Lester JohnsonStreet Scene, Pop Art Screenprint by Lester Johnsoncirca 1980
circa 1980
About the Item
- Creator:Lester Johnson (1919 - 2010, American)
- Creation Year:circa 1980
- Dimensions:Height: 36 in (91.44 cm)Width: 28.5 in (72.39 cm)Depth: 1 in (2.54 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Long Island City, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU4664997851
Lester Johnson
A New York artist, known as a second-generation Abstract Expressionist, Lester Johnson was born to a large Lutheran family in Minneapolis. He studied at the Minneapolis School of Art and the St. Paul Art School. There, he was introduced to Hans Hofmann's teaching approach, particularly the push and pull effects of form and color by St. Paul teachers Alexander Masley and Cameron Booth, both of whom had studied with Hofmann in Munich. After further study at the Chicago Art Institute, Johnson moved to New York City in 1947 and became one of the first downtown loft-dwellers. He shared a lower East Side studio with Larry Rivers and attended some of Hofmann's New York classes. Rents were cheap, but Johnson was broke much of the time as he tried to support his painting through a variety of part-time jobs, including teaching art. In 1950, he and realist figurative painter Philip Pearlstein shared studio space. Lester's wife, Jo, had introduced the two artists at a time when she and Pearlstein were studying art history at New York University.
Johnson's various studios, on the Bowery and elsewhere, were always one flight up with a view of Manhattan's active street life. No wonder, for over 50 years, street scenes have been a dominant part of his art. Johnson adopted the working techniques of action painting, which meant he used a great deal of paint. A tube of oil paint might be expended in seconds as he, like Pollock, physically projected himself into the work. The images that Johnson produced were not decorative, but stubbornly confrontational, oversize, brooding, thickly encrusted, scarred surfaces that were alive with recognizable objects and figures. Even today, few realize how radical it was for Johnson to depict a recognizable subject in an adamantly pro-abstract-expressionist climate. Sculptor George Segal recalled, "The Abstract Expressionists were legislating any reference to the physical world totally out of art. This was outrageous to us." The rebellion came naturally to Lester Johnson, and he remained tenaciously outside the mainstream. Nonetheless, he produced a body of work that influenced several generations of younger painters and confounded an art establishment in need of neat categorization. He remains one of the few painters whose work holds significance for both abstract and figurative artists. Johnson's animated men and women, with all their nervous energy, yield themselves only gradually to analysis and will no doubt be reinterpreted for many years to come.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Long Island City, NY
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 7 days of delivery.
- "Number 7", Silkscreen from the American Dream Portfolio by Robert IndianaBy Robert IndianaLocated in Long Island City, NYArtist: Robert Indiana, American (1928 - 2018) Title: Number 7 from the American Dream Portfolio Year: 1968 (1997) Medium: Screenprint on Wove Paper Edition Size: 395 Image Size: 16....Category
1990s Pop Art More Prints
MaterialsScreen
- Global Man, Silkscreen Poster by Keith Haring 1990By Keith HaringLocated in Long Island City, NYA limited edition silkscreen poster Keith Haring designed for Playboy. This limited edition run of 1000 was published in 1990 by Special Editions Ltd. The signature and date is in th...Category
1990s Pop Art Figurative Prints
MaterialsScreen
- Bunny On The Run, Silkscreen Poster by Keith Haring 1990By Keith HaringLocated in Long Island City, NYA limited edition silkscreen poster Keith Haring designed for Playboy. This limited edition run of 1000 was published in 1990 by Special Editions Ltd. The signature and date is in th...Category
1990s Pop Art Figurative Prints
MaterialsScreen
- Lessons of the Camp, Pop Art Screenprint by Ronald SteinBy Ronald SteinLocated in Long Island City, NYArtist: Ronald Stein Title: Lessons of the Camp Year: 1967 Medium: Serigraph, signed in pencil Edition: Proof Size: 26 x 40 inchesCategory
1960s Pop Art Figurative Prints
MaterialsScreen
- One Small Step for a Man - One Giant Leap for MankindBy Sandra LawrenceLocated in Long Island City, NYArtist: Sandra Lawrence Title: One Small Step for a Man - One Giant Leap for Mankind Year: 1975 Medium: 15 Color Screenprint on Arches paper, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 2...Category
1970s Pop Art Figurative Prints
MaterialsScreen
- Baby Carriage, Screenprint by William Nelson CopleyBy William Nelson CopleyLocated in Long Island City, NYArtist: William Nelson Copley Title: Baby Buggy Year: 1978 Medium: Serigraph on Somerset, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 200, AP 30 Paper Size: 31...Category
1970s Pop Art Figurative Prints
MaterialsScreen
- ADS: REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (JAMES DEAN) FS II.355By Andy WarholLocated in Aventura, FLColor screenprint on Lenox Museum Board. Hand signed and numbered by the artist. Artwork is in excellent condition. Certificate of Authenticity included. From the ADS Portfolio. Pub...Category
1980s Pop Art Figurative Prints
MaterialsScreen, Board
- SUNSET FS II.85-88By Andy WarholLocated in Aventura, FLUnique screen print on paper. Hand signed and numbered on verso. Published by David Whitney, New York, with the ‘HOTEL MARQUETTE PRINTS’ inkstamp on the reverse. Feldman & Schellmann...Category
1970s Pop Art Figurative Prints
MaterialsBoard, Screen
- BLACKGLAMA (JUDY GARLAND) FS II.351By Andy WarholLocated in Aventura, FLFrom the "ADS" portfolio. Screen print on lenox museum board Hand signed and numbered by the artist. From the PP (Printers Proof) edition of 5 (There is a main edition of Edition of 190, 30 AP, 5 PP, 5 EP, 10 HC, 10 numbered in Roman numerals, 1 BAT, 30 TP). Published by Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, Inc., NY. Printed by Rupert Jasen Smith, NY. Frame size approx 43.5 x 43.5 inches. Artwork is in excellent condition. All reasonable offers will be considered. Warhol was inspired by Judy Garland’s advertising campaign for Blackglama Fur company and their ubiquitous tagline “What becomes a Legend most?” Many legends of style and pop culture have modeled for the company over the years, including: Diana Ross, Bridget Bardot, Lauren Bacall, Julie Andrews, Ray Charles and Marlene Dietrich. Known for her starring role in the 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz, Judy Garland was described by Fred Astaire as “the greatest entertainer who ever lived.” She also had major roles in movies like Meet Me in St...Category
1980s Pop Art Figurative Prints
MaterialsBoard, Screen
- POP SHOP QUAD IIIBy Keith HaringLocated in Aventura, FLScreenprint in colors, on wove paper. Stamped with the artist's estate and signed, dated and numbered by the executor, Julia Gruen, in pencil on the reverse. Artwork size 27 x 33 i...Category
1980s Pop Art Figurative Prints
MaterialsScreen, Paper
- PINE BARRENS TREE FROG FS II.294By Andy WarholLocated in Aventura, FLPine Barren's Tree Frog, from Endangered Species. Screen print in colors on Lennox Museum Board. Hand signed and numbered by Andy Warhol. Edition 114/150 (there were also 30 AP's, 5 PP's, 5 EP's, 3 HC's, 10 numbered in Roman numerals, 1 BAT, and 30 TP's). Printed By Rupert Jansen Smith, Ny. Published By Ronald Feldman Fine Art Inc., NY. Artwork is in excellent condition. Certificate of authenticity issued by Gallery Art included. All reasonable offers will be considered. From the Endangered Species portfolio, which premiered in 1983. Warhol was commissioned by environmentalists and gallerists Ronald and Frayda Feldman to depict 10 endangered animals, bringing attention to their fragility. The US federal government had passed the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in 1973, making clear criteria for assigning the status of “endangered” to animals that had seen massive attrition of their populations. This designation has been adopted internationally and Warhol’s Endangered...Category
1980s Pop Art Figurative Prints
MaterialsPaper, Screen
- La femme fatale (à moi)By ErróLocated in Malmo, SEPublisher GKM. Edition of 200 ex. Unframed. Signed, dated and numbered. Free shipment worldwide. “I paint because painting is a private Utopia,” Erró writes of his art. The landscapes in Erró’s work are a constantly changing kaleidoscope of images, multivalent and mysterious, not infrequently controversial, bursting with life – and titillating, too! There is room in his pictures for both paradise and visions of fear. Erró is the alias of Gudmundur Gudmundsson, born on 19 July 1932 in Olafsvik, in north-western Iceland. Since Gudmundur first became enthralled by pictures of works of art in a catalogue from the Museum of Modern Art in New York at the tender age of ten, painting has been his passion and his mission in life. He was accepted into art school in Reykjavik as a 19-year old, subsequently complementing what he had learned there with further studies in Oslo. Erró travelled extensively in Spain, Italy, France and Germany in the 1950s, studying at the Florence Academy of Art in 1954 and at the School of Byzantine Mosaic Art in Ravenna in 1955. It was around this time that he began to exhibit his works, first and foremost in Paris, where he chose to make his home in 1958. During the 1960s he established contact with the Swedish museum director Pontus Hultén, who encouraged him and took him under his wing. Over the years Erró has taken part in hundreds of exhibitions and today his works are on show in museums all over the world, including the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Erró’s pictorial world is peopled by comic-strip characters and autocratic despots alike. Donald Duck with his Daisy, Chip & Dale, and other Walt Disney creations are unselfconsciously juxtaposed with Greek gods and madonnas. Elsewhere the German dictator Adolf Hitler stands shoulder to shoulder with his Iraqi counterpart Saddam Hussein...Category
1990s Pop Art Figurative Prints
MaterialsScreen
Recently Viewed
View AllRead More
Chryssa’s 1962 Neon Sculpture Was Way ahead of the Art-World Curve
By working with lettering, neon and Pop imagery, Chryssa pioneered several postmodern themes at a time when most male artists detested commercial mediums.
7 Exciting Works by Female Artists from the RoGallery Auction
Prints by these modern and contemporary visionaries are relatively affordable — for now.