Felix Ruvolo Art

"Royal Performance" Large Scale Mid Century Hard Edge Abstraction by Felix Ruvolo Dynamic piece by Felix Ruvolo (American, 1912-1992). This piece exemplifies late-1960s pop art and ...

"Shutters Are Good" Large Scale 1970 Geometric Color Field Composition Bold geometric piece by Felix Ruvolo (American, 1912-1992). This piece exemplifies late-1960s hard-edge abstra...

"Quiet Little Prods" Large Scale 1960s Oil Painting - Geometric Abstraction Bold piece by Felix Ruvolo (American, 1912-1992). This piece exemplifie...

"Open Portals" Large Scale Color Field Painting, Signed, 1960s, 70x60 Dynamic piece by Felix Ruvolo (American, 1912-1992). This piece exemplifies late-1960s hard-edge abstraction, w...

Figure with Orange and Blue - Original Signed Abstract Expressionist Work Dynamic figural abstract piece by Felix Ruvolo (American, 1912-1992). In the center of the composition is a...

Black And White Abstract - Oil And Gouache On Paper Black and white abstract painting by Felix Ruvolo (American, 1912-1992). Grey takes over the center of the paper with strokes of ...

"Samson and Delilah" Abstract Expressionist Drawing - Pastel on Paper, Signed Bold pastel drawing by Felix Ruvolo (American, 1912-1992). The shapes in this drawing are primarily org...

Abstract Shapes - Original Expressionistic Color Pencil and Ink Drawing, Signed Colorful modernist drawing by Felix Ruvolo (American, 1912-1992). This abstract piece features a vari...

"Tattooed Lady" - Large Scale Mid Century Abstract Expressionist Composition Dynamic piece by Felix Ruvolo (American, 1912-1992). A loosely defined standing figure emerges from bold...

Original Bay Area Abstract Expressionist Drawing - Marker and Pencil, Signed Intriguing pencil and marker drawing by Felix Ruvolo (American, 1912-1992). The shapes in this drawing a...

Abstracted Interior Scene - Original Expressionistic Pencil Drawing, Signed Intriguing modernist drawing by Felix Ruvolo (American, 1912-1992). This abstract piece features what app...

Original Abstract Expressionist Drawing - Pencil and Ink, Signed Intriguing pencil and ink drawing by Felix Ruvolo (American, 1912-1992). The shapes in this drawing are primarily or...

Organic Shapes and Lines - Original Expressionistic Ink Drawing, Signed Energetic ink drawing by Felix Ruvolo (American, 1912-1992). A cluster of light and dark areas make the focal...

Abstracted Portrait - Original Expressionistic Ink Drawing, Signed Energetic ink drawing by Felix Ruvolo (American, 1912-1992). In the center of this composition a face emerges from...

Original Abstract Expressionist Drawing - Red and Pink Spirals Intriguing pen and pencil drawing by Felix Ruvolo (American, 1912-1992). A variety of spirals and other organic shapes...

Artist: Felix Ruvolo – American (1912 - 1992) Title: “Samson and Delila” aka “Untitled” from the suite: 10 West Coast Artists, Collector’s Press, 1967 Year: 1967 Medium: Lithograph on Arches paper Size: 30 x 22.5 inches. Publisher: Collector’s Press, San Francisco Edition: 75. Signature: Signed lower right in pencil Embossed publisher’s chop lower left of the Collector’s Press, San Francisco; Embossed printer’s chop lower left of Ernest De Soto Numbered: 39/75 lower right in pencil Condition: Excellent This lithograph is from the notable portfolio “10 West Coast Artists” containing ten prints, title page and colophon page, published by Collector’s Press in San Francisco in 1967. Prints by Keith Boyle, Bruce Conner, Richard Diebenkorn, Roy de Forest, Sidney Gordin, Frank Lobdell, James Melchert, Manuel Neri, Frank Ruvolo, Peter Voulkos are in the portfolio. The print has no margins – it is full bleed. The print is in excellent condition. Felix Ruvolo was born in New York City in 1912, but raised in the home of his grandparents in Sicily where he first studied with an Italian artist. At age 12, he returned to the home of his parents, who soon moved to Chicago. They were aware of his intense interest in art and had him continue studies with a local artist and then at the Chicago Art Institute. By 1938 he was exhibiting regularly and was accorded his first invitation to participate in an American Federation of Arts traveling exhibition. Invitations to exhibitions at other major institutions followed--the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Carnegie Institute, the Phillips Gallery Museum, the Pennsylvania Academy, the Walker Art Center, the “Contemporary American Painting” surveys at the Krannert Museum from 1948 to 1961, the Sao Paulo Biennials in Brazil, the Galerie Creuse in Paris. He was represented in the ground-breaking exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1951, “Abstract Painting and Sculpture in America.” His many one-man shows included those at the Durand Ruel Gallery, the Catherine Viviano Gallery, the Grand Central, the Poindexter Gallery in New York and the University of Southern California. His works entered public and private collections such as the Chicago Art Institute, the Krannert Museum, the Walker Art Center, the Oakland Museum of Art, and the Aukland City Museum in New Zealand. His work was reproduced in national magazines and in anthologies published by the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum, and Albright Museum in New York, the Los Angeles County Museum, the American Encyclopedia, the Dictionaire de la Peinture Abstraite, and Il Giornale D'Italia. His teaching career began at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1945 and continued until 1948 when he moved with his wife Mardi to New York. Mills College in Oakland had established a program of bringing distinguished artists, such as Fernand Leger, to the campus as guest instructors. Felix was invited for the summer session of 1948; during that sojourn, he had solo exhibitions in the Mills College Art Gallery and at the De Young Museum in San Francisco. At that time, he met many Bay Area artists who were to become life-long friends of the Ruvolos. His national reputation had been firmly established, when in 1949 Felix was extended the invitation for appointment to the faculty on the Berkeley campus. His earlier works were referential, often on fantasy themes. These new paintings were non-objective in idiom, rich in color, line and texture. They were marvelous, they were beautiful, they bespoke his creative genius. Critics came, collectors came, colleagues came, students came, friends from the East came. Artists were invited to serve as visiting faculty. George McNeil, then Director of the Pratt Institute, said that he accepted an invitation to come to Berkeley because Felix was there. Among his students who have achieved distinction in the profession are: Wayne Anderson, Walter de Maria, Mark di Suvero, William Brown, Mary Snowden...

"Infusion" Large Scale Mid Century Color Field Composition Dynamic piece by Felix Ruvolo (American, 1912-1992). This piece exemplifies late-1960s hard-edge abstraction, with interlo...

Original Abstract Expressionist Drawing - Organic Shapes Intriguing pen and pencil drawing by Felix Ruvolo (American, 1912-1992). The shapes in this drawing appear biomorphic, resem...

"HAREM" Large Scale Mid Century Hard Edge Abstraction by Felix Ruvolo Dynamic piece by Felix Ruvolo (American, 1912-1992). This piece exemplifies late-1960s pop art and hard-edge ab...

An early abstract expressionist work on paper by American artist Felix Ruvolo. Mystery revolves around the very beginnings of Felix Ruvolo’s life.  Any biographical information to be found only lists a birth year for Felix, but no day or month.  We know he was born in New York City in 1912, and was raised by his grandparents in Sicily until the age of 12.  Why he was sent back to Italy remains a mystery as well. What we do know is that young Felix showed so much promise as an artist that the family hired a professional artist to work with Felix while he was being raised in Sicily.   In 1924, at the age of 12, Ruvolo was sent back to the United States to rejoin his parents, who were settling in Chicago. In Chicago, Ruvolo continued his private art lessons, and later enrolled in the Chicago Art Institute.   By the 1930s, the young prodigy was exhibiting his work regularly in Chicago, and was invited to participate in an American Federation of Arts traveling exhibition. This exposure brought more attention to Ruvolo’s work and he was soon invited to exhibit at major American venues, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Carnegie Institute, and the Walker Art Center.  In 1945, Ruvolo took a position teaching at the Chicago Art Institute where he had studied just a few years prior.   With extensive exhibitions in the United States, international attention arose and Ruvolo was invited to show at the Sao Paulo Biennial in Brazil, and at the Galerie Creuse in Paris, France.    By this time, Felix’s works were being reproduced in national magazines and in anthologies published by the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum, and Albright Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum, in the American Encyclopedia, the Dictionaire de la Peinture Abstraite, and Il Giornale D'Italia, and museums and private individuals around the world were acquiring works by Ruvolo for their collections. By 1950 Ruvolo was invited, by a unanimous vote of the staff, to join the faculty of the art department at University of California, Berkeley, which was a hotbed of modern art at the time. Ruvolo accepted the position at UC Berkeley and settled in Berkeley, CA where his home became a gathering place for many artists and intellectuals.   In 1951, Ruvolo’s work was included in the ground-breaking exhibition ‘Abstract Painting and Sculpture in America’ held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Ruvolo was so highly regarded and respected by his peers around the country.  George McNeil, who had been the director of the Pratt Institute in New York, is known to have said that he accepted an invitation to come to UC Berkeley because Felix was there.  Ruvolo was deeply engrained in the art scene in the San Francisco Bay Area during it’s mercurial rise to a cultural mecca, and was an influence on many young artist in the area including Mark di Suvero, William Brown, Mary Snowden...

Black and white Abstract Expressionist painting on paper by Felix Ruvolo. Felix Ruvolo, (1912-1992), was a highly respected and admired artist of the 20th century in America. Ruvol...