Lee Gatch

Lee Gatch (1902–1968) was an American painter associated with American modernism, though his work remained independent of any single movement. Born in Maryland and later based for many years in Lambertville, New Jersey, he developed a language that moved between representation and abstraction, drawing on Cubist structure, symbolic form, and close observation of landscape and domestic surroundings. Working chiefly in oil, Gatch also explored collage and built-up surfaces, incorporating varied materials to give his compositions a tactile presence. He exhibited regularly, including in Whitney Museum Annuals, and received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1950; a retrospective circulated under the auspices of the American Federation of Arts in 1960–61. His work is represented in collections including The Phillips Collection, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Art Institute of Chicago.