Alfred Leslie (born October 29, 1927) is an American artist and
filmmaker. He first achieved success as an Abstract Expressionist
painter, but changed course in the early 1960s and became a painter of
realistic figurative paintings.Alfred Leslie was born in New York.
After service in the US Coast Guard at the end of World War II, Leslie
studied art at New York University, the Art Students League, and Pratt
Institute. A bodybuilder and hand-balancer, Leslie posed for artist
Reginald Marsh and others and modeled for classes at the Art Students
League and Pratt Institute. Anticipating the Situationist
International's detournement, his 1949 film Magic Thinking combined
black-and-white cartoons, home movies, GI training films, industrial
commercials, strip footage and old feature films. To raise the $250
required of by Tibor de Nagy Gallery to exhibit there in 1952, he
appeared on Strike It Rich, an early reality television program, and
won. His 1952 exhibition included The Bed-Sheet Painting, a 12 by 16
foot, black painting with a scumbled surface and white bar mounted on
unstretched canvas. In the '50s, he made sculptures using seemingly
insignificant materials such as plumber's tape, stapes, grommets,
nails, housepaint. Anticipating John Chamberlain's sculptures made
from recycled cars, Leslie tied together car mufflers and tail pipes
with rope after hammering and reassembling them. In 1955, a collector
gave him a Polaroid camera, driving him to take hundreds of
police-style mugshots, of which only photos of Sam Francis and Al Held
survived.Invited to partake in the Moderna Museet's "Art in Motion"
(1961) exhibition, curated by Pontus Hulten, Leslie proposed Jolly, a
kit with the ingredients to make an inflatable sculpture. Anticipating
Andy Warhol's Clouds (1966), he proposed that a massive weather
balloon suspend a brick over an inflated wading pool. In 1962, having
gained recognition as a second generation Abstract Expressionist
painter, Leslie abruptly changed course. His new works were realistic
figurative paintings in grisaille, of which he later said, "there was
a point at which I realized that if my work was to develop and evolve,
and if I was to mature as an artist, these figurative ideas could not
be ignored, even though following them could seem to imply that I
would be turning my back on the twentieth century, turning my back on
my abstract achievement".On October 17, 1966, nearly all of Leslie's
monochrome paintings were destroyed in a fire. Shortly afterwards,
Leslie introduced color into his paintings, which have been widely
exhibited. Leslie's solo exhibitions include those at the Museum of
Fine Arts, Boston (1976); Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC (1976â€"77); Museum of
Contemporary Art, Chicago (1977); Wichita Art Museum, Kansas (1984);
Boca Raton Museum of Art, Florida (1989); and St. Louis Art Museum,
Missouri (1991). Even though figuration and narration became
contentious issues for painters in the 1980s, "these concerns didn't
exist per se in film, theater, literary or still photography world,
all of which I was part of."
filmmaker. He first achieved success as an Abstract Expressionist
painter, but changed course in the early 1960s and became a painter of
realistic figurative paintings.Alfred Leslie was born in New York.
After service in the US Coast Guard at the end of World War II, Leslie
studied art at New York University, the Art Students League, and Pratt
Institute. A bodybuilder and hand-balancer, Leslie posed for artist
Reginald Marsh and others and modeled for classes at the Art Students
League and Pratt Institute. Anticipating the Situationist
International's detournement, his 1949 film Magic Thinking combined
black-and-white cartoons, home movies, GI training films, industrial
commercials, strip footage and old feature films. To raise the $250
required of by Tibor de Nagy Gallery to exhibit there in 1952, he
appeared on Strike It Rich, an early reality television program, and
won. His 1952 exhibition included The Bed-Sheet Painting, a 12 by 16
foot, black painting with a scumbled surface and white bar mounted on
unstretched canvas. In the '50s, he made sculptures using seemingly
insignificant materials such as plumber's tape, stapes, grommets,
nails, housepaint. Anticipating John Chamberlain's sculptures made
from recycled cars, Leslie tied together car mufflers and tail pipes
with rope after hammering and reassembling them. In 1955, a collector
gave him a Polaroid camera, driving him to take hundreds of
police-style mugshots, of which only photos of Sam Francis and Al Held
survived.Invited to partake in the Moderna Museet's "Art in Motion"
(1961) exhibition, curated by Pontus Hulten, Leslie proposed Jolly, a
kit with the ingredients to make an inflatable sculpture. Anticipating
Andy Warhol's Clouds (1966), he proposed that a massive weather
balloon suspend a brick over an inflated wading pool. In 1962, having
gained recognition as a second generation Abstract Expressionist
painter, Leslie abruptly changed course. His new works were realistic
figurative paintings in grisaille, of which he later said, "there was
a point at which I realized that if my work was to develop and evolve,
and if I was to mature as an artist, these figurative ideas could not
be ignored, even though following them could seem to imply that I
would be turning my back on the twentieth century, turning my back on
my abstract achievement".On October 17, 1966, nearly all of Leslie's
monochrome paintings were destroyed in a fire. Shortly afterwards,
Leslie introduced color into his paintings, which have been widely
exhibited. Leslie's solo exhibitions include those at the Museum of
Fine Arts, Boston (1976); Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC (1976â€"77); Museum of
Contemporary Art, Chicago (1977); Wichita Art Museum, Kansas (1984);
Boca Raton Museum of Art, Florida (1989); and St. Louis Art Museum,
Missouri (1991). Even though figuration and narration became
contentious issues for painters in the 1980s, "these concerns didn't
exist per se in film, theater, literary or still photography world,
all of which I was part of."
Share this
SUBSCRIBE OUR NEWSLETTER
SUBSCRIBE OUR NEWSLETTER
Join us for free and get valuable content delivered right through your inbox.