Abstract
CHARLES HOUGHTON HOWARD (1899–1978)
Untitled No. 3, 1966
Oil on canvas, 33 1/2 x 47 1/2 in.
Signed with initials and dated (at lower right): CH / 66
EX COLL.: the artist; by gift to private collection, Bagni di Lucca, Italy, 1970s until the present
Because of his painstakingly methodical working process, Howard mostly restricted himself to smaller canvases. Untitled No. 3, painted in 1966, is one of Howard’s rare larger paintings. It conforms to Howard’s style of the 1950s and 1960s, wherein the more globular, biomorphic forms of his works from the 1940s give way to broader areas of color arranged in a taut matrix. In the present canvas, Howard has employed a monochromatic palette, further placing the emphasis on pure form.
Untitled No. 3 was given by Howard as one of a group of ten works to a close friend of his in Bagni di Lucca, Italy. The work has remained in that collection until the present time.
