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Leon Kelly Paintings

American, 1901-1982
Leon Kelly, born in 1901, studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia. Awarded a traveling scholarship from that institution in 1924, he studied in Paris, France at the Grande Chaumiere. Other teachers included Arthur B. Carles, Jean Auguste Adolphe, Earl Horter and Alexandre Portinoff. Essentially a Surrealist painter, Kelly did wide-ranging work that went from painterly to meticulous Surrealism, Cezanne-inspired watercolors, and Cubist painting. In the 1940s, Julian Levy, the Surrealist dealer, handled Kelly's work in New York City. Kelly also exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Art Annuals (1933-34, 1939-46, 1966); Corcoran Gallery Biennials, Washington, D.C. (three times from 1935-47); Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois; had a 1965 retrospective exhibition at the International Gallery, Baltimore, Maryland; Long Beach, New Jersey (1968); Richard Feigen Gallery, Chicago, Illinois (1968, 1970); Newark Museum, New Jersey (1969); and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Kelly's paintings are in the collections of three New York city museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Whitney Museum of American Art; and Museum of Modern Art; as well as Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut; Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia; Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California; Sara Roby Foundation Collection at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts; Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, Lincoln, Nebraska; Newark Museum, New Jersey; and the Tel Aviv Museum, Israel.
(Biography provided by Peyton Wright Gallery)
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Artist: Leon Kelly
Self Portrait by American Modernist, Signed and Dated, 1925
By Leon Kelly
Located in Doylestown, PA
"Self Portrait" by Philadelphia born modernist painter Leon Kelly, is a moody and atmospheric self portrait of the artist in younger years at age 24. The 18" x 16" oil on board, fram...
Category

1920s American Modern Leon Kelly Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

White Pidgeon, La Paloma Blanca, Modernist Abstract, 1962, Framed Oil on Canvas
By Leon Kelly
Located in Doylestown, PA
"White Pidgeon - La Paloma Blanca" by Philadelphia born modernist and surrealist painter Leon Kelly, is a large scale Modernist Abstract painting. The 40" x 54" oil on canvas is sign...
Category

1960s Abstract Leon Kelly Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Tabletop Still Life, Modernist Still Life with Food, Flowers, and Wine
By Leon Kelly
Located in Doylestown, PA
"Tabletop Still Life" by Philadelphia born modernist and surrealist painter Leon Kelly, is a framed painting of a set dinner table with food, flowers, and wine. The 36" x 44" oil on ...
Category

1930s American Modern Leon Kelly Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Woman at Basin, Picasso Style Portrait of a Female Nude, American Modernist
By Leon Kelly
Located in Doylestown, PA
"Woman by Basin" by Philadelphia born modernist and surrealist painter Leon Kelly, is a framed and matted portrait of a female nude. The 22.5" x 17.75" mixed media on artist board i...
Category

1920s American Modern Leon Kelly Paintings

Materials

Mixed Media

Landscape with Trees
By Leon Kelly
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Landscape with Trees Watercolor on paper, 1929 Signed in pencil lower right corner Obviously influenced by the Cezanne works in the collection of his patron Alfred C. Barnes of Phila...
Category

1920s American Modern Leon Kelly Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

Venus Retrieved from the Hands of Death, Surrealist, Nudes, 1959, Oil on Canvas
By Leon Kelly
Located in Doylestown, PA
"Venus Retrieved from the Hands of Death" by Philadelphia born modernist painter Leon Kelly, is a fantasy nude group scene of one female and two male figures. The 49" x 36" oil on ca...
Category

1950s Surrealist Leon Kelly Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Untitled
By Leon Kelly
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Untitled Cubist Abstraction Signed and dated lower right Watercolor, charcoal and gouache on paper, 1922 Provenance: Estate of the Artist Schroeder, Romero & Sh...
Category

1920s Cubist Leon Kelly Paintings

Materials

Charcoal, Watercolor, Gouache

Bathers, Modernist Nudes, Oil on Canvas, Signed and Titled
By Leon Kelly
Located in Doylestown, PA
"Bathers" by Philadelphia born modernist painter Leon Kelly, is a fantasy nude scene of two female figures, one with towel in hand, one only depicted as a portrait within the paintin...
Category

20th Century American Modern Leon Kelly Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Secundo Congreso Feminino, Large Canvas Surrealist Female Group Portrait, 1969
By Leon Kelly
Located in Doylestown, PA
"Secundo Congreso Feminino " by Philadelphia born modernist painter Leon Kelly, is a large scale, surrealist painting of a group gathering showing women in the nude. The 60" x 42" oi...
Category

1960s Surrealist Leon Kelly Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Lunar Encounter with Child, Surrealist Portrait, Oil on Canvas, 1958, Framed
By Leon Kelly
Located in Doylestown, PA
"Lunar Encounter with Child" by Philadelphia born modernist painter Leon Kelly, is a large, brightly colored surrealist portrait of two figures. The 40" x 30" oil on canvas was paint...
Category

1950s Surrealist Leon Kelly Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

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"The Fortune Teller, " Leon Kelly, American Surrealism, Woman with Playing Cards
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Leon Kelly (American, 1901 - 1982) The Fortune Teller (Woman with Playing Cards, a Bottle of Wine, and a Parrot), circa 1926 Oil on canvasboard 20 x 16 inches Signed lower right Housed in a distressed wooden frame Leon Kelly is admired as one of America’s most talented surrealist painters. He exhibited alongside Salvador Dali, Yves Tanguy, Max Ernst, Marcel Duchamp, Arshile Gorky, Roberto Matta, and Eugene Berman at the premier gallery for Surrealism in America, the Julien Levy Gallery. However, it is widely acknowledged that along the path to a deep understanding of Surrealism, Kelly mastered many artistic styles. He skillfully moved from a modernist approach to Impressionism, through Pointillism, Purism, Fauvism, Geometric Abstraction, Analytical Cubism, and in the 1960’s, a bold, more robust Baroque style of painting and drawing. Kelly’s talent was clear from childhood, particularly his ability to draw. At 13, he took private painting lessons from Albert Jean Adolphe at the School of Industrial Art, now the University of the Arts, in Philadelphia. He enhanced his artistic education by copying Old Master paintings and drawing animals at the Philadelphia Zoo. Several years later, Kelly briefly studied sculpture with Alexander Portnoff before joining the Quartermaster Corp at the Army Depot at the outbreak of World War II. Kelly’s family’s financial situation changed in 1920 when his father’s tailoring business failed and his parents divorced. The young Kelly was now forced to support his mother and grandmother and over the next four years, he worked evenings at a bakery. With his days free, Kelly studied anatomy at the Philadelphia School of Osteopathy and mastered an understanding of the human body by dissecting a cadaver. Around this time, he met the artist Earl Horter with whom he studied etching. Horter had an important collection of European modern art which exposed Kelly to artists such as Brancusi, Matisse, Picasso and Braque, among others, and opened his mind to the new artistic movements in Paris. Kelly enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1922 where he flourished under the guidance of Arthur B. Carles. Kelly’s artistic talents were apparent and according to the artist’s family, Carles declared him to be his best student. In 1925, Kelly traveled in Europe for four months on a Cresson Fellowship. After his return to Philadelphia, he enrolled again at the Academy. Soon thereafter, Kelly moved to Paris where he lived for the next six years. While living in his apartment at 19 rue Daguerre he painted The Musician, a work that reflects Kelly’s engagement with Analytic Cubism as practiced by Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque and Juan Gris. Although his finances during this period were bleak, Kelly’s intellectual and cultural life were rich. He met Henry Miller, James Joyce and the well-known anarchist and art critic Felix Feneon. At this time, museums and important collectors began purchasing his works and he received the patronage of Albert Barnes. While exploring the current modern styles, Kelly continued his practice of copying old master paintings at the Louvre. During this period, Kelly’s paintings were included in numerous exhibitions, both group and solo, primarily to favorable reviews. In October 1934, several of his works were among those included in the Second Regional Exhibition of Painting and Prints by Philadelphia Artists at the Whitney Museum in New York. At this time, Kelly created studies for a mural, now lost, in the School Administration Building under the Philadelphia Public Works of Art Project. In 1940, Julien Levy recognized Kelly’s talent immediately and included Kelly’s work in his gallery located on 57th St. in New York. The first exhibition in 1941 was held at the Art Alliance in Philadelphia and was followed the next year with a solo show in New York. Kelly’s second solo exhibition at Julien Levy Gallery was held in 1944. In a letter to Kelly, Tanguy reported that when Alfred Barr, the first director of the Museum of Modern Art, saw the exhibition, Barr declared that Kelly was one of the best American draftsmen. Surrealism, a movement which sought to release the creative potential of the unconscious mind, was now fully occupying Kelly’s canvases...
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1920s American Modern Leon Kelly Paintings

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Oil, Board

Leon Kelly paintings for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Leon Kelly paintings available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Leon Kelly in paint, oil paint, canvas and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the modern style. Not every interior allows for large Leon Kelly paintings, so small editions measuring 9 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Julio de Diego, Walter Beach Humphrey, and Frank Wilcox. Leon Kelly paintings prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $2,090 and tops out at $35,750, while the average work can sell for $19,000.

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