Lester JohnsonCLOSE UP Hand Drawn Lithograph Closeup Crowd Portrait Blondie T-Shirt, Cigarette1980
1980
About the Item
- Creator:Lester Johnson (1919 - 2010, American)
- Creation Year:1980
- Dimensions:Height: 28 in (71.12 cm)Width: 21 in (53.34 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:Fine condition, never been framed, pencil signed printers proof aside from the edition of 175, printers chop mark embossed on lower corner, from the master printers private collection.
- Gallery Location:Union City, NJ
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU83234897942
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: Union City, NJ
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 3 days of delivery.
- TWINS Color Lithograph, Passenger Waiting Area, Double Entendre, British HumorBy Beryl CookLocated in Union City, NJTWINS is a hand drawn, limited edition color lithograph by the well known and loved British artist and humorist, Beryl Cook(1926-2008). TWINS was printed using traditional hand litho...Category
1990s Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- FAMILY IN BLUE Signed Lithograph, Black Family Portrait, Azure Blue, Warm BrownBy Geoffrey HolderLocated in Union City, NJFAMILY IN BLUE is an original hand drawn limited edition lithograph by the Trinidadian-American artist, Geoffrey Holder an actor, dancer, choreographer...Category
1990s Contemporary Portrait Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- PANTO DAME Lithograph, Woman Dancing, Red Boots, Union Jack, British HumorBy Beryl CookLocated in Union City, NJPANTO DAME is a hand drawn, limited edition lithograph created in 1987 by the well known and loved British artist and humorist, Beryl Cook(1926-2008). PANTO DAME hand proofed and printed in bright vivid colors of blue, green, yellow, red, brown, black inks on archival Arches paper, 100% acid free. In this amusing depiction, PANTO DAME presents a lighthearted, comical theatric scene of a woman dancing before a laughing audience totally entertained by her bawdy performance. PANTO DAME thrills the theater crowd as she flashes her patriotic red, white, and blue British Union Jack bloomers worn beneath her ruffled, intense blue dress accentuated with green and black striped tights and pointy red boots...Category
1980s Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- BIRD IN HAND Signed Lithograph, Man Woman Walking, Romance, British HumorBy Beryl CookLocated in Union City, NJBIRD IN HAND is a hand drawn, pencil signed limited edition lithograph by the well known and loved British artist and humorist, Beryl Cook. BIRD IN HAND is a lighthearted, comical la...Category
1990s Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- THE FAMILY Signed Lithograph, Black Family Portrait, Collage, African AmericanBy James DenmarkLocated in Union City, NJTHE FAMILY is an original hand drawn, limited edition lithograph by the African American artist James Denmark, printed using hand lithography on Arches p...Category
1980s Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- BROTHERS Signed Lithograph, Portrait Young Boys, Peach, Turquoise, Pink, BrownBy Aldo LuongoLocated in Union City, NJBROTHERS is an original hand drawn lithograph by the Argentine artist, Aldo Luongo. Printed in 1975 at Circle Gallery NYC using traditional hand lithography methods on archival Arche...Category
1970s Contemporary Portrait Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Kara Walker, Untitled ("The Gross Clinician Presents: Pater Gravidam"), SignedBy Kara WalkerLocated in Hamburg, DEKara Walker (b 1969) Untitled (from "The Gross Clinician Presents: Pater Gravidam") Medium: Photolithograph, on Rives BFK paper Dimensions: 27.5 x 38.1 cm Edition of 75: Hand-signed ...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- What My Grandmother Told My Mother, She Never Told MeLocated in Columbia, MOBorn in 1941, American printmaker, Brooke Cameron taught printmaking, drawing and graduate careers at the University of Missouri. She has also served as the Department Chair, Directo...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- LIQUOR STORE REFLECTIONBy Ching Jang YaoLocated in Aventura, FLScreen print in colors on paper. Hand signed, dated and numbered by Ching Jang Yao. From the edition of 250. Frame size approx 25 x 33 inches. Artwork is in excellent condition...Category
1980s Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph, Paper
- THE WARRIORLocated in Aventura, FLOffset lithograph in colors on paper. Artist signature signed in the plate. Hand numbered in pencil. From the edition of 500. Published by Images International Hawaii. Printed by Tree Lautrec...Category
Late 20th Century Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph, Paper
- JOE LOUISLocated in Aventura, FLOffset lithograph in colors on paper. Hand signed and numbered by the artist. From the edition of 500. Artwork is in excellent condition. Certificate of authenticity included. All reasonable offers will be considered. Please note our gallery has more than 1 of this artwork in stock and the exact edition number you may receive may be different than pictured. Born in Tampa, Florida on December 8, 1927 with deep ancestral roots in Spain. Ferdie Pacheco...Category
Late 20th Century Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph, Paper
- Woman In Brown - Original Lithograph by P. Borra - 1973By Pompeo BorraLocated in Roma, ITWoman In Brown is a beautiful colored lithograph realized by the Italian artist Pompeo Borra (Milan, 1898-1973). Edited by La Nuova Foglio, Macerata Hand-signed in pencil "P. Borra...Category
1970s Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph