Artist: Elizabeth Delson (American, 1932-2005) Title: Fiery Fields Audio: Date: 1968 Dimensions: 30″ x 30″ Location in Library: Lower level Media: Oil on canvas Owner: Gift of Sidney L. Delson. © Artist’s Estate Description: Delson was a painter and printmaker whose works reflected her exploration of nature and spiritual moods. Delson described her artistic philosophy this way: “Through painting and graphics I explore images to uncover the dynamic forces behind their appearance: emergence, growth, decay, metamorphosis. I try to capture the process of change in time and space, to crystallize a living moment and convey its vitality.” These paintings, completed midway through her career, reflect her unique forms, energy, vibrant color, and light. Related Website – Online Catalogue Raisonné of Elizabeth Delson
1968
Artist: Philip Pearlstein (American, 1924-2022) Title: President Francis P. Kilcoyne Audio: Date: 1968 Dimensions: 44″ x 36″ Location in Library: First floor Media: Oil on canvas Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. © Philip Pearlstein Description: President Francis P. Kilcoyne (1903-1985) was Brooklyn College’s third president, serving from 1966 to 1967. A lifelong liberal, Kilcoyne spoke at a college antiwar rally in 1935, and as college president asked for leniency for antiwar protesters arrested in a clash with police on campus. In 1976, Kilcoyne resigned from the city’s Board of Higher Education, protesting plans to impose tuition at the colleges in the City University of New York system. In 1980, after his wife’s death, Kilcoyne was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest in the Brooklyn Diocese. The artist, Philip Pearlstein, enjoys an international reputation as a leading figurative painter. In the early 1960s, Pearlstein formulated a new American realism by painting the human body in a highly objective manner, breaking with the Western tradition of idealizing figures. He advocated painting images the way the eye actually sees them, including optical distortions and perceived anomalies. Pearlstein taught at Brooklyn College from 1964 to 1989. Related Websites Philip Pearlstein at MOMA Philip […]
Artist: Alfred Russell (American, 1920-2007) Title: Autumn Audio: Date: 1968 Dimensions: 50″ x 40″ Location in Library: Third floor Media: Oil on canvas Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. © Artist’s Estate Description: During the 1940’s and early 1950’s Russell painted in the Abstract Expressionist style, but he later turned to the figure and the classical world. His work was a major force in the re-emergence of figurative painting in America. Russell has said, “My inspiration has always been a nostalgia for some nonexistent golden age. . . . I have always believed that the reality of art is unique . . . that art is the reality underlying the unreality of the everyday world.” Russell taught painting at Brooklyn College from 1947 to 1975. Related Websites – Alfred Russell’s Biography at Net in Arcadia – Alfred Russell’s Works at Net in Arcadia
