Lowell Blair Nesbitt

Lowell Nesbitt
Born Lowell Blair Nesbitt
(1933-10-04)October 4, 1933
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Died July 8, 1993(1993-07-08) (aged 59)
New York, New York
Nationality American (United States)
Education Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Royal Academy of Arts, London
Known for Painting, Drawing, Printmaking, Sculpting

Lowell Blair Nesbitt (October 4, 1933 - July 8, 1993) was a painter, draughtsman, printmaker and sculptor.

Early years

Lowell Nesbitt was a graduate of the Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and also attended the Royal Academy of Arts in London, England, where he created a number of works in the mediums of stained glass and etching.

Career

In 1958 the Baltimore Museum of Art hosted the first solo museum exhibit that Nesbitt was to have in his lengthy career, but it was in 1964 with his debut at the Corcoran Gallery of Art (Museum) in Washington, D.C. that Nesbitt received greater recognition. The array of botanical works most likely would not have been created had it had not been for the beckoning of fellow artist Robert Indiana, who, in 1962, after viewing some of Lowell Nesbitt's abstract paintings drawings and prints, suggested that he attempt to make a conversion from the abstraction which Nesbitt’s career had been focused on pre-1962, to the style of realism.

Nesbitt was often classified as a Photorealist artist, though he fought inclusion with this group of artists throughout his career. Nesbitt established himself as an artist who could employ both diversity of technique and subject matter while creating paintings, drawings and prints using studio interiors, articles of clothing, piles of shoes, x-ray figures (Nesbitt was the first highly recognized artist to use this subject matter since the artists of the New Zealand region unknowingly painted "x-ray style" figures at the early portion of the last millennium), caverns, ruins, landscapes, flowers, groupings of fruits and vegetables, and electronic components (he is credited for being the first artist to use computer parts as subject matter for his artwork). He also used his pet dogs in addition to birds, reptiles, various mammals and the Neoclassical facades of SoHo's 19th century cast-iron buildings and several of Manhattan's major bridges, in addition to a number of series in which he incorporated numerous Victorian staircases, and other interior scenes as subject matter for his artwork. His last series in the 1980s, titled the “impossible series” was a grouping of surrealistic landscapes paintings and drawings.

To honor Nesbitt's contributions to the art world, in 1980, the United States Postal Service issued four stamps based on his floral paintings. He also served as the official artist for the NASA space flights of Apollo 9 and Apollo 13. Nesbitt was found dead in his New York studio in 1993 at the age of 59. Police stated he died of natural causes.[1]

Studio and mansion

In 1976, Nesbitt had moved from his studio, an already large location on West 14th Street (which he shared with artist Ian Hornak in the middle portion of the 1960s) in New York, to 389 West 12th, Street, New York. Formerly the site of a police stable that he purchased and renovated, the area measured in excess of 12,500 square feet (1,160 m2). This studio and living space included an indoor swimming pool, a four-story atrium and a rooftop entertainment area; Nesbitt labelled the facility "The Old Stable." Nesbitt hired two full-time staff members, a caretaker for his plants and a chef. This provided a fitting backdrop to the artist's larger-than-life artworks – the largest single painting that Nesbitt is known to have created was more than 30 feet (9.1 m) long, with many 20 feet (6.1 m) in length or height. Nesbitt's studio became a popular gathering place for major art world figures, celebrities and dignitaries including Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Indiana, Jasper Johns, Robert Motherwell, Larry Rivers and James Rosenquist. This monumental space was featured in articles in the New York Times, the Washington Post and Architectural Digest Magazine in the late 1970s. After Nesbitt’s death the "Old Stable" was purchased by fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg, who used it for her primary design studio and inner-city living area. She continued to use the structure until the early 2000s, when it was sold to the real estate developer Barry Diller, her husband, and demolished to make space for a new high-rise building.

Robert Mapplethorpe scandal

In June 1989 Lowell Nesbitt became involved in the scandal surrounding fellow artist photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. The Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., had agreed to host a solo exhibit of Mapplethorpe's works without stipulating what type of subject matter would be used. Mapplethorpe decided to debut sexually suggestive photographs in Washington, D.C. The hierarchy of the Corcoran and even certain members of United States Congress were horrified when the works were revealed to them, and the museum refused to go ahead with the exhibit.[2] As a longtime friend of Mapplethorpe, Nesbitt revealed that he had a $1.5 million bequest to the museum in his will. However, in public statements, Nesbitt promised that if the museum refused to host the exhibition of the controversial images created by Mapplethorpe he would revoke his bequest. The Corcoran refused and Nesbitt bequeathed the $1.5 million to the Phillips Collection, which he cited as an early inspiration to his career when he had worked there as a young man in the position of a night watchman.

Works in museum and government collections

The following is a partial listing of bodies owning works by Lowell Nesbitt—

Solo exhibitions

His solo exhibitions were held in the following galleries (partial listing)—

Selected books and catalogues

References and sources

  1. ↑ Smith, Roberta. "Lowell Nesbitt, a Realist Painter Of Flowers, Is Found Dead at 59", The New York Times, Obituaries, 10 July 1993. Retrieved on 2010-11-21.
  2. ↑ Shaffer, Marguerite S. (Apr 17, 2012). Public Culture: Diversity, Democracy, and Community in the United States. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 293. Retrieved 2013-06-05.
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