two oil compositions from the 1930s

A large part of Bolto's output of the 1930s was lost at sea during the artist's emigration to the United States in 1938. These two small oil paintings, both in very poor condition, were to prove pivotal in the stylistic development of two younger artists. The first (1936?) was much admired by Ellsworth Kelly when, in 1942, Bolto projected a slide of the work during one of his now legendary Pratt Institute lectures. A fellow Pratt alumnus recalled Kelly exclaiming: "Sharp edges! I'll make sharper ones still . . . . "




Sales records indicate that the second painting (1937), seen below, is known to have been briefly in the possession of the family of Keith Haring during the spring of 1968. Bolto's stay in Kutztown, Pennsylvania during the mid-1960s has been documented, but remains unexplained.