By Philip Pearlstein
Located in Detroit, MI
"Two Reclining Nudes" is an exceptional Lithograph of Pearlstein's Realistic style. The nudes are posed reclining, neither engaged with either each other or the viewer, and give the atmosphere of being in a dream state. It is an intimate scene without intimacy. Their full-figured bodies exude power and strength which is reinforced by not fitting within the frame. This Lithograph is #42 of an edition of 100 with one blind stamp, and signed by the artist all located in the upper left corner.
Philip Pearlstein is an American painter born in Pittsburgh, PA, and best known for Modernist Realism nudes. Cited by critics as the preeminent figure painter of the 1960s to 2000s, he led a revival in realist art. He is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus with paintings in the collections of over 70 public art museums.
In 1941, his junior year in high school, he received his first recognition when awarded first and third prizes in Scholastic Magazine’s 14th National High School Art Exhibition. Upon graduation from high school in 1942, he enrolled in the Carnegie Institute of Technology but the draft limited his attendance to one year. After discharge from the army in 1946, he returned to Carnegie Tech where he received his BFA in 1949. Upon graduation, he moved to New York City where he pursued work in graphic design and received a Master’s degree in art history from New York University in 1955.
Pearlstein worked as a graphic designer for Life Magazine before becoming an instructor at the Pratt Institute, and then a professor at Brooklyn College; he has also served as a visiting artist at several prestigious institutions throughout the country. His work has been exhibited in several solo exhibitions throughout the United States with paintings in the collections of over 70 public art museums. Pearlstein served as a President of the American Academy of Arts and Letters from 2003-2006 and currently lives and works in New York.
“It is what is painted between the outlines that makes the difference between merely competent painting and really meaningful art.” —Philip Pearlstein
In spring of 1946 he becomes assistant to Robert Lepper, head of the Design Program at Carnegie Institute of Technology, at the firm of Altenhof and Bown, Architects, and designs catalogs for building products through 1949. Meanwhile he enrolled at Carnegie Institute of Technology and studied with Robert Lepper, Balcomb Green, and Samuel Rosenberg. Meets Dorothy Cantor, George Klauber, and Andy Warhol (Warhola), fellow students at Carnegie Institute of Technology. Serves as art editor of the Carnegie Technical, the student publication of the Engineering School, through 1949 when he received his BFA and moved to New York to live with Andy Warhol. A few months later he worked with graphic designer Ladislav Sutnar in design and production of catalogs of plumbing fixtures and ventilators for the next eight years.
He graduated from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University where he studied with Karl Lehmann, Craig Smith and Jose Lopez-Rey. In 1954 Clement Greenberg selectd Pearlstein to be in “Emerging Talent” show at Kootz Gallery, New York. Torso is shown. Show includes Herman Cherry, Paul Freeley, Paul Georges, Cornelia Langer, Saul Leiter, Morris Louis, Anthony Louvis, Sue Mitchell, Kenneth Noland, and Theophil Groell. He received his M.A. in Art History from Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. His thesis on Francis Picabia with Jose Lopez-Rey and H.W. Janson as advisors.
In September of 1958 he received a Fulbright Grant for Painting in Italy and traveled to Rome, Florence, Venice, Amalfi Coast and Sicily. Back in New York his drawing group includes at various times during the following thirteen years: Ann Arnold, Rudolph Burkhardt, Charles Cajori, Gretna Campbell, Lois Dodd, Louis Finkelstein, Joe Fiore, Sideo and Nora Fromboluti, Mary Frank, Stephen Greene, Theophil Groell (Repke), Philip Guston, Yvonne Jacquette, Diana Kurtz, Alex Katz, Gabriel Laberman, Mercedes Matter, George McNeil, Sidney Tillim, Jack Tworkov and William White. Meets initially in Mercedes Matter’s studio. Continues to meet with group at various locations, including his own studio through 1972. In 1969 and 1971 he received the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation grant. In 1982 he served as the Artist in Residence at the American Academy of Art, Rome. In addition to other numerous awards and honors he received an Honorary Doctorate Degree from the Center for Creative Studies and the College of Art & Design, Detroit, Michigan in 2000. Other known CCS faculty and graduates are Susan Aaron-Taylor, Richard Jerzy, Harry Bertoia, Doug Chaing, Stephen Dinehart, Tyree Guyton, Renee Radell, Herb Babcock, Jerome Ferretti...
Category
1970s Contemporary Renee Ritter Art
