“Classic Attitude,” an exhibition of Helen Lundeberg’s sixties-era abstract paintings, is at Cristin Tierney Gallery through December 17. Lundeberg, who died in 1999, was a pivotal figure in the West Coast abstract circle. “By classicism I mean, not traditionalism of any sort, but a highly conscious concern with aesthetic structure,” she wrote in a statement accompanying her show at the Museum of Modern Art in 1942. “My aim, realized or not, is to calculate, and reconsider, every element in a painting with regard to its function in the whole organization. That, I believe, is the classic attitude.”

Helen Lundeberg, Sunny Corridor, 1959, oil on canvas, 20″ x 24″. © The Feitelson / Lundeberg Art Foundation

Untitled, 1959, oil on canvas, 50″ x 40″.

Seascape, 1962, oil on canvas, 60″ x 50″.

Untitled, 1962, oil on canvas, 30″ x 24″.

Water Map, 1963, acrylic on canvas, 60″ x 60″.