The
Ten Whitney Dissenters
Schanker was
influential in many artist groups and organizations which developed in
the 1930’s.The
Ten Whitney Dissenters was
formed in 1935. Many of the
group, like Schanker, were young artists just returning from Paris and
wishing to bring individuality, abstraction and expressionism to
American galleries and museums.
Schanker died in
1981, at the age of 78, in New York City.
At a memorial service for family
and friends, Ilya Bolotowsky, a longtime friend and fellow artist spoke
of The Ten. Bolotowsky
spoke of how he had envisioned the formation of a new group of
likeminded artists who believed that the American art establishment was
too conservative. He said
that he had wanted Schanker to work with him and recruit artists because
he trusted him, he was well liked in the artist community and because of
his wide circle of friends. In a letter to Schanker he had sketched out
the rules for the group. 
A page from Schanker’s sketchpad
lists the original members of the group in his own hand.
They included: Lou Schanker,
Ilya Bolotowsky, Ben-Zion, Marcus
Rothkowitz (Rothko,) Adolph Gottlieb, Joe Solman, Nahum
Tschacbasov, Lou Harris, Ralph Rosenborg.
A tenth guest artist, Yankel Kufeld, participated in many shows to round
out the group.
In
the catalog from a show at Mercury Gallery in 1937 their mission is described
as, “a protest against the reputed equivalence of American painting and
literal painting.”
More insights into
The Ten can be found in the interview
with Bernard Braddon and Sidney Schectman, owners of Mercury Gallery, conducted
by Avis Berman in New York City, October 9, 1981 for Smithsonian, Archives of
American Art.
https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-bernard-braddon-and-sidney-paul-schectman-12316
They were variously described as expressionist, radical, cubist, and
experimentalist. Schanker and Bolotowsky were in the awkward position of having
their works included at the Whitney simultaneously with The Ten exhibits. The group demonstrated a
social consciousness by mounting an exhibit for the American League Against
War and Fascism to benefit Spanish children. In addition to the Mercury Gallery
they exhibited
at the Montross, Bonestell and
Georgette Passedoit galleries in Manhattan and the Galerie Bonaparte in France.
https://warholstars.org/abstract-expressionism/abstract/ten.html
Art
News, 1937
Exhibitions of The Ten
December 16, 1935 - January 4, 1936: "The Ten: An
Independent Group" at the Montross Gallery, 785 Fifth Avenue, NY
Ben-Zion, Ilya Bolotowsky, Adolph Gottlieb, Louis
Harris, Jack Kufeld, Marcus Rothkowitz [Mark Rothko], Louis Schanker,
Joseph Solman, Tschacbasov
January 1936: Municipal Art Gallery (Exhibition and
gallery opened January 7, 1936)
November 10 - 24, 1936: Galerie Bonaparte, 12 Rue
Bonaparte, Paris, France
December 14, 1936 - January 2, 1937: Montross
Gallery
Ben-Zion, Ilya Bolotowsky, Lee Gatch, Adolph
Gottlieb, Louis Harris, Jack Kufeld, Mark Rothkowitz [Mark Rothko],
Louis Schanker, Joseph Solman
May 1937: Georgette Passedoit Gallery
Lee Gatch, Adolph Gottlieb, Jack Kufeld, Joseph
Solman, Ilya Bolotowsky, Louis Schanker, Ben-Zion, Louis Harris, Mark
Rothkowitz [Mark Rothko]
November 5 - 26, 1938: "The Ten: Whitney
Dissenters" exhibition at the Mercury Galleries
Ben-Zion, Ilya Bolotowsky, Adolph Gottlieb, John D.
Graham, Louis Harris, Earl Kerkam (guest), Ralph M. Rosenborg, Marcus
Rothkowitz [Mark Rothko], Louis Schanker, Joseph Solman.
October 23 - November 4, 1939: Bonestell Gallery
Ben - Zion, Ilya Bolotowsky, David Burliuk, Earl
Kerkam, Karl Knaths (guest), Jean Liberte (guest), Ralph Rosenborg,
Marcus Rothkowitz (Mark Rothko), Louis Schanker, Joseph Solman.
In addition to the above exhibitions, The Ten held
an exhibition and auction in Brooklyn to benefit Spanish children for
the American League Against War and Fascism on December 3rd, 4th and 5th,
1937 at 85 Clark Street.