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Moses Oley, “Red Coal Bin,” circa 1940.

FOR 9/14

MOSES OLEY AT PEDERSEN GALLERY SEPT. 15 w/cut

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LAMBERTVILLE, N.J. — Pedersen Gallery presents an exhibition of paintings and lithographs of Moses Oley (1894–1978), on view September 15–30. This is the first time since his death that these works have been shown.

During the 1930s, the effects of the Great Depression were keenly felt in the American art world. The Depression ended the optimism of the late 1920s and seemed to render inappropriate the earlier forms of artistic experimentation, including abstraction.

Artistic attention became focused on the powerful psychological effects of the Depression in both figurative and landscape works. Urban painters chose hardworking laborers and solemn industrial scenes as subject matter for their paintings and prints.

Oley was one of the socially aware realist painters working in the New York area during the late 1930s. Although these paintings depict the difficulties of the environment faced daily by working men and women, they also depict a beauty and courage. Oley reveals in the relationship of line to color, and color to mass the strength of his human and landscape subjects.

Oley, arriving from Europe in the late 1920s, came relatively late to the New York art scene. The quality of his work, however, quickly brought him the attention and friendship of some of the most highly regarded social realist painters working in the city, including Moses and Raphael Soyer, William Gropper and Harry Gottlieb.

Oley’s industrial paintings of New York were widely exhibited during his lifetime. Between 1935 and 1945 he was selected to exhibit at the National Academy, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Oley died in 1978 in New York City at the age of 82.

Pedersen Gallery is at 17 North Union Street. For information, 609-397-1332.