Joe Stefanelli (painter)

Joe Stefanelli (March 20, 1921 – September 27, 2017), also known as Joseph J. Stefanelli, belonged to the New York School Abstract Expressionist artists whose influence and artistic innovation by the 1950s had been recognized around the world. New York School Abstract Expressionism, represented by Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline and others became a leading art movement of the era that followed World War II. He died in September 2017 at the age of 96.[1]

Joe Stefanelli
Born
Joseph J. Stefanelli

March 20, 1921
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedSeptember 27, 2017 (aged 96)
[[Lake Placid], New York City
NationalityAmerican
Known forAbstract expressionist painter
MovementAbstract Expressionism

Biography

Stefanelli grew up in a large working-class Italian-American family in South Philadelphia.[2] He was born March 20, 1921, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[3]

Studied painting
  • 1938–1940: Philadelphia Museum School,
  • 1940–1941: Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
  • 1948–1949: Hofmann School of Fine Art
  • 1949–1950: New School for Social Research
  • 1950–1951: Art Students League of New York

Military service in World War II

Stefanelli entered the Army during World War II. Eventually he was working as an illustrator, from 1942 to 1946 provided field drawings that were published in "’Artists for Yank Magazine’’’. He traveled all over the South Pacific as a combat artist. Today these works are housed in the permanent collection of the World War II Archives Building, Washington, D.C.

Participation in the downtown art scene

He had his studio in the Lower East Side, on 22nd Street. Stefanelli soon joined the "Downtown Group"[4] which represented a group of artists who found studios in lower Manhattan. Franz Kline introduced Stefanelli to 'The Artists’ Club’.[5] located at 39 East 8th Street. Stefanelli was chosen by his fellow artists to show in the Ninth Street Show held on May 21 – June 10, 1951.[6] The show was located at 60 East 9th Street on the first floor and the basement of a building which was about to be demolished:[7] "The artists celebrated not only the appearance of the dealers, collectors and museum people on the 9th Street, and the consequent exposure of their work but they celebrated the creation and the strength of a living community of significant dimensions."

Stefanelli participated in 1951 and from 1954 to 1957 in the invitational New York Painting and Sculpture Annuals including the Ninth Street Show.[8] These Annuals were important because the participants were chosen by the artists themselves.[9]

Teaching positions

By the 1960s Stefanelli, like many of his contemporaries, taught art in major universities.

Selected solo exhibitions

In 1988: Stefanelli received a retrospective exhibition at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts

Selected group exhibitions

Awards

Stefanelli has received number of awards:

  • 1971: New York State Council of Art, New York
  • 2000: Pollock-Krasner Foundation, New York City for his life work
  • 2005: Benjamin Altman Prize, National Academy for painting

Works in museums and public collections

References
  1. Barbara von Stechow: Obituary Joe Stefanelli, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, November 25, 2017 (german)
  2. ‘’Joe Stefanelli, Video Documentation Project’’
  3. New York school : abstract expressionists : artists choice by artists : a complete documentation of the New York painting and sculpture annuals, 1951–1957 p.353
  4. Downtown Group
  5. Artists' Club
  6. 9th Street Show Poster Archived February 5, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  7. Bruce Altshuler, Avant-Garde In Exhibition New Art in the 20th Century, New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1994, Chapter 9, p.171
  8. New York school : abstract expressionists : artists choice by artists : a complete documentation of the New York painting and sculpture annuals, 1951–1957, p.16; p.39
  9. New York school : abstract expressionists : artists choice by artists : a complete documentation of the New York painting and sculpture annuals, 1951–1957 p. 11–29
  • United States. Army Service Forces. Special Service Division.; National Gallery of Art (US), Soldier art ([Washington] Infantry Journal, 1945.
  • Marika Herskovic, New York School Abstract Expressionists Artists Choice by Artists, (New York School Press, 2000.) ISBN 0-9677994-0-6 p.  32; 38; 350–353;

Smithsonian Institution Research Information System; Archival, Manuscript and Photographic Collections, Joe Stefanelli

See also
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