Albert Kresch's Lifelong Exploration of Abstraction and Representation
Born in 1922 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Albert Kresch has been an active painter in New York since the 1930s, exploring both abstraction and representation. His artistic education includes informal training at the Brooklyn Museum and formal studies at the Hans Hofmann School, where he drew inspiration from Piet Mondrian and Jean Arp. Kresch's exhibition career began in 1945 at the Jane Street Gallery, where he was part of a figurative group alongside Leland Bell, Nell Blaine, and Louis Mattisadottir. A pivotal friendship with Jean Hélion in the late 1940s led him to move away from abstraction. Influenced by Edgar Degas and Georges Rouault, he continues to paint daily in his Brooklyn studio, utilizing vibrant colors to explore the interplay of structure and freedom, thus enriching modern art history.
Key facts
- Albert Kresch was born in 1922 in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
- He moved to Manhattan around age nine during the Depression era.
- Kresch studied informally at the Brooklyn Museum and formally at the Hans Hofmann School.
- He began showing at the Jane Street Gallery, an artist-run cooperative, in 1945.
- A key influence was French painter Jean Hélion, who returned to figuration after WWII.
- Kresch's artistic method involves starting with abstract structure to build representational form.
- He maintains a daily painting practice in his Brooklyn studio in his 80s.
- His work engages with the pre-Abstract Expressionist debate between abstraction and representation.
Entities
Artists
- Albert Kresch
- Piet Mondrian
- Jean Hélion
- Alex Katz
- Hans Hofmann
- Jean Arp
- Leland Bell
- Nell Blaine
- Louis Mattisadottir
- Judith Rothschild
- Bob DeNiro (senior)
- Virginia Admiral
- Franz Kline
- Willem de Kooning
- Jackson Pollock
- Lee Krasner
- Edgar Degas
- Georges Rouault
- Pierre Bonnard
- Titian
- Chaim Soutine
- Georges Braque
- Denise Levertov
- Frank O'Hara
- Edwin Denby
- Rudy Burkhardt
Institutions
- MoMA (Museum of Modern Art)
- Brooklyn Museum
- Hans Hofmann School
- Jane Street Gallery
- Tanager Gallery
- Rosenberg Gallery
- Fulbright Program
- WPA (Works Progress Administration)
Locations
- New York
- United States
- Brooklyn
- Manhattan
- Scranton
- Pennsylvania
- Provincetown
- Mexico
- Virginia
- France
- Germany
- Holland
- Europe