Carl Ashby was an American abstract expressionist artist who lived and worked in New York City. Ashby was born in Hurley, New Mexico on March 2, 1914. He worked as an artist for the Civilian Conservation Corps

Civilian Conservation Corps

The Civilian Conservation Corps was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families, ages 18–25. A part of the New Deal of President Franklin D...

 before attending the University of Utah

University of Utah

The University of Utah, also known as the U or the U of U, is a public, coeducational research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest...

, where he graduated with a degree in Fine Arts in 1937. He relocated to New York City shortly thereafter, and married artist Estelle Grey in 1938. Ashby earned a Master in Arts degree from New York University

New York University

New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...

 in 1959. He taught at the Parsons Division of the New School at NYU for 25 years beginning in 1970. During his career, Ashby studied with artists Hans Hofmann

Hans Hofmann

Hans Hofmann was a German-born American abstract expressionist painter.-Biography:Hofmann was born in Weißenburg, Bavaria on March 21, 1880, the son of Theodor and Franziska Hofmann. When he was six he moved with his family to Munich...

, George Grosz

George Grosz

Georg Ehrenfried Groß was a German artist known especially for his savagely caricatural drawings of Berlin life in the 1920s...

, and Morris Kantor

Morris Kantor

Morris Kantor was a Russian-born American painter based in the New York City area. Born in Minsk in 1896, Kantor was brought to the United States as a child in 1906. He made his home in West Nyack, New York for much of his life, and died there in 1974...

. His works and papers are included in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Archives of American Art, the Provincetown Art Association and Museum

Provincetown Art Association and Museum

The Provincetown Art Association and Museum is located at 460 Commercial Street in Provincetown, Massachusetts. It is accredited by the American Association of Museums and is the most attended art museum on Cape Cod. The museum's permanent collection includes over 2,500 objects, a number which...

, and the Hood Museum at Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...

.