Leo Russell Furniture

Leo Russell (1917-1985). Untitled Composition, 1954. Paper collage and oil paint on illustration board, image measures 5 x 7 inches; 10.5 x 13 inches framed. Signed and dated lower margins. Excellent condition in original simple wood frame. 1917-1985 Russell was born Chicago, July 9th, 1917 to Fanya and Solomon Scheinman. His parents were active with a group of émigré intellectuals who influenced and encouraged young Leo to develop his creative energies and capabilities. At age ten, young Leo studied with the Russian academician Arloff, with whom he developed his keen sense of observation; he already saw the world with his own perspective and feeling. In 1929, the family moved to New York City. Leo was enrolled in the school of allied arts, where he studied with the stage designer Eugene Dunkel, and with the Russian Futurist painter David Burliuck. Later Leo attended Textile High School, where he gained skill in Carpentry, drafting, sculpture and metalwork. After finishing high school Leo studied painting restoration at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, employing some of the techniques of the old masters. Leo taught arts and crafts through the WPA program at several New York City Locations. On the basis of this work, his life-long preoccupation with teaching as a form of human contact was firmly rooted. During this period he studied graphic design with Tony Valanos and Jan Bowles, his own execution reflecting the "ash can" school of social realism. When the WPA arts project was suspended, he devoted himself full-time to painting, graphics, and teaching. In 1938, Leo met the Baroness von Rebay, as a result he received a small monthly stipend from the museum of Non-Objective Art. Leo Russell sold two wood sculptures to Solomon Guggenheim, works that became part of the permanent collection. He participated in a Group Show at the museum with Mondrian, Calder and many Abstract Artists from Europe and America. During this time Leo was commissioned to do a mural of Stella Brooks, the darling of the intelligentsia, at Georges's Tavern in Greenwich Village. He also executed two murals for the annual parties of the nascent New York School, whose membership reads like a who's who in contemporary art, including Jackson Pollock, de Kooning, Guston and Kline. During this same period he was commissioned by the architect Percival Goodman to paint a mural at the Jewish community center in Wilksboro, PA. With work as a painter, sculptor, muralist, under his belt he did work as a set designer for two off-Broadway plays by Paul Goodman...

Large abstract Leo Russell oil painting on canvas. Colors in shades of greens, blues and tans. Very original with it's original frame.

Leo Russell "Bizarre" Series Painting from 1974. Leo Russell in the 1970s did a series of paintings filled with lots of different people, some half human but always interesting! Pain...

2 Leo Russell ink drawings on crumpled paper. Tie- dyed affect with black ink figures drawn. One dated 1945 and the other 1946. Russell was a Chicago Born ...

Leo Russel Abstraction from 1956 in the then brand new medium of Magic Marker on paper. Russel was a listed WPA artist and a member of the ashcan school. During the 1950s he designed sets on Broadway. He moved to Philadelphia in 1964 to teach at the Academy of Art till his death in 1986. Russel revisited this Abstraction series in 1970 in serigraph form and added color to the original magic...

LEO RUSSELL "THE MUSICIAN" OIL ON CANVAS, SIGNED AMERICAN, C.1960 40 X 22 INCHES Leo Russell 1917-1985 Russell was born Chicago...