Joseph Amarotico

Architectural Fantasies, Geometric Abstract in Color

"Abstractions" by American modernist painter Leonard Nelson is a double sided work on paper. The front is 10.5" x 7.5" and the back side drawing is 10" x 6.75". Both sides are signed and dated "Nelson 46", and the artworks are matted and framed behind glass. Leonard Nelson (1912 - 1993) Born in Camden, New Jersey, Nelson applied for a scholarship at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, regardless of having no portfolio. He was persuasive enough to be given one semester and subsequently was awarded an Academy fellowship to study painting. Nelson went on to earn the Academy's prestigious Cresson Traveling Scholarship award in 1939. He studied at PAFA from 1936 - 1940 with, among others, Henry McCarter...

"Les Competiteurs" by American modernist painter Leonard Nelson is a 36" x 26" oil on canvas abstract figurative painting, created in 1952. The work is framed in classic black and si...

"Resting" is an interior portrait of a young man resting on a sofa. This work was painted by Philadelphia born Expressionist painter Bernard Harmon. The 24" x 32" oil on board painti...

"Snap Peas" is an interior portrait of a young woman working at her kitchen table, painted by Philadelphia born Expressionist painter Bernard Harmon. The 24" x 36" oil on board painting from 1955 is signed "Harmon" in the lower left and it is framed in a new black wood frame. Figurative expressionism in the style of Alice Neel. Bernard Harmon was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1935. Harmon was primarily a portrait painter and a well loved teacher in the Philadelphia area. A graduate of the Philadelphia Museum School and Temples Tyler School of Art, Harmon traveled extensively in Europe and South America. Beloved by many, Harmon taught in the Philadelphia School District for 32 of his 54 years of life. Beginning his career as an art teacher at West Philadelphia High School, in the early 1960s he became one of the district's artists in residence, traveling from school to school to demonstrate for students how an artist works. Returning to the classroom, Harmon joined the art department at Central High School where he taught for 14 years and became an innovator in art curriculum, developing a program offering advanced placement art classes to gifted students. In his final years Harmon became a supervisor, mentoring teachers and overseeing programs in the Philadelphia school systems District #1. During his short life Harmon taught collage preparatory art classes at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, summer classes at the University of the Arts, and a Saturday program for gifted children at Drexel University. Among Harmon's portraits were commissioned by Philadelphia Jazz organist Jimmy Smith and Mayor Richardson Dilworth. Bernard Harmon was active in promoting African American Artist throughout his life time. He organized many early shows such as the "Afro American Artists 1800 - 1969" at the Museum of the Philadelphia Civic Center in 1969. He was considered a Renaissance man by friends and colleagues for his interests not only in art but music and theater as well. He was familiar and friends with many other African American artists such as Doc Thrash, Selma Burke, Paul Keene...

Geometric and serene in its complexity - abstract contemporary painting created with impeccable attention to detail by deconstructing original watercolors into dime sized rectangle c...

Geometric and serene in its complexity - abstract contemporary painting created with impeccable attention to detail by deconstructing original watercolors into dime sized rectangle c...

Geometric and serene in its complexity - abstract contemporary painting created with impeccable attention to detail by deconstructing original watercolors into dime sized rectangle c...

This artwork makes part of my small collection of abstract paintings created in various soft neutral earth tones. Main colors of this collection are grey, brown, suede, black, white....