(b New York, 17 Aug. 1923; d Southampton, Long Island, NY, 14 Aug. 2002). American painter, sculptor, printmaker, and designer, a leading figure in the revival of figurative art that was one aspect of the reaction against the dominance of Abstract Expressionism. He was a professional jazz saxophonist in the early 1940s and began painting in 1945, studying at the Hans Hofmann School, 1947–8, and then at New York University under Baziotes in 1948. His work of the early and mid-1950s continued the vigorous painterly handling associated with Abstract Expressionism, but was very different in character. Some of his paintings were fairly straightforwardly naturalistic, but others looked forward to Pop art in their quotations from well-known advertising or artistic sources, their use of lettering, and their deadpan humour.

Text source: The Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford University Press)


Do you know someone who would love this resource?
Tell them about it...