reductive palette confined to earth tones with splashes of blue, yellow, black and white. Here and there a few bright reds show up too. In these subtle ways Tryggvadottir reveals her heritage.

Another interesting aspect to these paintings is their affinity to sculpture. The arrangement of the forms suggests a quality of balance, whether carefully established or seeming to have tumbled into place.  This latter aspect is particularly apparent in a piece like Abstraction (199B) from 1956. Tryggvadottir has magnificently arranged the forms so as to suggest a sustained sense of motion placed against a static ground.  But Abstraction (XV), which I think is the best piece in the show, expresses a more ethereal experience.  The heavily painted pale blue, pink,

Nina Tryggvadottir, Abstraction (XV), 1960, oil on linen, 21 x 17 in

Nina Tryggvadottir, Abstraction (199B), 1956, oil on canvas paper mounted on panel, 28.25 x 20 in

brown and white forms provide substance and  weight. Yet contradictorily they seem to be floating in the illusion of deep space as established by a mix of browns that appear to be out of focus. There is something about the subdued quality of the tones in this painting that nevertheless achieve an understated intensity of contrast which make this piece stand out from the others.  Indeed, the entire exhibition is a wonderful opportunity to catch up on an artist that has been neglected in this country for far too long.