Henry C. Pearson
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Henry C. Pearson (October 8, 1914-December 3, 2006) was an American abstract and modernist painter. Pearson was born in Kinston, North Carolina, and studied theatrical design at Yale University. He served in the Second World War, designing maps for the Okinawa campaign, and served in the US occupation of Japan, where he was influenced by Japanese art and theatre forms. Moving to New York in the early 1950s, he studied at the New York Art Students League with Reginald Marsh and Will Barnet; he remained friends with Barnet for the remainder of his life. Pearson was loosely associated with the Op Art movement and the famous "Responsive Eye" exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1965. Other influences were Piet Mondrian and Kasimir Malevich.
Pearson was known for abstract, multi-colored globes; 'stochastic' or chance-generated paintings; paintings modeled on Dogon (West African) sculpture; as well as paintings based on the map work he did in the army. In general, his mode was hard-edged abstraction, although not without traces of humor and whimsy.
He taught at The New School for General Studies and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts for many years.
Pearson was also greatly interested in literature and illustrated several poems by the Irish Nobel Prize winning poet Seamus Heaney. His correspondence with Heaney, and his collection of Heaney manuscripts and memorabilia, is now housed at the University of North Carolina.
Pearson died in 2006 after a long illness.
