The Colour of Form: Toni LaSelle
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Toni LaSelleChilly Wind off Humboldt Current, 1967Cray-Pas (oil pastel) on paper10 x 8 in (25.4 x 20.3 cm)
TL 139 -
Toni LaSelleEarly Constructions no. 21, 1946Ink and Cray-Pas (oil pastel) on paper14 x 9 3/4 in (35.6 x 24.8 cm)
TL 819 -
Toni LaSelleFrom the Window View, 1967Ink on Paper10 x 8 in (25.4 x 20.3 cm)
TL 134 -
Toni LaSelleFrom the Window View, 1967Gouache (?) on Paper10 x 8 in (25.4 x 20.3 cm)
TL 135 -
Toni LaSelleGulf of Bitterness, 1952Oil on Canvasboard24 x 20 in (61 x 50.8 cm)
TL 44 -
Toni LaSelleIdentity - Not My Own, 1949Oil on Canvas
Vintage Frame30 x 23 x 1 in (76.2 x 58.4 x 2.5 cm)
TL 246 -
Toni LaSelleSky + Sea / Nick's Wharf, 1946Ink and Cray-Pas (oil pastel) on paper14 x 9 3/4 in (35.6 x 24.8 cm)
TL 821 -
Toni LaSelleSky and Sea / Nick's Wharf, 1946Ink and Cray-Pas (oil pastel) on paper14 x 9 3/4 in (35.6 x 24.8 cm)
TL 818 -
Toni LaSelleSpace Composition #1, 1962Oil and cray-pas (oil pastel) on canvas board, vintage frame16 x 8 in (40.6 x 20.3 cm)
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Toni LaSelleUntitled, 1967Cray-Pas (oil pastel) on paper10 x 8 in (25.4 x 20.3 cm)
TL 141 -
Toni LaSelleUntitled, 1967Cray-Pas (oil pastel) on paper10 x 8 in (25.4 x 20.3 cm)
TL 144 -
Toni LaSelleUntitled, 1967Cray-Pas (oil pastel) on paper10 x 8 in (25.4 x 20.3 cm)
12 3/4 x 10 3/4 x 1 1/4 in (32.4 x 27.3 x 3.2 cm)
framed TL 145 -
Toni LaSelleUntitled, 1967Cray-Pas (oil pastel) on paper10 x 8 in (25.5 x 20.3 cm)
12 3/4 x 10 3/4 x 1 1/4 in (32.4 x 27.3 x 3.2 cm)
Framed TL 146 -
Toni LaSelleUntitled, 1946Oil on Canvasboard16 x 20 in ( 40.6 x 50.8 cm)
TL 431 -
Toni LaSelleUntitled, 1967Cray-Pas (oil pastel) and pencil on paper10 x 8 in (25.4 x 20.3 cm)
TL136 -
Toni LaSelleUntitled, 1967Cray-Pas (oil pastel) on paper10 x 8 in (25.4 x 20.3 cm)
TL 140
We are proud to announce our next exhibition - a solo presentation of work by Dorothy Antoinette (Toni) LaSelle, running from 9th June to 15th August.
Toni LaSelle (1901–2002) was a pioneering American modernist and a key figure in shaping modern art education in the United States. Strongly influenced by European movements such as the Bauhaus and Constructivism, LaSelle’s practice is defined by a rigorous and elegant exploration of colour, form, and spatial harmony. As both an artist and teacher, she played a critical role in introducing and advocating modernist ideas in America, long before they were widely embraced.
This striking show, featuring both paintings and works on paper, offers a rare opportunity to engage with LaSelle’s sophisticated abstract compositions.
We warmly invite you to experience the vision of a pioneering female American modernist, whose work resonates with the complexity and optimism of a changing world.
LaSelle’s story complicates dominant narratives of American abstraction. Her trajectory was neither provincial nor derivative; rather, it was polyphonic, shaped by transatlantic travel, interdisciplinary curiosity, and a Midwestern pragmatism that resisted aesthetic dogma. She absorbed lessons from Bonnard, Hofmann, and Moholy-Nagy, yet retained a distinct visual voice—lyrical but structured, painterly yet precise. Her own phrase, 'a state of becoming', aptly describes both her work and her ethos: restlessly experimental, perpetually unfinished, and vitally open to redefinition.
