Al Held Art
American, 1928-2005
Alvin Jacob Held, (1928-2005) Al Held earned his slot in the annals of American contemporary art with his bold, geometric canvases that took abstraction to another level. His free-floating, interlocked cubes, and planes invited the viewer into a vertigo-inducing landscape that seemed to stretch on into infinity. "Immense architectural structures curve and slice through these complex paintings, often enmeshing themselves in cellular structures," noted the Times of London. "Viewers felt that they were exploring some mysterious universe, and Held never lost his passionate belief in abstract painting's ability to create a sublime new world."
Held grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and as a teenager, missed so many days of high school that it was suggested he consider leaving altogether. He eventually earned a night-school diploma, and spent two years in the U.S. Navy. Back in New York City, he enrolled in classes at the Art Students League, and went on to study at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris in the early 1950s. The first solo exhibition of his work was staged there, in 1952 at the Galerie Huit. Held's abstract work took on a more orderly, formal tone, aided by a switch from oil to acrylic paints in 1959, and he had his first solo show in New York City that same year at the Poindexter Gallery. "Finessing the gap between Minimalism and Color Field painting," wrote New York Times journalist Ken Johnson of the next decade of Held's career, "he produced smooth, simplified works based on enlarged letters of the alphabet. And in the late '60s and '70s he made complex black-and-white pictures of sharply outlined cubes, pyramids, and other geometric shapes floating in illusory spaces of indeterminate depth."
Some of Held's best-known works are those floating black and white cubes, a series he began in 1967. One of the largest, which stretches more than 90 feet in length, was installed at the Empire State Plaza in Albany, New York. In the late 1970s, in an abrupt shift, he began using color again, and the geometric shapes became so precise that they were sometimes mistaken for computer-generated art. Held considered his images not unlike those of religious art, once telling an interviewer that "historically, the priests and wise men believed that it was the artist's job to make images of heaven and hell believable, even though nobody had experienced these places," he said, according to his Chicago Tribune obituary.
Held spent 20 years teaching at Yale University's. Represented by the Robert Miller Gallery in New York City, which staged what would be his last exhibition of new work in 2003, Held's works were avidly sought by contemporary-art enthusiasts around the world, and were part of the permanent collections of many institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art.
— Carol Brennan(Biography provided by Judy Ferrara Gallery)
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RUSSELL'S WAY
By Al Held
Located in Three Oaks, MI
In excellent condition from an edition of 50, this piece is beautifully framed in museum-quality materials. Al Held is best remembered for his large-scale paintings of bright, hard-e...
Category
1880s Abstract Expressionist Al Held Art
Materials
Archival Paper, Etching, Aquatint
Scholes I, Large Framed Geometric Abstract by Al Held
By Al Held
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Al Held, American (1928 - 2005)
Title: Scholes I
Year: 1991
Medium: Silkscreen, signed and numbered in pencil
Edition: 80
Image Size: 23 x 29 inches
Size: 29 x 34 in. (73.66 ...
Category
1990s Abstract Geometric Al Held Art
Materials
Screen
Untitled "A"
By Al Held
Located in London, GB
Price: $75,000 (+5% import VAT)
Provenance:
Robert Miller Gallery, New York
Private collection, New York (acquired from the above in 1980)
Exhibited:
Montpellier, Musee Fabre, "...
Category
1960s Abstract Expressionist Al Held Art
Materials
Acrylic
Untitled "D"
By Al Held
Located in London, GB
Signed and dated 'Al Held 61' (lower right)
Price: $75,000 (+5% import VAT)
Provenance:
Robert Miller Gallery, New York (stock no.1179359 HELD-0075)
Private collection, New York
...
Category
1960s Abstract Expressionist Al Held Art
Materials
Acrylic
Stone Ridge 2
By Al Held
Located in New York, NY
Al Held was born in 1928 in Brooklyn, New York. He began his artistic studies at the Art Students League and subsequently traveled to Paris under the GI Bill in 1950 to study at the ...
Category
1980s Abstract Al Held Art
Materials
Paper
Scholes II
By Al Held
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Al Held, American (1928 - 2005)
Title: Scholes II
Year: 1991
Medium: Silkscreen, signed and numbered in pencil
Edition: 80
Image Size: 23 x 29 inches
Size: 29 x 34 in. ...
Category
1990s Abstract Geometric Al Held Art
Materials
Screen
Pradorama
By Al Held
Located in Tbilisi, GE
Signed
Edition of 75
Category
20th Century Contemporary Al Held Art
Materials
Lithograph
Untitled
By Al Held
Located in New York, NY
AL HELD
Untitled, 1950 - 1952
Oil on canvas
20 x 24 inches
Signed verso
Category
1950s Abstract Expressionist Al Held Art
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Out and In, by Al Held
By Al Held
Located in New York, NY
Big, bold and dynamic, this richly colored aquatint, created by Al Held in 1987 is masterful. Out and In, measuring 40 ½ x 52 ½ in. (102.9 x 133.4 cm), unframed, is hand-signed by t...
Category
Late 20th Century Al Held Art
Materials
Aquatint
60 S-2 AP
By Al Held
Located in New York, NY
AL HELD
60 S-2 AP, 1964-1965
Ink and acrylic on paper mounted on board
15 x 39-7/8 inches
Category
1960s Abstract Al Held Art
Materials
Ink, Acrylic, Archival Paper
Kyoto-wa
By Al Held
Located in New York, NY
One of the most recognizable and collectible images by Al Held, Kyoto-wa was created by the artist as an original woodcut with lithography in 1985. Hand-signed in pencil, dated and ...
Category
Late 20th Century Abstract Geometric Al Held Art
Materials
Lithograph, Woodcut
Scholes I
By Al Held
Located in New York, NY
This screenprint was created by the artist in 1991. Signed in pencil and numbered from the edition of 80 measuring 29 x 34 in. (73.7 x 86.4 cm.). Published by The Metropolitan Museu...
Category
20th Century Al Held Art
Materials
Screen
Scholes II
By Al Held
Located in New York, NY
This screenprint was created by the artist in 1991. Signed in pencil and numbered from the edition of 80 measuring 29 x 34 in. (73.7 x 86.4 cm.). Published by The Metropolitan Museu...
Category
20th Century Contemporary Al Held Art
Materials
Screen
Liv
By Al Held
Located in New York, NY
1992, color hardground etching with aquatint, 40 1/2 x 54 inches (102.9 x 137.2 cm), edition of 30, signed, numbered, and dated on reverse
Category
1990s Abstract Geometric Al Held Art
Materials
Aquatint, Etching
PI-5
By Al Held
Located in New York, NY
Ink on paper
Category
1960s Al Held Art
Materials
Ink, Paper
PI 49
By Al Held
Located in New York, NY
Signed and dated verso
Category
1960s Al Held Art
Pachinko
By Al Held
Located in San Francisco, CA
Category
Al Held Art
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Previously Available Items
Scholes I
By Al Held
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Al Held, American (1928 - 2005)
Title: Scholes I
Year: 1991
Medium: Silkscreen, signed and numbered in pencil
Edition: 80
Image Size: 23 x 29 inches
Size: 29 x 34 in. (73.66 ...
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1990s Abstract Geometric Al Held Art
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Russell's Way
By Al Held
Located in New York, NY
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Russell's Way, 1989
color aquatint on Somerset paper
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1980s Abstract Geometric Al Held Art
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Liv, Large Colorful Geometric Abstract by Al Held
By Al Held
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Al Held, American (1928 - 2005)
Title: Liv
Year: 1992
Medium: Etching with aquatint on paper, signed and numbered in pencil
Edition: 16/30
Image Size: 35.5 x 44.5 inches
Size...
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1990s Abstract Geometric Al Held Art
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Roberta's Trip G
By Al Held
Located in New York, NY
Part of the series "Roberta's Trip" which was featured in "Plane: The Essential of Painting" at MoMA PS1
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1980s Abstract Geometric Al Held Art
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Acrylic
Scholes, 1
By Al Held
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Signed and numbered in pencil by the artist lower right
Edition: 80 (3/80)
Published by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Mezzanine Gallery, New York, with their blindstamp lower...
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1990s Abstract Geometric Al Held Art
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Screen
Scholes II
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Stone Ridge #1
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Year: 1983
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Edition number 53/65 numbered on verso.
Signed on verso "Al Held 83 53/65 AH.106.A"
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Indigo
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Year: 1990
Medium: Color aquatint with spit bite aquatint
Signed, dated, and numbered verso
Edition 32/50
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Magenta
By Al Held
Located in Austin, TX
Artist: Al Held
Title: Magenta
Year: 1990
Medium: Color aquatint with spit bite aquatint
Edition: 37/50
Signed, dated, and numbered verso
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Stone Ridge #4
By Al Held
Located in Austin, TX
Artist: Al Held
Title: Stone Ridge #4
Year: 1983
Medium: Color etching
Edition number 53/65 numbered on verso.
Signed on verso "Al Held 83 53/65 AH.106.A"
Dimensions: Sheet: 26.75"H ...
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1980s Abstract Al Held Art
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Etching
Liv
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Located in New York, NY
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1990s Abstract Geometric Al Held Art
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Located in Palm Desert, CA
A geometric abstract spit-bite aquatint executed in bright lime green, orange, red, yellow and yellow ochre by Post War artist Al Held. From the unnumbered edition of 50.
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Aquatint
Al Held art for sale on 1stDibs
1stDibs offers a wide variety of authentic Al Held art available for sale. If you are looking for art to add a pop of color to a neutral corner of your living room or bedroom, you can find work that includes elements of orange, blue, red and other colors. You can also browse by medium to find art by Al Held in aquatint, screen print, etching and more. Much of this artist's original work was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the abstract style. Not every interior allows for large Al Held art, so small editions measuring 23.75 inches across are available. Customers interested in this artist might also find the works of Arthur Boden, Peter Voulkos and Jean Miotte. The price for these items starts at $2,500 and tops out at $15,000, while the average work can sell for $7,000. Al Held art prices can vary depending upon medium, time period and other attributes.