Eugene Massin, Guitar Player, 1953, lacquer on board, 48 by 48 inches. Signed dated upper right, E. Massin 53, exhibit label verso Charles Cowles Gallery 420 West Broadway, NYC
Eugene Massin, a native of Galveston, Texas, came to Miami in 1953 as a member of the art department at the University of Miami. Massin previously taught at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and the University of South Carolina. He worked using lacquer layered directly onto a board background, a technique he learned in Mexico where he worked as an assistant to the muralist David Siqueiros. Art critics called him an Expressionist. The Miami Herald said of his work, “The Massin abstractions, all take off from an imaginative conception, show up very well and are done in that painter’s usual vivid coloring. If you look long enough, you can always find the taking off point.” He had a studio was at 712 N.E. 79th Street.
Eugene Massin, oil on board, untitled, 39 by 36.5 inches. Signed and dated lower right, E. Massin, 56.
Education: University of Chicago, MFA; Art Institute of Chicago, fellowship; Universitario de Bellas Artes, San Miguel, Mexico. Exhibits: James Nelson Fellowship, Art Institute of Chicago, 1948; Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1953, Dancers; Sea Isle Gallery of Contemporary Art, sponsored by City of Miami Beach, November 1953, honorary exhibitor and juror; Lowe Art Gallery, 2nd Annual Exhibit, University of Miami, December 1953-January 1954, Study of a Horse; Lowe Gallery, Miami 1954, Highwire Rider; Coconut Grove Playhouse, October 1954, one man show; Jack Amoroso Studio Craft Shop, Coconut Grove, 1954, Grasshopper, Wise Kings, Clown With Monkey, View of Miami; Society of The Four Arts and Lowe Art Gallery, Annual Exhibit, Palm Beach, Miami, April-May 1954, oil, Pilgrimage; Society of The Four Arts, Contemporary American Painting Exhibition, January 1955; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, November 1955, Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting, The Guitar Player; Society of The Four Arts, University of Miami, Lowe Gallery, Patronato De Bellas Artes Y Museos Nacionales, Palm Beach, Miami, Havana, December 1955, January, February, 1956, Still Life Composition; University of Miami, art faculty exhibit in lecture gallery, May 1956; Harry Rich Art Competition, July 1956, honorable mention, for Wise Kings; The Gallery, Coral Way, September 1958, Fish; Play house Gallery, Coconut Grove, February 1959; University of Miami Art Faculty Exhibit, Tampa Art Institute, May 1959; Natalie Baskin Gallery, Coconut Grove, October-November 1960, group exhibit; Brooklyn Museum; Academy of Art, Brisbane, Australia; University of Oklahoma; Cornell; Beloit College; High Gallery, Atlanta.
