Earl Cavis Kerkam (1891– 1965) was an American painter. According to Willem de Kooning, Philip Guston, Mark Rothko, George Spaventa and Esteban Vicente, he “was one of the finest painters to come out of America.”[1] Gerald Norland wrote at the Earl Kerkam Memorial Exhibition in 1966:[2]

Earl Kerkam
Born(1891-10-07)October 7, 1891
DiedJanuary 12, 1965(1965-01-12) (aged 73)
NationalityAmerican
Known forPainting
MovementAbstract expressionism; New York Figurative Expressionism
”A painter of enormous poetic awareness, self-directed, almost totally without direct influence, he stands as an original American artist in the best sense.”

Earl Kerkam painted and lived in Paris, France in the early 1950s. There, Kerkam developed a mentor and collegial relationship with the artist Norman Carton which extended through their returns to New York City, the 1955 Whitney Annual, and their solo exhibits at World House in the 1960s.

Earl Kerkam died on January 12, 1965, in New York City.

Selected solo exhibitions

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Roslyn, easel painting for the Federal Art Project in New York City

Selected group exhibitions

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Public collections

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Wartime conservation poster designed for the Federal Art Project in New York City

See also

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References

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  • Smithsonian Institution Research Information System; Archival, Manuscript and Photographic Collections, Earl Kerkam
  • Marika Herskovic, American Abstract and Figurative Expressionism: Style Is Timely Art Is Timeless (New York School Press, 2009.) ISBN 978-0-9677994-2-1. p.  136-139 p. 140-143
  • Marika Herskovic, New York School Abstract Expressionists Artists Choice by Artists, Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine (New York School Press, 2000.) ISBN 0-9677994-0-6. p. 16; p. 37; p. 198-201
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