Early in April 1940, a New York Times headline announced: "17 Members Bolt Artists' Congress." Behind the headline lay a complex history of artistic, social, and political upheavals that led to the establishment of a new group, The Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors. Founded in 1940 by Mark Rothko, Balcomb Greene, Adolph Gottlieb, Byron Browne, and Ilya Bolotowsky, the group now celebrates its 75th anniversary with this exhibition at the Sylvia Wald and Po Kim Art Gallery, including work by 34 of its current members, and from the estates of four former members.

Among the group's prominent early members were Milton Avery, Will Barnet, William Baziotes, Chaim Gross, Alice Trumbull Mason, Louise Nevelson, Joseph Stella, and Bradley Walker Tomlin. The Federation is now a diverse, progressive artists' organization based in New York City, numbering close to 75 members, the eldest of which is 92. Its artists respect the past, engage with the present, and create the future in styles ranging through many forms of figurative art and abstraction in all mediums.

"Fraternal" organizations such as The Federation meet an important need, in that the generational spread in an otherwise overly compartmentalized society is itself a value, placing old loyalties side by side with new enthusiasms. The link between diversity of style and involvement in the political and social world are two principles that continue to be important to many of the Federation members. Many of them find that the world around them requires a critical eye and an attentive gaze. Sometimes that attention is translated into explicitly political artwork, or imagery that deals with history, current events, environmental issues, and the like. Other Federation artists are particularly drawn to the urban life of New York, often working on the streets and engaging directly in the contemporary social world.

Realism -- whether straightforward, activated by expressive brushwork, or touched by metaphor, improvisation or ambiguity -- reveals the wide choice of approaches available in the contemporary art world. Throughout the exhibition, the fundamental principles of color, form and spatial manipulation are respected while filtered through a myriad of personal interpretations and variations. The idea of a group of artists working and exhibiting together is one defining characteristic of modernism that is obviously of great importance to the Federation members, and this exhibition reflects the group's long and productive history, highlighting the friendships, artistic dialogues, and achievements that the Federation has fostered.