The Shirley/Jones Gallery will present an exhibition of prints and photographs by Ralston Crawford from October 20 through December 9, 2006.

Ralston Crawford was born September 5, 1906, in St. Catharines, Ontario, the son of a merchant seaman. As a young man, he worked on tramp steamers to Central America and the Carribbean. In 1926-7 he studied at the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles and workd in Walt Disney’s studio.

While Crawford is perhaps most noted for his work as an American Precisionist painter along with Charles Sheeler, his work is much broader than the concerns of this category alone. He spent a lifetime exploring ways in which the American landscape (primarily industrial and urban) could be mined for new graphic imagery to expand the vocabulary of abstraction. In this vein he is often associated with Stuart Davis. Crawford, like Davis was a passionate jazz listener. Jazz can be seen as an additional influence on his approaches to abstraction.

Crawford’s work has been the subject of numerous exhibitions and publications including a retrospective which at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1986 which travelled to museums across the country.

Crawford considered himself a painter primarily. He also did work in other media: drawing, printmaking and photography. This exhibition presents a selection of lithographs and photographs made in the 1950s and early 1960s.

The gallery is open Wednesday-Saturday 2-6pm and by appointment. For further information call (937) 767-1711.

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