User:Jpquist/Alfred Skondovitch

Alfred Skondovitch lives and works in Fairbanks, Alaska. He first exhibited his work in the early 50's when he lived in New York City. At that time he painted with Elaine and Wilem de Kooning, Franz Kline and Robert DeNiro Sr. His shows while in New York received rave reviews (Dore Aston - New York Times news  Dec 21, 1955)  Alfred Skondovitch's work is on display at the the Museum of University of Alaska, Fairbanks Campus, the Juneau Museum, Steve Keller Allied Architectural Company, January 2011 in Fairbanks, AlasAnchorage Daily News, 2002

The New York Times, Dec. 21, 1955, by Dore Ashton "Show at the Poindexter Gallery Offers an Index to Contemporary Trends" Moments of exploration, intuitive notation and recreation in the lives of more than fifty contemporary artists are recorded in a cross-section exhibition of drawings, water-colors and small oils at the Poindexter Gallery, 46 East Fifty-Seventh Street. The show stresses informal aspects of work being done today by both the major American painters many of them abstract, and by lesser known but gifted artists. And, without intending to (which is the best way), the organizers of this exhibition offer a useful index to trends in contemporary art. Among the many painters represented with distinctive work are Richard Diebenkorn, who, even when working with a small format succeeds in suggesting vast spaces; David Sawin, with black-and-white studies of light behind the picture-plane; Joan Mitchell, whose brush flows easily in informal oils; Philip Guston, with drifting calligraphic black-and-white gouaches; Jack Tworkov, whose pencil drawing with its whirring line describes excitement; Esteban Vicente, with elegant black-and-white collages, and Alfred Skondovitch, who paints small, moving landscapes. Others represented with equally good work are Willem deKooning, Franz Kline, William Scharf, Dorothy Heller, Michael Goldberg, Sylvia Wald, Wolf Kahn, Felix Pasilis and Joe Stefanelli.

The New York Times, 1956, by D.A. (Dore Ashton) "Abstractions by Cajori are Exhibited—Negro Painters in Downtown Show" If the color of Bonnard were multiplied in intensity, and the brush forms magnified, one would have an approximate simile for the abstractions by Charles Cajori at the Tanager Gallery, 90 East Tenth Street. Cajori’s lusty color is applied in loose areas, built up to suggest landscape, but landscape tilted and flattened. Where before Cajori’s compositions had unmistakable naturalistic references, such as horizon and sky in the expected place, he now allows more ambiguous relationships. Yellows, oranges, aquamarines and pinks indicate sundrenched subjects scattered on an abstract field. One large vertical canvas, painted thinly but with assurance, contrasts deep-hued colors in a way to suggest an underlying poetry more subtle than in other paintings where color blaze tends to override structure. Four young painters are showing recent work at the Poindexter Gallery, 46 East Fifty-seventh Street. William Scharf’s larger oils present soft, billowy shapes reflecting against a barely implied geometer’s square. His clean-washed color is reinforced with delicate line. In smaller works he seems able to concentrate his imagery more forcefully. Dan Rice paints horizontal abstractions in hazy color; Alfred Skondovitch shows moody, often stirring impressions of nocturnal landscapes; and Nora Speyer shows sketchy figure studies, disguised with exuberant but insufficiently controlled expressionist brushing. Along with racing cars, vacuum cleaners and better Bibles in the First Exposition of Negro Progress (Wanamaker Building, Broadway and Eighth Street, a number of well-known painters are represented in a special exhibition. The show ranges from the semi-abstract paintings in New York by veteran painter Beauford Delaney to the simple image of downtown Manhattan by Edward Webster, a postal clerk, Ernest Crichlow, Ellis Wilson, Eldzier Cortor, Merton Simpson, Jacob Lawrence and Walter Williams are among other painters who have made achievements in

Art News, 1956, by Thomas Hess "'Four Painters" [Poindexter; to Apr. 21] All draw enthusiasm and maturity of outlook from current, more-or-less abstract American styles. Talent, in the New York ambiance, seems to be released quickly; who knows whether this is good or bad? Nora Speyer, originally of Pittsburgh, was seen a few months ago in a Museum of Modern Art "New Talent" exhibition [A.N., Jan. ‘56]. She paints nudes in the lush manner—heavy surfaces and thick strokes—which is becoming conventional among young New York artists. The figures are posed with an eye for odd angles, which add some garlic to the local cuisine. William Scharf—who has a job as a guard at the Museum of Modern Art—paints thinly, with washes of oil modeling sexy forms from the lexicon of Gorky. Some tiny sketches—somewhat over-lush—show a knack for vivid effects of hot colors and whipped-cream whites. Daniel Rice comes to the city via California and Black Mountain (where he worked near but not in the College). He paints beautiful walls of color, troweling on earth colors with stains of mineral hues spreading here and there. His big painting has an easy air of monumentality. The fourth artist, Alfred Skondovitch, was born in England, he is the least New Yorker of the New Yorkers. Something of a visionary, he sees marine landscapes in blue-greens that shimmer under impastos—a bit like Darrel Austin, but with a stronger quirk which saves the paintings from banality. They appear truly eccentric. Prices unquoted.

The Los Angeles Times, May 22, 1961, by Cordell Hicks "Alaska Jobs Support Claremont Art Colony" Men Work in North During Summer, Earn Money to Carry On for Rest of Year Art, like food and shelter, is one of the basic necessities of man. In the earliest days, when a cave was called home, the walls were decorated with paintings of the hunt, or with themes of mystic significance. All over the world artists group together by choice. There is the Left Bank of Paris, Greenwich Village in New York, in Mexico at Puebla there is the "Barrio del Artista." And then there is the colony of young and talented men and women of Claremont. "Works Bought Up" A short time ago an art auction was held in Claremont on W Football Blvd. At the experimental, concerted effort paintings, drawings, prints, sculpture, pottery, tapestries and mosaic works created by the artists sold to the vanishing point on a rainy day—and with little advance notice. Because some of the works were from young men who have received international recognition the question arose among art lovers "Why Claremont?" An informal survey of six of the 35 or 40 who live in the college town and pursue their several art fields there brought answers with many points of similarity. "Four Are Married" Of the six, four are married—three of them have children. All have homes in Claremont and three have separate studios. They range in age from 23 to 32. All have attended either Claremont Men’s College, Claremont College, Harvey Mudd College, Pomona College or Scripps College, or used the art facilities of the five associated schools. It is the practice of the men to go each summer to Alaska to work as firefighters and surveyors. This furnishes the money that enables them to devote the rest of the year to being artists. As they receive recognition (and financial rewards) in the arts their place on the annual migration to the 49th state is taken by other—and still struggling—artists. "All Own Dog" They own a large dog as common property. "Prado" made his first trip over the Alcan Highway when a pup. The mastiff is fed first always—and if times are hard the humans eat lightly to assure his meals. All help each other when there is need but imposition is not allowed. "We steal each other’s paint but not ideas. We all have plenty of our own," one of them said. Jack Zajac, 32, has an artist wife, Corda, and a child. He is a tall, forceful ex-steel mill hand, fisherman, café violin player, whose works are now exhibited in Los Angeles, Rome, New York, Honolulu, Chicago, Sao Paulo, Santa Barbara and Pasadena. Zajac has been written about in magazines and newspapers. Critics invariably term him "a true genius." His major switch from painting to sculpture began with his Easter Goats in bronze. He is now working on heroic-size figures in his studio. "I still want to paint," he says, "but sculpture seems the thing because I do not have all the larcenous technical knowledge and am forced to make my images the hard way." James Strombotne, 26, like Zajac, chooses Claremont "because of circumstances, sentiment and the ‘right’ artistic atmosphere." His powerful paintings show his inner tension. Tall and lean, he is called one of the most promising of the young figurative artists. "Some day, in my own mind, I must feel I produced great works of art," he says. "Great art is my only concern." "Proud of Kiln" His works are featured in national news and art magazines. "I make pots. Call me a potter," said Lindley Mixon, 25. He is proud of a monumental kiln which he designed and built. Its temperature ranges to more than 2300 degrees. The studio, with its kiln, is much larger than the apartment which he occupies with his young schoolgirl wife, Joyce. Mixon’s stoneware, hand-thrown originals, is a high-fired clay with the same structure as California’s granite rocks. "I learned to live on $80 a month and less at one time. I support myself with my own work—one of the few potters who do." "Studied at Columbia" Alfred Skondovitch, 32, born in England, studied at Columbia’s fine arts school in New York. He usually spends two months each winter in Paris. Sooner or later he returns to Claremont—and paints. "There is less wear and tear on the nerves. One can survive better and work better here." His goal: "To become a good painter." His works are in galleries in the East. He will join the artist migration to Alaska to work this month—then he goes back to Paris for more painting and study.

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, October 16, 1961 Fairbanks Artists Are Planning Busy Winter A group of Fairbanks artists and their friends gathered for a potlatch Friday evening in Patricia Kniffen’s studio in Slaterville to discuss plans for a busy season of exhibitions. The group was informed that Joseph Fejes planned to open Fairbanks’ first art gallery in the near future. The gallery will be located in the basement beneath Fejes’ business. The gallery will feature a series of exhibitions by top Alaskan artists and is a long-awaited step forward in Alaskan culture. Visiting artist Alfred Skondovitch, who has exhibited in New York galleries, gave a talk and led a discussion on modern art. Guests sat on the floor and were served buffet style. Several Fairbanks artists plan to send their top work for consideration by the jury for the forthcoming 47th Annual Northwest Artist’s Exhibition held each year in the Seattle Art Museum. Open to artists from Alaska, this exhibition draws several thousand entries yearly of which only approximately 150 paintings are selected and shown. Very few Alaskan artists have ever been honored by having their work accepted for the Northwest Annual Exhibition. The potlatch signals the start of a coordinated effort to make the Fairbanks area and Alaska much more art-conscious than it has been in the past and to introduce Alaska’s top artists to the public.

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, 1968, staff "Artist Skondovitch Exhibits Paintings" For two weeks Fairbanksans will be able to view the art works of Alfred Skondovitch. Skondovitch hung his seven oils and dozen watercolors yesterday at First Federal for display. The artist is presently employed as manager of the Technical Supply Company in Fairbanks. Skondovitch was born in England but has been in Alaska since 1958. He married a Fairbanks girl, Patricia Mae Howard in 1963. The Skondovitches have a 3-year old son. Prior to his move to Fairbanks Skondovitch was "the youngest participant in the 1955 New York exhibition of 'Ten Americans,' which led by Willem de Kooning, ended the dominance of the French and European schools in the United States and saw thereafter the rise of an authentic American school of international importance, influence and prestige." Other painters represented in this show were Resnick and DeNiro. He studied at the Toynbee Hall Settlement House in London, and Hans Hofmann’s Summer School in Provincetown,

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, June 29, 1971, staff "Artist was once headed for career as fighter" Artist Alfred Skondovitch was dissuaded from a career as a pugilist in the prize ring by Sir Basil Henriques and Sir Laurence Olivier. They encouraged him to pursue an artistic career instead, so he studied painting and sculpture at Toynbee Hall Settlement House in London, England. Alfred lives at 202 Slater St. with his wife Patricia Mae, and their children—Sidney 6, and Lara 2. He is president of Alaskan Geo-Technical Supplies, Inc. at Dale and Airport Road. "I have not devoted much time to painting recently," he said. He was born in London and grew up in the east end of the city. His parents were immigrants and moved to New York. "They were victims of the revolution in Russia," he explained. Alfred moved to Alaska about 12 years ago. He met and married his wife here seven years ago. Alfred followed his three brothers in the prize fighting ring and won feather, lightweight, and welterweight titles. "One defeat was against Randolph Turpin," he recalls, "when we were both naval cadets. He later became the world’s middleweight champion." Alfred and his brothers boxed in the St. Georges district, a tough neighborhood in London. When he first came to Alaska, Alfred prospected in the Eagle and 70-Mile country. The following year he presented the first exhibition of Modern Art seen here. In a one-man show of his abstract work at the Alaska Art Gallery in 1962, he won a box of crayons and second prize in a juried show of local painters. When he first came to New York, and before he lived in Alaska, Alfred admired the paintings of the American artist, Hans Hofmann, so he decided to study with him. He started in 1949 at his summer school in Provincetown, Mass., subsequently receiving from him a scholarship to study there and at his school in New York City. "I began the regular exhibition of my paintings in the so-called ‘Avante Garde’ galleries of the Village in New York," he said, "showing at the Rienzi, which is now a coffee shop, and the Pierino which was actually a sandal shop. The critic, Stuart Preston, likened the shows at the Pierino to the smaller galleries of Paris—‘where the unexpected always lurked.’ Friends of the gallery loaned works by Picasso, Braque, Chagall, and such painters as Franz Kline, de Kooning, and Rauschenberg exhibited there. The late Earl Kerkam, who slept in the back, was another of the exhibiting artists. I also showed works at the James, Tenth Street, Nonagon, Hansa, and Tanager Galleries." Alfred presented works in 1955 to an International Exhibit of Religious paintings under the auspices of Dr. Paul Tillich at the New York Theological Seminary. His work was rejected by Meyer Schapiro, who served on the jury. "He asked to see me, and thus began an informal education in art history at his classes at Columbia where he permitted me to audit," he said, "and in visits to his home, where one always received both a spiritual and material sustenance." In 1956, Skondovitch was selected to exhibit his work in a show called Ten Americans. This exhibit visited different places in the United States. Other painters represented in the show were de Kooning, Resnik, and DeNiro. The Egan Gallery became the Poindexter Gallery and the new management placed Alfred in another show entitled Five Younger Americans. He designed theatre sets for the French Art Theatre, a cultural mission under the sponsorship of the French ambassador to introduce original plays to the people of the United States that were unknown here. He worked briefly as an assistant in the theatre department of the University of Southern California with Professor John Blankenship, who knew of his work in New York. He met banker Percy David Bell while in California who asked him to exhibit his work in Houston, Texas. While in Texas, he organized a gallery there called Bell Endreman. During the preliminaries, Skondovitch was shot and wounded by an outrage Texan who "felt I was a harbinger of a Communist takeover in the Lone Star State," he muses. Elinor Poindexter of the Poindexter Gallery in New York said of him, "Alfred Skondovitch is an artist of standing whose work this gallery has been proud to exhibit on a number of occasions in the past. His work is known and respected by a wide circle of artists. His work has been shown in group exhibitions in many other galleries and museums and he has been acknowledged by the art public as having talent and distinction."

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, March 30, 1978, by Gloria Fischer "Artist prepares for a comeback" Alfred Skondovitch had been a champion boxer and an artist of international repute. At 51 he’s not going to try a comeback in the ring. But with the public opening of his show Saturday at The Artworks, 3055 College Road, Skondovitch returns to the art arena he left 20 years ago on coming to Alaska. Entitled "Re-Entry," the Skondovitch show includes 33 landscapes and figures in watercolors, pen and ink and colored pens. Basically the style is abstract expressionism, once considered avant garde and controversial. The practitioners themselves were often maligned and Skondovitch ruefully recalls a 1956 Time magazine article that described himself and others as "the wild one." "But now all that has changed," Skondovitch noted, pointing to a very recent Time article saluting Willem de Kooning. Skondovitch exhibited with de Kooning and others in a landmark show "Ten American Painters" that toured the country and Europe in the mid-‘50s. It was after an appearance with the show in Houston that Skondovitch abdicated the professional art circuit and eventually found his way to Alaska. In Fairbanks Skondovitch has worked variously for engineering firms, radio stations, had his own business, done a stint on the pipeline and judged local boxing matches. It was boxing, not art that brought him to the United States from his native England. The son of immigrants who fled Russia just prior to the revolution, Skondovitch grew up in the Whitechapel district of London.

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Nov. 15, 1981 Three artworks by Fairbanksan Alfred Skondovitch were recently bought by the State of Alaska Museum of Juneau. Purchased for $1000 was a monoprint titled "Young Girl on a Horse," for $850 was a mixed media piece titled "Seated Figure" and for $1000 was a pastel and acrylic painting titled "The Tanana at Nenana." Skondovitch said it is unusual for a museum to purchase works of a living artist.

The Alaska Journal, 1986, by Nina Mollett "The Work of a Modern Alaskan Painter" Alfred Skondovitch has gradually established a reputation as one of the most masterful painters living today in Alaska. Skondovitch is nearly sixty, and has actually had two art careers. His first career as an artist was in New York City in the late 1940s and early 1950s. At that time he was part of the regular stable of artists at the Poindexter Gallery, one of the top ten galleries in the country, showing among others Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, Richard Diebenkorn and Phillip Guston. But Skondovitch left New York and came to Alaska in search of adventure. He established a successful engineering and blueprinting business, and only took up art again seriously in 1978, when he learned that an account of his death had appeared in an art brochure published in Zurich, Switzerland. He decided, "I want to leave a body of work; I don’t want to be resurrected as a footnote to the American School in New York City by some junior art historian." Skondovitch was born in England, and received his early art training in London and Paris. When he arrived in New York in 1948, he found in the expressionists a sympathetic group of painters. "It was a life of bare survival," he said, "but it was wonderful. You could make something completely new; you were at the razor edge of discovery." Skondovitch attended the Hofmann School, and Hofmann has had a great influence on his work and life. "In a world in which all the traffic signals were against you, and it was really a struggle to live," Skondovitch says, "he taught us that we were important. You were given courage that you wouldn’t get out of any other school." While in New York, Skondovitch worked at a variety of jobs. He designed sets for the French National Theatre, was a professional boxer and a guard at the Guggenheim Museum. But his main occupation was painting, and he was recognized as a promising young artist. Within two years he was showing his work at the Pagano Gallery and the Poindexter. But Skondovitch elected to change his life. Although he was receiving a measure of glory, the financial rewards were less gratifying; and he was not satisfied that he would ever be able to adequately express on canvas the deep feelings of sorrow and despair which had followed him, after the war, to America. The idea of going to Alaska had been in the back of his mind since meeting poet John Haines in Manhattan. Haines’ wife was a fellow art student at the Hofmann School. Skondovitch briefly attended Claremont College in California, met some other students who earned their tuition by fighting fires in Alaska, and joined them. There followed many years of activities as varied as prospecting for gold, radio advertising, and engineering. Skondovitch established the first laboratories for technical photography and the first collimation labs in Alaska. He also reorganized a failed engineering and blueprinting firm in Fairbanks into a very successful business. Since taking up painting again seriously in the late 1970s, Skondovitch has become immersed in his work. He plans to begin painting on canvas again as opposed to the acrylics on paper he has been doing, and to branch out into other forms of printmaking than the spare, evocative monoprints he has become known for in Fairbanks. There is a dreamlike quality to many of his paintings, and a fine tension between his subject matter and the patterned forms through which he portrays that subject matter. His monoprints tend to be thin and economical with line and color, but the paintings are thick and lavish, the paint laid on in emotional swirls. "I really don’t know what’s going to happen," Skondovitch says of his artistic future. "I think painting is a state of being reborn, which is great, but it’s also very private….I don’t know why, but the greatest day of my life was coming into Nenana on the Tanana River, and I keep returning to that theme. I’m looking out at things now instead of always turning inward."

Mercer Island Reporter, October 1998 "Islanders will host Skondovitch exhibit" Abstract Expressionist painter Alfred Skondovitch, a founding figure of the New York School, will exhibit his paintings from 6 to 9 p.m., Friday, Oct. 16 and Saturday, Oct. 17, at the Belden-O’Meara home, 8453 S.E. 63rd St., Mercer Island. The exhibit is hosted by area collectors Lisa Belden, Kerry and John Oldenburg and Matt O’Meara. The public is invited to meet the artist and see his new paintings. During World War II, Skondovitch studied art in London. His student work earned him a job as Oscar Kokoschka’s studio assistant and he was included by Kokoschka in an exhibition of international art at London’s Wartime International Club, the same show which marked the debut of the important post-war painter Lucien Freud. Upon the advice of one of his teachers, Skondovitch traveled to New York. There he met Franz Kline, with whom he shared a studio and became close friends. Skondovitch attended the Hans Hofmann School and he and Kline regularly exhibited together along with other early Abstract Expressionists. In 1956 Skondovitch, in the company of such painters as Kline, Willem deKooning, Richard Diebenkorn, Robert DeNiro, Nell Blaine, and Milton Resnick, was included in the Wagner College exhibition Ten Americans which heralded the New York School, the first brand of authentically American art. Of the ten artists in this landmark show, Skondovitch is one of two participants who is still living. Skondovitch has spent the last 40 years of his career in Alaska, where he became a successful business owner while continuing to paint. Now retired from his reprographic business, he remains active in the Fairbanks community and presently serves as chaplain and historian of the Pioneers of Alaska. His canvases, monotypes, and prints have been exhibited in numerous museums and private venues. Site 250 Fine Art in Fairbanks represents his work.

The Ester Republic, December 2003, by Terry Glendinning "Sketch Group with Alfred Skondovitch" He enters the room with a slow relaxed step, swinging a big canvas tote holding his supplies. He looks around, perhaps speaking to someone, and finds a chair. Puts on a knee-length white painters smock that looks like a doctor’s coat. Sits down, arranges his sketchpad on his knee and arrays pastels around him on the floor. Maybe he begins to chat, but often is silent. The model begins the pose and he starts drawing with the pastels. He chooses colors, then scratches some out to reveal the color underneath. Sighs, mutters. After awhile he’s livelier in mood, begins to hum to the music playing in the background. Says, "I know you won’t believe this, but my cat sings that song." Exchanges witticisms with the other artists, seems pleased with his work. He likes old songs, especially Fred Astaire’s, and will sing aloud when in an especially happy mood. As a visual artist, he is a dancer. He imbues his small paintings with mood and movement through color and a rhythmic line. He is a romantic who sometimes gives his paintings to the model if she likes it. He remembers the models he has painted, and how they impressed him at the time of the painting. For the last thirty-five years local artist Alfred Skondovitch has gathered with others to participate in the weekly ritual of sketch group. At this point in his life Skondovitch says that he really doesn’t sketch but works directly. "I commence with an immediate attack," he explains. To know how to see, how to look at and how to feel the presence of the model, this is what’s required of one who draws the most complex of all natural forms, the human body. Skondovitch says that basically there are two reasons why artists dedicate their energies to sketch group. "It sharpens skills," says he. Secondly, and perhaps more important, it’s a place to meet other artists. Saying a group is good for "networking and making connections with an international complexity" is Skondovitch’s prelude to one of his stories about the importance of sketch group in his life. At the age of twenty-two, Skondovitch left London for New York with a letter of introduction to the notable abstract-expressionist, Franz Kline. The letter was written by Mrs. Kline’s sister, a London artist. Skondovitch attributes this to "sketch group networking." It was this initial introduction that led to Alfred’s association with the Hofmann School and eventually exhibiting his artwork with the likes of Leland Bell, Nell Blaine, Willem de Kooning, and Richard Deibenkorn. The university, Ryan Middle School, Site 250, and the Well Street Art Company are some of the places artists have gathered over the past three decades, he says. Skondovitch recalls the ten years that the group met at Gordon Herreid’s cabin. Rather than paid models, this group depended on volunteers. "Not a good idea," he recalls, harkening back to the day that one of his volunteer models asserted her right to profit from the sale of one of his paintings for which she had posed. Nowadays the sketch group meets weekly at Vladimir Zhikhartsev’s in Fairbanks. The group consists of a good mix of professional and aspiring artists. It is inclusive and basically anyone who wants to spend two hours drawing a nude model is welcomed. Music plays, artists tease and banter. It seems that Skondovitch has a cat named Attila the Hun whom he wants someone in the group to adopt. There are no takers. At break time there are snacks, Russian tea, and vodka. Toasts are made to the ephemeral status of the artist but the permanence of art in our world. At the break’s end Skondovitch is back at work on his study of a model riding upright high on a horse. The studio certainly lacks a horse and the model is currently in a reclining pose. His oil pastels dance on the paper or canvas and occasionally he’ll stand up and dance a step or two himself. Then it’s back to the business of applying color skillfully, knowingly. "I use color with the intention of being emotionally evocative," he declares. He goes on to say at the end of it all, "I’m always in a quandary as to what I’ve done."

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, January 9, 2007, by Dermot Cole "Influential painter Skondovitch highlights new work at gallery" Alfred Skondovitch, who is about to turn 80, is the senior master painter of Interior Alaska. About 30 of his new works are to be featured this month at the Well Street Art Company, which is hosting a "Second Friday" reception from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Jan. 12. Skondovitch, a resident of Fairbanks for nearly a half-century, came here originally with a fire-fighting crew that he had hooked up with in California, while recovering from a shooting. This was after assorted adventures that included leaving England for America as a young man, his immersion in the art world and the display of his works in prominent galleries in New York and Paris. A 1955 New York Times review said Skondovitch "paints small, moving landscapes," while another Times reviewer in 1956 applauded his "moody, often stirring impressions of nocturnal landscapes." That same year his paintings were included in the "Ten American Painters" showing, an event that helped give credence to the abstract expressionist movement in the United States. "He studied at the revered Hans Hofmann School in NYC in the 1950s and showed with many of the American master painters of that generation," said David Mollett, owner of the Well Street gallery. "He has had a long successful career here in Alaska, creating many highly original, colorful, expressive abstract figures and landscape works. His influence on younger Alaskan artists is extensive," said Mollett. Skondovitch said this may be his last show in Fairbanks, though he will continue to display his paintings in his own studio. He said he is in discussions with three New York galleries that are interested in showing his work.