Lot 167
Julian Levi
Pennsylvania, New York, (1900 - 1982)
Abandoned Powerhouse, 1948
oil on canvas
signed lower right.
Exhibition label verso: Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, P.A.
Gallery Label Verso: The Downtown Gallery, NY.
Biography from the Archives of askART: Born in New York, Julian Levi spent his early years in Philadelphia. He began his art studies art at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts under Arthur B. Carles, Daniel Garber, and Henry McCarter. On graduation, Levi was awarded a scholarship which he used to travel to Italy and Paris. During his stay in Europe, which lasted five years, from 1920 to 1925, Levi was influenced by Cubism. He was especially drawn to the art of Juan Gris, adopting the gentle color harmonies and precise linear treatments of forms found in Gris's works. In 1924, Levi participated in an important show of Philadelphia modern artists which included works by Charles Demuth, Hugh Breckinridge, Franklin Watkins, and his former teachers Carles and McCarter. A year later, he returned to Philadelphia, but found the art climate unreceptive to new trends. As Levi stated later, "modern artists were scandalous pariahs and much of our energy at that time was devoted to justifying our existence." (1)
In 1932, Levi moved to New York, residing in Greenwich Village on Twelfth Street. He became the director of the art workshop at the New School for Social Research, and he also participated in projects organized by the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration. During the years that followed, Levi contributed to many museum exhibitions, sending works to annuals at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Cincinnati Art Museum, and others. His first one-man show was held at the Downtown Gallery in New York in 1940. Later in his career, he taught at the Art Students League and contributed frequently to the Magazine of Art. He was elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1959, and ten years later, he became vice-president of this organization. Known as a romantic painter, Levi created semi-abstract images of nature which feature subtle, delicate colors and decorative yet disciplined arrangements. He maintained a preference for figurative subject matter even in an era in which non-objective painting dominated the art world.
Levi's work is included in many important private and public collections including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo; the Art Institute of Chicago; the New Britain Museum of American Art; the Newark Museum; the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, University of Nebraska, Lincoln; the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, and many others.
(1) Quoted in "Julian Levi, Painter," New York Times, 2 March 1982, unpaginated newspaper clipping, artist files, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
- Dimensions: 21 1/2"H x 27 1/2"W (sight), 29 3/4"H x 35 3/4"W (frame)
- Medium: oil on canvas
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