Alan Fenton
American, 1927-2000
Fenton's quiet and contemplative nonobjective paintings and drawings were widely recognized for their demanding yet understated means of revealing a serious and sober essence. He identified greatly with Mark Rothko, a friend, as well as Adolph Gottlieb and Jack Tworkov, with whom he had studied privately. Fenton painted in New York City in the late 50's as the explosion of Abstract Expressionism turned into a rebellion against gestural, emotional painting.
More concerned about his art than his posture, he expanded upon a tradition in painting with influences as diverse as Whistler and Turner as well as Ad Reinhardt and Joseph Albers.
Alan Fenton was born in Cleveland in 1927, studied at the Cleveland School of Art, The Arts Students League, The New School, and at NYU, earning his BFA at Pratt Institute, where he later taught painting for many years. At seventeen, Fenton served in the Merchant Marines where he began a career as a professional boxer, a skill he had honed on the streets.
He moved successfully through the graphic design business en route to becoming a painter in New York at the height of the art revolution of the fifties and sixties. Fenton enjoyed success with his subtle washes and pencil drawings as well as large abstract canvases in acrylic, landing one-man shows at the prestigious Pace Gallery in New York, The New York Cultural Center Museum, The Barbara Fielder Gallery in Washington, et al.
In his introduction to Fenton's exhibition catalogue for his one-man show at the Phillips Collection in Washington, Vincent Melzac wrote, ''Fenton is his own man, producing work that is uniquely his...in his work one feels that Fenton is testing the accepted and pushing for a newer and richer visual experience.''
In the late 60's he turned his artistic vision and business savvy towards developing creative environments where ''good and beautiful people'' could live and work together. His first endeavor was to turn the Tiffany Glass Building on lower Park Avenue into an artistic community where notable photographers, painters, and filmmakers moved in, setting the stage for a modern, hip, yet warm and friendly working space for the community which he had nurtured. He later developed the first live/work loft in Cleveland, where Fenton resided during his last years.
Fenton said about his own work, ''All that happens in my work is natural and human, hard and soft, large and small, heaven and earth. All this with the image of man, (my glow) forms a system to attain the sublime. All of these paradoxes form a triad that is the way of everything. The line is the 'hard', the formless form and the imageless image is the 'soft'. They are inseparable, one cannot exist without the other.''
Fenton's work resides at The Hirschhorn Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Phillips Collection, the North Carolina Museum of Art, and The Cleveland Museum of Art, and countless others as well as in private collections.(Biography provided by Lincoln Glenn)
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Untitled
Located in Austin, TX
Oil on canvas. Signed verso. Some scratched out, illegible writing in paint and graphite verso, which may have indicated the artist's original pricing, as well as a possible title.
...
Category
1960s Abstract Expressionist Alan Fenton
Materials
Canvas, Oil
"Untitled, " Alan Fenton, Abstract Expressionism
Located in New York, NY
Alan Fenton (1927 - 2000)
Untitled, 1965
Charcoal and graphite on paper
23 x 17 inches
Signed and dated lower right
Fenton's quiet and contemplative nonob...
Category
1960s Abstract Expressionist Alan Fenton
Materials
Paper, Charcoal, Graphite
"Untitled, " Alan Fenton, Abstract Expressionism, New York School, Color Field
Located in New York, NY
Alan Fenton (1927 - 2000)
Untitled, 1958-1960
Oil on canvas
88 x 82 1/2 inches
Signed on the stretcher
Fenton's quiet and contemplative nonobjective paintings and drawings were widely recognized for their demanding yet understated means of revealing a serious and sober essence. He identified greatly with Mark Rothko, a friend, as well as Adolph Gottlieb and Jack Tworkov, with whom he had studied privately. Fenton painted in New York City in the late 50's as the explosion of Abstract Expressionism turned into a rebellion against gestural, emotional painting.
More concerned about his art than his posture, he expanded upon a tradition in painting with influences as diverse as Whistler and Turner as well as Ad Reinhardt and Joseph Albers.
Alan Fenton was born in Cleveland in 1927, studied at the Cleveland School of Art, The Arts Students League, The New School, and at NYU, earning his BFA at Pratt Institute, where he later taught painting for many years. At seventeen, Fenton served in the Merchant Marines where he began a career as a professional boxer, a skill he had honed on the streets.
He moved successfully through the graphic design business en route to becoming a painter in New York at the height of the art revolution of the fifties and sixties. Fenton enjoyed success with his subtle washes and pencil drawings as well as large abstract canvases...
Category
1950s Abstract Expressionist Alan Fenton
Materials
Canvas, Oil
"Untitled, " Alan Fenton, Abstract Expressionism, New York School, Color Field
Located in New York, NY
Alan Fenton (1927 - 2000)
Untitled, 1958-1960
Oil on canvas
96 x 78 inches
Fenton's quiet and contemplative nonobjective paintings and drawings were widel...
Category
1950s Abstract Expressionist Alan Fenton
Materials
Canvas, Oil
"Untitled, " Alan Fenton, Abstract Expressionism, New York School, Color Field
Located in New York, NY
Alan Fenton (1927 - 2000)
Untitled, 1958-1960
Oil on canvas
90 x 84 inches
Fenton's quiet and contemplative nonobjective paintings and drawings were widely recognized for their demanding yet understated means of revealing a serious and sober essence. He identified greatly with Mark Rothko, a friend, as well as Adolph Gottlieb and Jack Tworkov, with whom he had studied privately. Fenton painted in New York City in the late 50's as the explosion of Abstract Expressionism turned into a rebellion against gestural, emotional painting.
More concerned about his art than his posture, he expanded upon a tradition in painting with influences as diverse as Whistler and Turner as well as Ad Reinhardt and Joseph Albers.
Alan Fenton was born in Cleveland in 1927, studied at the Cleveland School of Art, The Arts Students League, The New School, and at NYU, earning his BFA at Pratt Institute, where he later taught painting for many years. At seventeen, Fenton served in the Merchant Marines where he began a career as a professional boxer, a skill he had honed on the streets.
He moved successfully through the graphic design business en route to becoming a painter in New York at the height of the art revolution of the fifties and sixties. Fenton enjoyed success with his subtle washes and pencil drawings as well as large abstract...
Category
1950s Abstract Expressionist Alan Fenton
Materials
Canvas, Oil
"Untitled, " Alan Fenton, Abstract Expressionism, New York School, Color Field
Located in New York, NY
Alan Fenton (1927 - 2000)
Untitled, 1958-1960
Oil on canvas
90 x 84 inches
Fenton's quiet and contemplative nonobjective paintings and drawings were widel...
Category
1950s Abstract Expressionist Alan Fenton
Materials
Canvas, Oil
"Pond I, " Alan Fenton, Abstract Expressionism, New York School, Color Field
Located in New York, NY
Alan Fenton (1927 - 2000)
Pond I, 1958
Oil on canvas
81 x 90 inches
Signed, titled and dated on the reverse
Fenton's quiet and contemplative nonobjective paintings and drawings were...
Category
1950s Abstract Expressionist Alan Fenton
Materials
Canvas, Oil
"Untitled, " Alan Fenton, Abstract Expressionism, New York School, Color Field
Located in New York, NY
Alan Fenton (1927 - 2000)
Untitled, 1958-1960
Oil on canvas
90 x 84 inches
Fenton's quiet and contemplative nonobjective paintings and drawings were widel...
Category
1950s Abstract Expressionist Alan Fenton
Materials
Canvas, Oil
"Inherent Light Series IX, " Alan Fenton, Abstract Expressionism, Black Stripes
Located in New York, NY
Alan Fenton (1927 - 2000)
Inherent Light Series IX, 1977
Watercolor on paper
23 x 17 inches
Signed and dated lower right; titled lower left
Fenton's quiet and contemplative nonobjec...
Category
1970s Abstract Expressionist Alan Fenton
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
"Rembrandt Later Danae, " Alan Fenton, Abstract Expressionism
Located in New York, NY
Alan Fenton (1927 - 2000)
Rembrandt Later Danae, 1975
Watercolor on paper
23 x 17 inches
Signed and dated lower right; titled lower left
Fenton's quiet an...
Category
1970s Abstract Expressionist Alan Fenton
Materials
Paper, Watercolor, Gouache
"Tiny Travelers, " Alan Fenton, Abstract Expressionism, New York School, Stripes
Located in New York, NY
Alan Fenton (1927 - 2000)
Tiny Travelers II, 1975
Watercolor on paper
23 x 17 inches
Signed and dated lower right; titled lower left
Fenton's quiet and co...
Category
1970s Abstract Expressionist Alan Fenton
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
"Untitled, " Alan Fenton, Abstract Expressionism, New York School, Color Field
Located in New York, NY
Alan Fenton (1927 - 2000)
Untitled, 1958-1960
Oil on canvas
89 x 83 inches
Signed on the stretcher
Fenton's quiet and contemplative nonobjective paintings and drawings were widely r...
Category
1950s Abstract Expressionist Alan Fenton
Materials
Canvas, Oil
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Alan Fenton art for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Alan Fenton art available for sale on 1stDibs. If you’re browsing the collection of art to introduce a pop of color in a neutral corner of your living room or bedroom, you can find work that includes elements of blue and other colors. You can also browse by medium to find art by Alan Fenton in paint, canvas, fabric and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the abstract style. Not every interior allows for large Alan Fenton art, so small editions measuring 25 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of John von Wicht, Sherron Francis, and Morris Shulman. Alan Fenton art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $2,400 and tops out at $40,000, while the average work can sell for $40,000.