Painter, Al Held was know for his painting complex cube-like structures in the 1960s, and his precise and brightly colored geometric forms in the 1980s.
Al Held (American, 1928–2005) was a leading artist working with Hard-edge Abstraction, drawing
from traditions spanning Abstract Expressionism to Cubism. Born in New York, Held studied at the Art Students League, and, in 1949, went to Paris to study art at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière under sculptor Ossip Zadkine. When Held returned to New York, his work began to reflect his interactions with the gestural paintings of Abstract Expressionist artists, as he used more animated brushstrokes and muted colors. Later, he began painting works somewhat in reaction to this aesthetic, using bold lines, colors, and stark geometric shapes in large, commanding pieces that associated him with a group of Abstract Expressionists using Hard-edge Abstraction. Held’s works from this period also feature interlocking letters of the alphabet in complex, structured compositions, many of which were in black and white. He received great acclaim for this work, and, in the late 1960s, began creating compositions with interwoven solids and planes, often resembling molecular or planetary forms, which create a receding depth into the painting itself.
In the 1980s, he settled in Italy, and his pieces increasingly featured curved lines, arabesques, and other forms reflecting the influence of the country’s Renaissance and Baroque architecture on his work. Held was a professor of art at Yale University from 1962 to 1980, and, toward the end of his life, painted large murals, such as a mural commission for the New York City subway system. His work has been exhibited at institutions such as The Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Steledjik Museum in Amsterdam, and galleries in Zurich, Berlin, and other cities throughout the world. He died in 2005 at his home in Italy.
Timeline
- 1928
- Born in New York, NY
- 1947
- Studied at the Art Students League, New York, NY
- 1949
- Studied at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere, Paris, France
- 1962
- Associate professor at Yale University, New Haven, CT
- 2005
- Died in Camareta, Italy
Exhibitions
- 2013
- Al Held: Alphabet Paintings - Cheim & Read, New York City, NY
- 2012
- Black and White 1967 - Loretta Howard Gallery, New York City, NY
Post War American Art - David Klein Gallery, Birmingham, MI
- 2011
- Al Held - Paintings 1959 - Craig F. Starr Gallery, New York City, NY
Contemporary Drawings from the Irving Stenn Jr. Collection - The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
- 2010
- Al Held: Selected Works, Marianne Friedland Gallery, Naples, FL (solo)
Big is Better, Wright Exhibition Space, Seattle, WA (solo)
Psychedelic: Optical and Visionary Art Since the 1960s , San Antonio Museum of Art, TX (solo)
- 2008–2009
- Al Held: Paintings 1979-1985, Paul Kasim Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
- 2006
- In memory of Al Held, Galerie Renée Ziegler, Zurich, Switzerland (solo)
Berlin-Tokyo/Tokyo-Berlin. Die Kunst zweier Städte, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany
- 2005
- Outside Europe: Aus der Sammlung Daimler Chrysler, DaimlerChrysler Contemporary, Berlin, Germany
- 2004
- Kleinformate und Originalgraphik, Galerie Renée Ziegler, Zurich, Switzerland
Minimalism and After III: Neuerwerbungen / New Aquisitions, DaimlerChrysler Contemporary, Berlin, Germany
Under $2,000 Albers < Zaugg, Brooke Alexander Editions, New York, NY
- 2003
- Painting Explosion: 1958-1963, Part I, Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, TX
- 2002
- Al Held & George Sugarman: The Early Sixties, Joan T. Washburn Gallery, New York, NY
- 2001
- Au rendez-vous des amis (La ligne seule) 2, Musée d´art moderne et contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland
A defining generation. Then and Now. 1961 and 2001, The Rose Art Museum, Waltham, MA
Early Modern Art, The Rose Art Museum, Waltham, MA
- 1999
- Alchemies of the Sixties. From the Rose Art Museum Permanent Collection, The Rose Art Museum, Waltham, MA
Abstractions Americaines 1940-1960, Musee Fabre, Montpellier, France
- 1998
- Al Held Unfolding, Robert Miller Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
- 1997
- Abstract Expressionism in the United States, Centro Cultural Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City, Mexico
- 1996
- Thinking Print: Books to Billboards, 1980-1995, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
- 1992
- Contemporary American Painting & Sculpture, American Embassy, Tel Aviv, Israel
Al Held & Milton Resnick 1955-1965, Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, LA
Selected American Drawings, G.W. Einstein Company Inc. New York, NY
- 1991
- Geometries of Color: American Post-Painterly, Stux Modern, New York, NY
- 1990
- The Humanist Icon, The New York Academy of Art, New York, NY
- 1990
- Arbeiten von 1989, Acryl auf Leinwand, Tempera auf Papier, Galerie Renée Ziegler, Zurich, Switzerland
- 1989
- Art in Place: Fifteen Years of Acquisitions, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
- 1988
- Sightings, Instituto de Estudios Norteamericanos, Barcelona, Spain
- 1987
- Zeichnungen, Galerie Renée Ziegler, Zurich, Switzerland
- 1982
- 1954-1959, Robert Miller Gallery, New York, NY
- 1978
- Paintings and Drawings, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA
- 1977
- Donald Morris Gallery, Birmingham, MI
Frühe Werke, Galerie Renée Ziegler, Zurich, Switzerland
- 1974
- Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
- 1970
- Bilder, Galerie Renée Ziegler, Zurich, Switzerland
- 1968
- Recent Paintings, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philidelphia, PA
- 1967
- Bilder, Galerie Renée Ziegler, Zurich, Switzerland
- 1966
- Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- 1964
- Bilder, Galerie Renée Ziegler, Zurich, Switzerland
Public Collections
- Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Tate Gallery, London, UK
Paintersbiography.com are about painters, we write their biographies and show you their paintings, also write about their childhood, artwork and etc. We want to know to the world about their life and their great job.
Blogger Comment
Facebook Comment