Thoughts on Nancy Prager's Expressionist Contemporary Art Exhibition

The following article is an English translation of “Expresszionista kortárs művészeti kiállítás New Yorkban,” originally published in the Hungarian publication Napimagizin.

The invitation came by mail. This reporter was invited to the opening of a contemporary fine art exhibition at the Kate Oh Gallery on New York’s Upper East Side, where expressionist works by American painter Nancy Prager are presently on display.

Expressionism, a 20th century art movement, flourished during the 1920s and seems to be very much alive in the 21st. Art historians define artistic manifestations where the creator emphasizes their own subjective reflections as expressive. 

The expressionist movement started at the beginning of the last century to express protest against bourgeois society. A characteristic of the expressionist style is that the painters' brushstrokes convey restlessness, and sometimes they operate with surprising colors. Instead of simply depicting the appearance of reality, the expressionist painters presented their feelings and thoughts about reality as far as possible without any strings attached. 

Expressionists project their inner experiences, things that appeared in their souls and thoughts, often in exaggerated or distorted forms. The above statements are true of Nancy Prager's paintings.

Prager is a well-known personality in the United States and is the Chairwoman of the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents (AFPC-USA) and the Board of Directors of the Foreign Press Club. She previously served as the U.S. National Commissioner for UNESCO, Chair of the Global Partnership Board of Vital Voices, and as its Chief Representative to the United Nations. She organized and chaired a series of U.N. panels on strategic human rights and development issues sponsored by U.N. governments and agencies. 

Prager was co-director of the UN "World Children's Day"; she started the first program for children with disabilities at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. As an active painter, she previously had several exhibitions in the United States, Europe and the Middle East. Writing in Fine Art Magazine, Jamie Ellin Forbes observed that Prager's paintings are "rich in symbolism, metaphor, and personal iconography, all of which combine balance, classicism, and well-crafted." The article adds that "Nancy sculpts the female body with a non-obtrusive sensuality. Sometimes he uses soft bright colors and somber shadows to create mood.”

The article notes that Prager’s work radiates with subtle emotions about the issue of life and death and "uses warm pastel colors such as peach, rose, light sapphire and slate gray in her works." Forbes then adds: "Is it possible that we see the self as it catches a glimpse of its own existence? Decorated in bright yellow, bright flowers, red, pentecost, and blue, the naked upper body becomes one with a brightly colored earthy background. There's no particular focus here, other than how good it feels."

In the description of the current exhibition, Kate Oh Gallery described Prager's paintings as follows: "In her expressionist works, anatomical suggestions and figurative elements can be found, the outline of a hand, a limb or a head can be faintly discerned in the works." The author of the exhibition described the paintings as “impressive.” She explained that in the background of the pictures, "willow, soft fibers and creamy white and golden yellow locks populate and flow. Countless columnar spots made up of fragmented parts: greenish and crushing blue, blood-orange stripes" are visible. 

The author added by way of description: "In the paintings with an expressionistic design, gold and white stripes and drips flow onto the canvas." The exhibition description emphasized that "reality must be expressed in art, but only by those who are able to express the subject and justice. Prager is the artist who can do that.”  Visitors to the exhibition can see this for themselves.