Joe (Joseph) Stefanelli, American Abstract Expressionist

Joe (Joseph) Stefanelli, American Abstract Expressionist

Joe Stefanelli (born 1921) 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 post-World War II era.

Joe Stefanelli-Abstract Expressionist

New York School action painter.

Joe Stefanelli, Untitled, 1951
Oil on canvas,25 x 30 1/8 inches
Exhibited in the "9th St." Sho, 1951

Joe Stefanelli, Wednesday, 1958
Oil on canvas, 50 x 60 inches

Joe (Joseph) Stefanelli, Whisper 1961
Oil on canvas 26 x 20 in

Joe (Joseph) Stefanelli, Once more, 1962,
Acrylic on canvas, 36 x 23 inches

Joe Stefanelli, Tucon painting #4, 1985
Acrylic on board 24 x 30 inches

Joe Stefanelli, Mythra Dialogue, 1988. 

Acrylic on canvas, 39 3/4 x 50 1/8 inches  

Joe Stefanelli, Bologna Attendants, 1989
Acrylic on canvas, 40 x 50 inches

Joe Stefanelli is represented in the book:

New York School Abstract Expressionists: Artists Choice by Artists

pages 350-353

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Abstract Expressionism and New York City

Abstract Expressionism marked the beginning of New York City’s influence as the center of the western art world. 
The world of the Abstract Expressionist artists was firmly rooted in Lower Manhattan.
A walk along 8th Street would take you from the Waldorf Cafeteria, where penniless artists made “tomato soup” from the free hot water and ketchup; 
past the Hans Hofmann School of Fine artists founded by the painter of the same name; 
to The Club, 
a loft where lectures and heated arguments about art carried on late into the night. 
Jackson Pollock’s studio was on East 8th Street, 
Willem de Kooning’s Philip Guston’s, Albert Kotin's and most other pioneer New York School artists' studios were on East 10th. 
Most nights the "down town artists" could be found at the Cedar Street Tavern on University Place.  
Although the term "abstract expressionism" was first applied to American art in 1946 by the art critic Robert Coates, 
it had been first used in Germany in 1919 in the magazine Der Sturm, regarding German Expressionism. 
Alfred Barr was the first to use this term in 1929 in relation to works by Wassily Kandinsky. 

Paintings by the artists of the 9th St Show

  Marika Herskovic/Virtual Gallery

Abstract Expressionism and New York City

Abstract Expressionism marked the beginning of New York City’s influence as the center of the western art world. 
The world of the Abstract Expressionist artists was firmly rooted in Lower Manhattan.
A walk along 8th Street would take you from the Waldorf Cafeteria, where penniless artists made “tomato soup” from the free hot water and ketchup; 
past the Hans Hofmann School of Fine artists founded by the painter of the same name; 
to The Club, 
a loft where lectures and heated arguments about art carried on late into the night. 
Jackson Pollock’s studio was on East 8th Street, 
Willem de Kooning’s Philip Guston’s, Albert Kotin's and most other pioneer New York School artists' studios were on East 10th. 
Most nights the "down town artists" could be found at the Cedar Street Tavern on University Place.  
Although the term "abstract expressionism" was first applied to American art in 1946 by the art critic Robert Coates, 
it had been first used in Germany in 1919 in the magazine Der Sturm, regarding German Expressionism. 
Alfred Barr was the first to use this term in 1929 in relation to works by Wassily Kandinsky.

Paintings by the artists of the 9th St Show

 Virtual Gallery

 

Art and Individuality

“What the superior man seeks is in himself; 

what the small man seeks is in 

others.” ― Confucius

Following World War II the relevance of 

individual identity in art has been 

disregarded. This blog intends to shed light on 

the continued expression of individuality by 

artists. 

Karl Zerbe (1903 – 1972) 

[All modern artists have] "the desire to give to 

the object a functional beyond its naturalistic 

aspect to free it from its accidental 

surroundings, to develop and organize it within 

the frame of the picture into an emotional 

potential. In other words, the object is 

elevated to a symbol." 

Karl Zerbe, Self Portrait with Clown, 1945. Encaustic, 19 1/2 x 15 1/4 inches.

Karl Zerbe, THE MASK OF HER FACE, 1948. Tempera on board, 20 x 25 3/4 inches.

Karl Zerbe, Cyprus II, 1955. Encaustic on board, 39 x 24 inches.

Balcomb Greene (1904 – 1990)

"I do not believe that art should be explicit," .... It should be suggestive and ambiguous so that the viewer has to enter in." 

Balcomb Greene, Gertrude III, 1958. Oil on canvas, 62 1/4 x 50 inches.

Balcomb Greene, Two figures,1970. Oil on canvas, 56 x 46 inches.

Balcomb Greene, Shadows and Sea, 1970. Oil on canvas, 61 x 55 inches.

Albert Kotin (1907 – 1980)

"As long as there are people such as Al Kotin, 

there is no danger to art." - Alexander Calder

Albert Kotin, Untitled, 1950. Oil on canvas, 36 x 30 inches.

Albert Kotin, Untitled, 1954. Oil on canvas, 70 x 58 inches

Albert Kotin, Party IV, 1964. Oil on canvas, 36 x 30 inches.

Albert Kotin, Testigos, 1968,  Quadriptych. Oil on canvas, 104 x 63 inches.

Albert Kotin, Modesty... The Scientist, 1968, Oil on canvas, 39 3/4 x 48 inches.

Ezio Martinelli (1913-1980) 


"For myself I venerate all of that which I am 

forced to call , for the sake of clarity, the past, 

my own Western Heritage and the even older 

and brilliant past of the Far East and Near East 

and their multiple cultures. In this way I feel I 

pay homage to the Titan's, both anonymous 

and known."

Ezio Martinelli, Untitled (Abstraction), 1949. Oil on canvas, 71 x 39 inches. 

Ezio Martinelli, Untitled, 1950. Oil on canvas, 79 1/2 x 23 1/2 inches.

Ezio Martinelli, Grief, 1951. Oil on canvas, 60 x 25 inches.

Leon Golub (1922 – 2004) 

The ART news writer Amei Wallach once wrote: "Golub was a righteous monster who reconciled painting with the unpalatable realities of his time."

Leon Golub, The Orator IV, 1962. Oil on canvas, 37 x 30 3/4 inches

Robert Nathans (1955 – 2016)  


"I bring all my memories with me as I stand in 

front of my canvases. Here my intuition comes 

into play. It will sometimes take me months of 

working. Then, somewhere in this process of 

painting and observing. I would inextricably 

disappear. Unaware of body, time, and space 

when I become painting."

Robert Nathans, The Distractive Character, 1986. Oil on wood and tree stumps, 36 x 14 inches.

Anki King (1970 – )   


"Emotions are the base of the work I make and 

I use paint and brushstrokes to express what I 

want to say, and the feeling I wish to convey. 

Painting to me is a collaborative process. Oil 

paint is a live medium and if you do something 

with it, it does something back that you again 

can respond to; it is a communication. Every 

work I create contains figures or figurative 

elements. I always enjoyed the figure and I 

have a love relationship with it as form. It is 

also the most direct way I can convey my own 

experience and it is ultimately this experience 

I create out of."

Anki King, Broken Mannequin, 2002. Oil on canvas, 39 x 36 inches.

Anki King, Fall, 2012. Oil on canvas, 54 x 74 inches.