Gladys Golden Mixed Media – Abstract Couple (Auction 2026-06-05, Lot 18A)

$449.75

Gladys Golden (American, 20th century). Abstract Couple. Watercolor and ink on paper, n.d. Signed at lower right. A dreamlike pair emerges from a haze of color in this expressive watercolor, where fluid washes of teal, sea-green, and smoky gray bloom across the paper like weather moving through a sky. Golden sketches two elongated figures with swift, searching ink lines, allowing the forms to remain deliberately open, as if caught mid-thought rather than fully defined. The figure at left seems crowned with a burst of energetic strokes, while the taller companion stands in quiet counterpoint, their features reduced to spare, elegant marks. The composition balances spontaneity and control: watercolor drifting and pooling in soft veils, ink asserting itself in wiry contours and looping gestures. Size of painting: 13.5″ W x 22″ H (34.3 cm x 55.9 cm); of matte: 20″ W x 29″ H (50.8 cm x 73.7 cm)

Signed by the artist, the work carries the immediacy of a private vision, poised between portraiture and abstraction. It is less a literal scene than a mood – intimate, slightly mysterious, and alive with the restless electricity of line.

Provenance: private collection of important Hollywood family, collected between 1930 and 1980

Condition: Excellent. Mounted in custom matte with backing; verso of painting has not been examined. Small mark to matte that does not affect painting. Otherwise, painting is in excellent overall condition with signature at lower right.