A Higher Order

Cataloging these works with data about associated manufacturers or corporations of their materials  delivers a comprehensive picture of the industrial economy within which American artists across racial and economic divides found themselves. While access to fabrication methods and education for the artists presented here varied due to gender, race and class barriers, they are united by an impulse to connect to a Higher Order.  Materials of industry and commerce are transformed to directly engage in conversation with the divine.

The people who weep before my pictures are having the same religious experience I had when I painted them.”  

                                                             - Mark Rothko (American painter, born Russia, 1903–1970)

“Drawing is the only thing I think is good for the Lord.
I try to draw because He is wonderful to me.”  

                                                                                                                       - Nellie Mae Rowe (1900–1982)

"My icons do not raise up the blessed savior in elaborate cathedrals, they are constructed concentrations celebrating barren rooms.
They bring a limited light." 

                                                                                                                                         - Dan Flavin  (1933–1996)

“I make collages. I join the shattered world creating a new harmony.” 

                                               – Louise Nevelson (American sculptor, born Ukraine, 1899–1988)