Aylon, Helene (American, 1931-2020), Layers of Playfulness, from the Elusive Silver series, c.1970, acrylic and spray paint on an aluminum sheet, signed and titled on the backing board, 36 inches square, in a Kulicke metal frame. Aylon was raised in an Orthodox Jewish Community in Brooklyn, New York. She entered the secular art world while studying at Brooklyn College where she took classes with Ad Reinhardt. According to the Tonkonow Gallery, "The paintings in the Elusive Silver series (1969?73) were her first distinct group of process-driven works, made in her East Village studio with industrial materials such as sheet metal, acrylic plastic, and spray paint." In the 1980s she gave up studio art, and embarked on a journey of installation and action art that examined issues relating to feminism, the environment, and Jewish traditions and theology. Aylon's work is in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Jewish Museum, New York, the Morgan Library and Museum and the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, among others. Provenance: from the personal collection of art historian Ann Sutherland Harris, Pittsburgh, PA. In 1976 Harris, along with feminist art historian Linda Nochlin, co-curated the Women Artists: 1550-1950 exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and co-authored the accompanying catalog. The show also travelled to Austin, Brooklyn and Pittsburgh, and helped to open up the field of women’s studies in the discipline. Harris was a founding member and first president of the Women’s Caucus for Art. She wrote nine books and exhibition catalogues (including works on Artemisia Gentileschi and Alice Neel), more than a hundred articles and reviews, and was part of the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh from 1984-2012. In generally good condition, with some paint transfer from the aluminum sheet to the inside of the Plexi; bottom right corner of the metal frame has been repaired. Merchandise will be packed and transported by the purchaser at their own risk and expense. A list of recommended shippers is on our website: https://www.conceptgallery.com/auctions/shipping/ .