David Edwin Porter (1912-2005) USA, “The Tight Rope Walker” Gauche

David Edwin Porter, born in Chicago in 1912, moved to Washington, DC in 1942 and opened one of the more progressive galleries in the city. He had grown up with a strong interest in art, but had never considered it a reliable vocation financially. In 1942, he moved to Washington, D.C. to work as an economist at the War Production Board.

Exhibiting mostly aspiring young American painters, as well as his own collection of contemporary Midwestern art, he eventually became business partners with Caresse Crosby, and together they opened The G Place Gallery. Though still maintaining a certain degree of autonomy, in 1945 the David Porter Gallery held an exhibition entitled: “Personal Statement/A Painting Prophecy – 1950”, which included the works of Pollock, Gottlieb, Motherwell, Ernst, and Bourgeois, as well as other important artists of the time. David Porter primarily worked in a strong Cubist/Constructivist manner, occasionally incorporating elements of Surrealism and Abstract-Expressionism; Porter was a part of the famous “9th Street Show” in 1951.

He held exhibitions at the Hugo Gallery in New York City, the Jewish Museum, and the Corcoran Gallery, among others. He was also an artist-in-residence at Dartmouth College, and taught figure drawing at Cooper Union. His work can be found in many fine public and private collections, including the Chrysler Art Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Miami Museum of Modern Art.