| Facts/Data
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Birth
1933 (Baltimore, Maryland)
Death
1993 (Soho, New York City)
Lived/Active
New York
Photo submitted by Eric I. Spoutz Gallery
Often Known For
super real object, flowers and genre painting
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This biography from the Archives of AskART:
|  Resume of Lowell Blair Nesbitt (1933-1993)
Corporate Collections (Partial Listing)
-Amerada Hess Corporation, New York, New York
-AT&T, New York, New York
-Atlantic Richfield, Los Angeles, California
-Bank of New York, New York, New York
-Biblioteque Nationale, Paris, France
-Celenese Corporation, New York, New York
-Chase Manhattan Bank, New York, New York
-Citicorp, New York, New York
-Florists Trans World Delivery Collection of Contemporary Art, Detroit, Michigan
-Ford Motor Company, Dearborn, Michigan
-General Mills, Minneapolis, Minnesota
-Hess Shoe Corporation, Baltimore, Maryland
-Lehman Brothers Kuhn Loeb, Chicago, Illinois, New York, New York
-Maryland National Bank, Baltimore
-Mutual of Omaha, Washington D.C.
-Neiman-Marcus, Atlanta, Georgia
-Northern Trust Company, Chicago, Illinois
-J.C. Penny Corporation, New York, New York
-Prudential Insurance Company, Newark, New Jersey
-Schroeder Bank and Trust Company, New York, New York
MUSEUM AND GOVERNMENT COLLECTIONS (Partial Listing):
-American Embassies: Monrovia, Dar es Salaam, Tel Aviv, Sao Paulo
-The Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois
-Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland
-Castel Gandolfo, Rome, Collection of Pope Paul II
-Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
-Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas, Texas
-Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, Michigan
-Edwin A. Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University, Kansas
-Enviromental Protection Agency, Washington D.C.
-Federal Reserve Bank, Baltimore, Maryland
-Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Mass.
-Fort Worth Art Center, Texas
-The High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia
-Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C.
-International Monetary Fund, Washington D.C.
-Israel Museum, Jerusalem
-John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida
-Library of Congress, Washington D.C.
-Loch Haven Art Center, Florida
-Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston
SOLO EXHIBITIONS (Partial Selection):
1958:
Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD
1971:
-Gimpel Fils, London, England
-Gimpel and Weitzenhoffer, New York, NY
1972:
-Kunstverein, Frieburg, Germany
-Galerie Arneson, Copenhagen, Denmark
-Gerlerie Aronovitsch, Stockholm, Sweden
1973:
The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
1974:
Gimpel Fils, London, England
1975:
The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
1976:
Hayden, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
1977:
Edwin A. Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita KS
1978:
Kent State University, Kent, OH
1979:
Selby Botanical Gardens, Museum of Botany and the Art's, Sarasota, FL
1980:
Marion Koogler Mcnay Art Institute, San Antonio, TX
1981:
Editions Inc, Houston TX
1982:
Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH
1983:
Atlantic Center for the Art, New Smyrna Beach, FL
1984:
Oklahoma Art Center, Oklahoma City, OK
1989:
Tyler Gallery, Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
1990:
Center for Cultural Arts, Gadsden, AL
Edited By:
Eric I. Spoutz, Art Consultant, Art Investor
May, 2003
Source:
Eric I. Spoutz Gallery | |
This biography from the Archives of AskART:
|  New York Times obituary, dated July 10, 1993:
"Lowell Nesbitt, a Realist Painter of Flowers, is found dead at 59" by Roberta Smith
Lowell
Nesbitt, a realist painter known for his large-scale images of flowers,
was found dead on Thursday in his loft in SoHo. He was 59 and
also had a home in Kent, NY.
Mr. Nesbitt, who was born in
Baltimore on Oct. 4, 1933, was a graduate of the Tyler School of Art at
Temple University in Philadelphia and also attended the Royal College
of Art in London, where he worked in stained glass & etching.
He often said that a sting working as a night watchman at the Phillips
Collection in Washington inspired him to paint.
In 1964, the
Corcoran Gallery or Art in Washington gave him one of his first museum
exhibitions, and by the mid 1970's he had decided to leave the museum a
bequest of more than $1 million. But in 1989, Mr. Nesbitt
publicly revoked the bequest after the Corcoran canceled a disputed
exhibition of photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe, who was an old
friend. Mr. Nesbitt named the Phillips Collection as a
beneficiary instead.
Mr. Nesbitt was frequently grouped with
the Photo Realists, but his images were more interpretively distorted,
somewhat loosely painted and boldly abbreviated. He had many subjects:
studio interiors, articles of clothing, piles of shoes and groupings of
fruits and vegetables. He also painted his dog, a Rottweiler
named Echo, the Neoclassical facades of SoHo's 19th century cast-iron
buildings and several of Manhattan's major bridges.
Despite such
variety, Mr. Nesbitt was best known for gargantuan images or irises,
roses, lilies and other flowers, which he often depicted in close up so
that their petals seemed to fill the canvas. Dramatic, implicitly
sexual and a little ominous, they earned the artist a popularity with
the general public that tended to overshadow his reputation within the
art world.
In 1980, the United States Postal Service issued four
stamps based on Mr. Nesbitt's floral paintings. He also served as
the official artist for the space flights of Apollo 9 and Apollo 13.
Mr.
Nesbitt exhibited frequently in both the United States and Europe and
is represented in many public collections, including the Museum of
Modern Art, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the Art
Institute of Chicago and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
His
first one-man show in New York City was at the Howard Wise Gallery in
1965, and over the years he was represented in New York by the Stable
Gallery, the Robert Stefanotti Gallery and the Andrew Crispo Gallery.
His most recent New York show was in 1986 at the Marco DiLaurenti
Gallery in Soho.
|
Biography from Rogallery.com:
|  Lowell Nesbitt was one of the most celebrated and noted artists for his
floral works of art. An artist with a highly personal style, Nesbitt
made realistic studies of many themes throughout his career. His
most well known series, and perhaps his most beautiful and poetic, are
the more than four hundred works he created using the flower as the
theme. Since his first show in 1957, Nesbitt has had more than eighty,
one man shows. His painting, drawings and prints are included in the
collections of many prestigious museums such as the Metropolitan Museum
of Fine Art in New York, and the National Gallery of Fine Art in
Washington, D.C. In addition, his works are held in many private and
public collections worldwideLowell Nesbitt was born in Baltimore on
Oct. 4, 1933, was a graduate of the Tyler School of Art at Temple
University in Philadelphia and also attended the Royal College of Art
in London, where he worked in stained glass and etching. He often said
that a stint working as a night watchman at the Phillips Collection in
Washington inspired him to paint. Known for Huge Flowers.
In
1964, the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington gave him one of his
first museum exhibitions, and by the mid-1970's he had decided to leave
the museum a bequest of more than $1 million. But in 1989 Mr. Nesbitt
publicly revoked the bequest after the Corcoran canceled a disputed
exhibition of photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe, who was an old
friend. Mr. Nesbitt named the Phillips Collection as a beneficiary
instead.
Mr. Nesbitt was frequently grouped with the Photo
Realists, but his images were more interpretively distorted, somewhat
loosely painted and boldly abbreviated. He had many subjects: studio
interiors, articles of clothing, piles of shoes and groupings of fruits
and vegetables. He also painted his dog, a Rottweiler named Eric; the
Neo-Classical facades of SoHo's 19th-century cast-iron buildings and
several of Manhattan's major bridges.
Despite such variety, Mr.
Nesbitt was best known for gargantuan images of irises, roses, lilies
and other flowers, which he often depicted in close-up so that their
petals seemed to fill the canvas. Dramatic, implicitly sexual and a
little ominous, they earned the artist a popularity with the general
public that tended to overshadow his reputation within the art world.
In
1980 the United States Postal Service issued four stamps based on Mr.
Nesbitt's floral paintings. He also served as the official artist for
the space flights of Apollo 9 and Apollo 13.
Mr. Nesbitt
exhibited frequently in both the United States and Europe and is
represented in many public collections, including the Museum of Modern
Art, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the Art Institute of
Chicago and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. His first one-man show in
New York City was at the Howard Wise Gallery in 1965, and over the
years he was represented in New York by the Stable Gallery, the Robert
Stefanotti Gallery and the Andrew Crispo Gallery. His most recent New
York show was in 1986 at the Marco DiLaurenti Gallery in SoHo. |
| ** If you discover credit omissions or have additional information to add, please let us know at registrar@AskART.com. |
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