Lester F. Johnson (American, –2010)

Timeline

1919
Lester Johnson was born in 1919 in Minneapolis, Minnesota; the youngest of seven and grandchild of Swedish Homesteaders. After studying at the Minneapolis School of Art, and the St. Paul Art School, he came to New York City in 1947. His first studio (and home) was next door to Wolf Kahn on 6th Street and Avenue A, followed by a loft on St. Mark’s Place which he shared with Larry Rivers. He married Josephine Valenti, an art historian, in 1949, and moved into a house on 2nd Ave and 2nd Street – which was shared, again, with Wolf Kahn. After moving uptown, he continued to work downtown, in a studio on 222 Bowery. In 1961, he briefly left the city for an artist-in-residence position at Ohio State. After returning, and while sharing a studio on 10th St. with Philip Pearlstein, he was invited by Jack Tworkov to teach at Yale. He accepted and he and his wife, with their two children moved to Milford, CT, where he taught and continued to paint in a studio behind their house. Summers were spent in Springs, Long Island (where Lester and Jo bought property in 1955), throughout his time at Yale as well as after moving to Greenwich, CT. Johnson died in Southampton in 2010.
1939
Alfred Pillsbury Scholarship
1940–1941
The President’s Scholarship, Minneapolis School of Fine Arts, Minneapolis, MN
1941
St. Paul Gallery Scholarship
1942
Longview Fellowship Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1942
Midwestern Artists Competition 1st prize
1942–1947
Studied at the Minneapolis School of Art, St. Paul Art School, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago
1947
Came to New York
1964
Summer Aritist-In-Residence, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI
1973
Guggenheim Fellowship
1969–1974
Director of Studies Graduate Painting, School of Art and Architecture, Yale University, New Haven, CT
1978
Brandeis University Creative Arts Award for Painting
1987
Elected Associate National Academy of Design
1964–1989
Professor (Adjunct) of Painting, Yale University, New Haven, CT

Exhibitions

1998
Peter Findlay Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
1996
Peter Findlay Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
1996
Denise Cade Gallery in association with Joseph Rickards Fine Art, New York, NY (solo)
1996
UFO Gallery, Provincetown, MA (solo)
1995
Editions, Skoto Gallery, New York, NY
1995
Editions 1974-1991, Pharos Gallery, New York, NY
1995
The Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, NY
1994
Edward Thorp Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
1991
A Print Retrospective 1960-1990, Erector Square Gallery, New Haven, CT (solo)
1990
Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
1989
Retrospective, David Barnett Gallery, Milwaukee, WI (solo)
1988
35 Years of Prints, Cone Editions, New York, NY (solo)
1988
Munson Gallery, New Haven, CT (solo)
1987
Works on Paper 1960-87, Jack Schainman Gallery, Washington, DC (solo)
1986
Gallery Moos Ltd., Toronto, ON, Canada (solo)
1986
Naked/Nude, print exhibition, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
1985
The Artist Celebrates New York, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
1985
Martha Jackson Memorial Collection, Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, NY
1985
Zabriskie Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
1985
David Barnett Gallery, Milwaukee, WI (solo)
1984
Munson Gallery, New Haven, CT (solo)
1984
Aspects of the City, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
1984
Figure Expressionism, Art Museum Association of America, San Francisco, CA
1984
The First Eight Years, Artists’ Choice Museum, New York, NY
1983
Connecticut Painters 7+7+7, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT
1983
Selections from the Permanent Collection, Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, NY
1983
The Early Paintings 1957-67, Zabriskie Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
1982
Alpha Gallery, Boston, MA (solo)
1982
In Our Time, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX
1982
Homo Sapiens, The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT
1981
The Sun Gallery, Provincetown Art Association, Provincetown, MA
1980
Street Scenes, Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer Galery, New York, NY (solo)
1979
Collection: Art in America After World War II, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
1978
A Benefit for the Yale School of Art: Works by Members of the Yale Faculty 1950-78, Harold Reed Gallery, New York, NY
1977
The City, Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer Galery, New York, NY (solo)
1976
Painting & Sculpture Today 1976, The Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN
1975
Early Works, Livingston-Learmonth Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
1974
Nineteenth National Print Exhibition, The Brooklyn Museum, New York, NY
1973
1973 Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
1972
Ten Independents - An Artist Initiated Exhibition, The Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
1972
Immagine per la Citta, Palazzo dell’Academia Palazzo Reale, Genoa, Italy
1971
The Human Situation: Street Scene 1969-71, Martha Jackson Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
1970
Regards Privileges 1951-70, Galerie Paul Facchetti, Paris, France
1969
II Bienal Internacional del De Porte en Ias Bellas Artes, Madrid, Spain
1968
Social Comment in American Art, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
1968
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
1967
the 1960’s, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
1967
The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT
1966
Zabriskie Gallery, New York, NY
1965
Figuration, Martha Jackson Gallery, New York, NY
1964
Contemporary American Drawings, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
1964
Portraits from the American Art World, New School Art Center, The New School for Social Research, New York, NY
1963
Eleven Americans, Martha Jackson Gallery, New York, NY
1960
Figure in Contemporary Painting, American Federation of Arts, New York, NY
1960
Felix Landau Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1959
100 Works on Paper, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA
1958
Annual, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
1957
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
1956
Artists of the New York School: Second Generation, The Jewish Museum, New York, NY
1951
Annual Watercolor Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
1949
Annual Watercolor Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
English (US)

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