David Budd (1927 - 1991) New York, Florida / France Picasso Inspired Abstract Clown

{self arranged packing & shipping or free in house pick up}  watercolor/ gouache on paper abstract clown portrait with cubist influences, 20 3/4" x 14 1/2" sight, free hand cut matting under acrylic (some abrasions) in 31 1/2" x 27 1/2" framed. David Budd attended the School of Architecture at the University of Florida at Gainesville from 1946 to 1948, and afterwards moved to New York. He joined the Art Students League in 1954, and frequented the Cedar Street Tavern, where he befriended fellow artists Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, and Franz Kline. Budd worked in the Abstract Expressionist style until the 1960s, at which point he turned to more monochromatic work with highly textured surfaces. His first solo exhibition was held in 1956 at American University in Washington DC, followed by significant shows at Betty Parsons Gallery, New York in 1958 and Galerie Stadler, Paris in 1960. In 1960 Budd became disillusioned with the art scene in New York and moved to Paris, where he remained for much of the next decade. Later, he lived in the Hamptons, working and exhibiting as an active member of the East End scene. Budd was the recipient of grants from the National Endowment of the Arts in 1973 and the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in 1984. Budd's work is included in many prominent collections including the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Corcoran Gallery of Art. A retrospective exhibition is planned for 2009 at the Gulf Coast Museum of Art in Largo, Florida.