate studies in psychology. The couple moved back to New York in 1927 where Balcomb attended Columbia University to study for a master"s degree in English literature, while she continued study sculpture.
Greene was one of the earliest American artists, possibly the first, to produce non-objective relief sculptures in the early 1930s. She synthesized Cubist and Russian Constructivists themes into her work. By the 1940s, her work showed her interest in Mondrian and Neo-Plasticism.
She produced her last sculpture in 1946 and for the rest of life she concentrated on abstract painting.
Nonetheless, her paintings never completely lost a "sense of architectural structure". Grace Borgenicht Gallery had the first solo exhibition of her work in 1951, and another was held at the Bertha Schaefer Gallery in 1955.
A painting of Greene"s was chosen for the cover of Arts Magazine in April 1982, which featured an article about Greene"s paintings, written by Jacqueline Moss. There was a retrospective of her work at American Counseling Association Gallery in 1982.
Greene"s work can be found in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Brooklyn Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Berkshire Museum.
Greene supported many liberal political causes affecting artists. The Greenes were active with the American Automobile Association committees, and worked to gain acceptance of abstract art by picketing museums that did not feature works of abstract artist. Her health rapidly deteriorated and on November 25, 1956, Gertrude died at a New York City hospital of cancer.
They were founding members of the American Abstract s organization. She "encouraged the formation of World Pet Association programs to help struggling artists" and was "an active member of the Federation of Painters and Sculptors, the s" Union, and a founding member of American Abstract son" Gertrude worked as a gallery attendant at the American Automobile Association"s first annual exhibition, and was the group"s first paid employee. Lee Krasner called Greene an "up front" person and said she was one of the most active members of the American Automobile Association.