Lyricism in Paint

Abstract expressionist Leonard Nelson gets another day in the sun in New Hope, Pa. The Camden-born artist, who was in the forefront of the legendary New York School, has been largely overlooked by art historians.

By: Jodi Thompson
   His work has shown in some of the most famous New York galleries of the ’40s and ’50s: Betty Parsons, Peridot Galleries and Peggy Guggenheim’s Art of This Century. He was in the forefront of the legendary New York School, the group of avant-garde artists that included Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko.
   Born in Camden, this artist spent most of his life in Philadelphia as a renowned teacher and artist. Yet, the Philadelphia Museum of Art has only two prints of his work and not one original piece.

"Leonard Nelson (above) was one of the least-appreciated, though deserving, artists of indisputable quality in the legendary New York School," states Sam Hunter, professor emeritus of art history at Princeton University.

   If this is any measure, the Philadelphia area seems to have overlooked one of its shining stars, painter Leonard Nelson. Fortunately, that error is being corrected. The Gratz Gallery and Conservation Studio is showing A Life in Art, works by Leonard Nelson (1912-1993), at its New Hope, Pa., gallery through July 8. The exhibit coincides with the publication of Leonard Nelson: A Life in Art, by Sam Hunter, professor emeritus of art history at Princeton University and a leading critic and historian of modern and contemporary art.
   Even Professor Hunter, co-author of the textbook Modern Art, had not heard of Mr. Nelson until recently. The Montgomery resident has authored books on Arnaldo Pomodoro, Isamu Noguchi, Marino Marini, Hans Hofmann, George Segal, Alex Katz, Tom Wesselmann and Robert Rauschenberg. Before coming to Princeton University, he was director of three American museums. That said, it’s safe to say Prof. Hunter knows modern art.
   "I wrote the first New York Times review of Jackson Pollock in 1949," Prof. Hunter says, "a very favorable one."
   Mr. Pollock set a precedent for the later Color Field Painting, which includes Mr. Nelson’s work.
   "Throwing the paint, dribbling the paint, creates these agitated lines, and that created an environmental spectacle," Prof. Hunter says of Mr. Pollock. "You see how he painted? He painted on the ground, like a Zen master."
   Mr. Pollock, along with Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman and Clyfford Still, were among the early group of Color Field Painters.

"He was a discovery . So I gave him high marks for originality. Leonard Nelson was inspired by Color Field, although he didn’t admit to it," says Prof. Hunter.

   "They painted these great zones of color which turn into light," Prof. Hunter says. "The artist wanted the viewer to feel involved."
   The post-World War II American abstraction genre became "the foremost artistic phenomenon of its time, virtually transferring the center of the artistic universe from Paris to New York," states Prof. Hunter in his book. "Leonard Nelson was one of the least-appreciated, though deserving, artists of indisputable quality in the legendary New York School."
   Leonard Nelson retreated to Philadelphia, away from the competition in New York.
   "He had no ideology," Prof. Hunter says. "Newman and Rothko had an ideology."
   Perhaps that is why Mr. Nelson had been overlooked, until now.
   "This all began when someone at the Princeton Museum gave me Paul Gratz’s name when I needed something framed," Prof. Hunter says. Mr. Gratz was a frame maker and gilder before opening his gallery on West Bridge Street.
   "Paul Gratz introduced me to (Leonard Nelson). He was a discovery. I had never seen anything quite like this, not among the American abstract artists. So I gave him high marks for originality. Leonard Nelson was inspired by Color Field, although he didn’t admit to it.
   "The New York School or abstract expressionists, there’s no one quite like that, and no one in the second generation of Color Field painters. I was very impressed."

Prof. Hunter describes Leonard Nelson’s 1950 abstract piece, "Dogs of War," as "overtly savage."

   Mr. Nelson left behind several hundred paintings when he died in 1993 at age 81.
   "Even the fact that he turned out so many isn’t negative," Prof. Hunter says. "He has so much to give. He invented his own particular style of something between Pollock and Rothko, repeated marks on the surface. It’s very lyrical and it does suggest a pastoral trend. Then it reaches a kind of crescendo with some very large pictures."
   Some of Mr. Nelson’s later pieces are 7- or 8-feet long.
   "It was abstract, yet suggestive of nature and made with these little lines, so it was almost like a Seurat, pointillism, made with little dots," Prof. Hunter says. "He had his own way of applying pigment in brush strokes, building up a heavy surface. He was also inspired by a kind of pastoral and garden imagery. His wife was a gardener, a very skillful one. She made a whole hillside of various flowers."
   Alma Nelson Cassell was one of the students at Moore College of Art, where Leonard Nelson taught for 30 years, retiring as professor emeritus in 1977. She was instrumental in her late husband’s "rediscovery" with the help of art investor Brent Byrne. "He puts Leonard Nelson on a plane with Michelangelo," Prof. Hunter says.
   The Gratz Gallery’s exhibition will benefit Mr. Nelson’s alma mater, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. From the drama of his 1950 abstract piece, "Dogs of War," which Prof. Hunter describes as "overtly savage," to the luminous 1982 work, "A Thing of Beauty," Leonard Nelson’s art will get its day in the sun, yet again, in New Hope.
   In Prof. Hunter’s words: "This is pure lyricism in paint."
A Life in Art by Leonard Nelson runs at the Gratz Gallery, 30 W. Bridge St., New Hope, Pa., through July 8. A portion of all sales will benefit the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Alumni Association. For information, call (215) 862-4300. On the Web: www.gratzgallery.com