Artist of the day, May 20: Al Held, an American painter (abstract expressionist) (#697)

Al Held (1928 – 2005) was an American Abstract expressionist painter. He was particularly well known for his large scale Hard-edge paintings. As an artist, multiple stylistic changes occurred throughout his career, however, none of these occurred at the same time as any popular emerging style or acted against a particular art form. In the 1950s his style reflected the abstract expressionist tone and then transitioned to a geometric style in the 60s. During the 1980s there was a shift into painting that emphasized bright geometric space that’s deepness reflected infinity.From 1963 to 1980 he was a professor of art at Yale University.

Al Held in his best-known works, Held focused on abstract, geometric forms existing in a non-Euclidean space. “The best abstract painting transforms its formal qualities into metaphors for truths unavailable to direct perception,” the artist once explained. Born in Brooklyn, NY to Polish immigrants, he spent two years serving in the US Navy before enrolling in the Art Students League of New York. Traveling to Paris on a GI scholarship, the artist attended the classes of Ossip Zadkine and befriended Ellsworth Kelly and Joan Mitchell. Returning to New York in the 1950s, his Abstract Expressionist compositions of thick, gestural marks gave way to the saturated colors and geometric forms found in his Alphabet paintings. Held enjoyed a long and successful career, which included a 20-year tenure as a faculty member of the Yale School of Art, a rich exhibition history, and numerous awards. His work can be found in the permanent collections of the Kunstmuseum Basel, the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., and The Museum of Modern Art in New York, among others.

© 2019. All images are copyrighted © by Al Held or assignee. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained. All images used for illustrative purposes only.

Mr Al Held painting the "I" of "I and We" in his Boiceville studio

1955, 50 S-6 IP

1959, Untitled

1964, Red Gull

1966, Siegfried

1969, Phoenicia VI

1969-70, Rothko's Canvas

1972, A 15 16

1972, Untitled

1973, Northwest

1978, C.P.I

1981, NN 8

1982, Hadrian's Court II

1982, Piero's Piazza

1982, Rome 82-1

1983, Herculaneum IV

1983, Trajan's Edge IV

1985,  Roberta’s Trip

1985, Pan North IV

1985, Pan North V

1985, Roberta's House Government Office Building, Akron, Ohio

1985, Roberta's Trip

1986, The Third Circle

1987, Pan North XI

1989, Quattro Centric III

1990, Cygnus IV

1990, Geocentric IV

1990, Rola II

1990, Scand III

1990, Triton IV

1991, Field Marker I

1991, Orion V

1991, Scand IV

1991, Windcreek

1992, Umbria 24

1993, Duccio VI

1994, Siena IV

1995, The Seventh Step

1997, Aperture III

1998, Hawkeye I

1998, Sahara

1999, Prime Moments II

2000, Aperture IV

2000, Eagle Rock III

2001, See Through III

2001, Stardian

2004, Passing Through,  Glass mosaic  Lexington Avenue - 53rd Street Subway Station, Metropolitan Transit Authority Arts for Transit, New York, New York

2004, Passing Through,  Glass mosaic  Lexington Avenue - 53rd Street Subway Station, Metropolitan Transit Authority Arts for Transit, New York, New York

2004, Passing Through,  Glass mosaic  Lexington Avenue - 53rd Street Subway Station, Metropolitan Transit Authority Arts for Transit, New York, New York

2004, Passing Through,  Glass mosaic  Lexington Avenue - 53rd Street Subway Station, Metropolitan Transit Authority Arts for Transit, New York, New York