Decoding the mystery behind Springford’s Basin Street

By Joe Gioia

Decoding the Mystery Behind Springford’s Basin Street

Within the Archive is a wonderful work from Vivian’s Springford’s later Calligraphy period titled Basin Street. While Springford considered these rice paper mounting to be completed works which stand on their own, this motif was one of the few that she translated into the oil on canvas medium.

Recently the Archive had the pleasure of viewing the oil on canvas version of Basin Street as it was cataloged for the upcoming catalog raisonne and a deeper look into the hidden meaning and origins of this enigmatic work was begun.

By 1962, Springford’s work shifted again. Bright swaths of colors now augmented her writhing blacks. Mainly executed on bright white rice paper - a delicate calligraphic medium that requires thoughtful, rapid execution by the artist - her sophisticated color integration reflects close study from her Art Students League days. But where earlier color work tended towards warm pastel tones, the new paintings have a scouring intensity.

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[1] Top left: Poster for Springford’s 1963 Preston Gallery exhibition, Top: Right:exterrior of the Preston Gallery Townhouse. Bottom left: Invite for first group exhibition Springford was included in. Bottom right: Hand painted mockup for poster.

[2] Springford’s Basin Street, rice paper mounting, ca.1962-1963. *Collection Vivian Springford Archive.*

[3] Springford’s Basin Street, oil on canvas, ca.1962-1963. *Collection Barry Chaiken.* In the work on canvas version of this work, Springford has simplified the composition allowing the singing figure with the microphone to become clearer to the viewer.

It was during the time of these visits to this legendary jazz club Basin Street East, did Springford’s work evolve to become the looser near handwriting paintings of the mid-sixties.

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