Lester Johnson On Sale
1980s Expressionist Figurative Prints
Etching, Aquatint, Intaglio
1980s Contemporary Figurative Prints
Lithograph
1970s Other Art Style Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Conté, Charcoal, Spray Paint, Board
1960s Mixed Media
Paper, Ink, Spray Paint
1960s Abstract Expressionist Figurative Paintings
India Ink, Mixed Media
1980s Contemporary Portrait Prints
Lithograph
1970s Contemporary Figurative Prints
Lithograph
1980s Contemporary Portrait Prints
Lithograph
1980s Contemporary Figurative Prints
Lithograph
1980s Contemporary Figurative Prints
Lithograph
1980s Contemporary Figurative Prints
Lithograph
People Also Browsed
21st Century and Contemporary Pop Art Sculptures
Resin, Vinyl
2010s Land Landscape Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Cotton Canvas, Mixed Media
Vintage 1930s Paintings
Paper
Vintage 1980s French Archaistic Decorative Bowls
Ceramic
Antique Late 19th Century European Victorian Rocking Chairs
Wood, Beech
Vintage 1970s German Expressionist Prints
Wood, Paper
1970s Pop Art Black and White Photography
Silver Gelatin
Vintage 1930s American Decorative Bowls
Cut Glass
20th Century American Rocking Chairs
Wood
1980s Abstract Abstract Prints
Ink, Paper
Antique 19th Century American Rocking Chairs
Maple, Pine, Hickory
Antique 1870s American American Classical Rocking Chairs
Rush, Walnut
1980s Contemporary Figurative Prints
Lithograph
Antique 19th Century Virgin Islands Regency Rocking Chairs
Cane, Mahogany, Oak
20th Century Sterling Silver
Sterling Silver
20th Century Neo-Expressionist Abstract Paintings
Paper, Oil
Recent Sales
1980s Contemporary Figurative Prints
Lithograph
1970s Contemporary Figurative Prints
Lithograph
Lester JohnsonNY Street Scene I, Signed Lithograph, Crowd Portrait, Expressionist Line Drawing, 1979
Lester Johnson On Sale For Sale on 1stDibs
How Much is a Lester Johnson On Sale?
Lester Johnson for sale on 1stDibs
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.