Carl Holty
Carl Robert Holty (* 1900 in Freiburg im Breisgau ; † March 22, 1973 in New York City ) was a German-born American abstract painter.
life and work
Holty was born in Freiburg because his father, a doctor of German descent, had been training to become a specialist at the university since 1899. Before Carl's first birthday, the family moved back to Milwaukee , Wisconsin . Holty's grandfather went to local art galleries with the grandson to bring the art to Carl. At age 12, Holty took lessons from a local German painter. He started drawing cartoons as a teenager . Hence his desire to become a poster painter; so he left Milwaukee in 1919, hoping to do so by studying at the Art Institute of Chicago. Shortly afterwards he went to New York, where he enrolled at the Parsons School of Design and subsequently also at the National Academy of Design. In 1923 he returned to Milwaukee to work as a portraitist. In 1925 he married and in 1926 he went to Munich with his bride, where he planned to study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich . Instead, he met his friend Vaclav Vytlacil in Munich, the Holty convinced the School of Fine Arts of Hans Hofmann join. Visiting Hofmann's school transformed Holty's ideas and painting, it was as if Hofmann opened Holty's eyes. Because his wife suffered from tuberculosis , Holty went to Switzerland in 1927. Although Holty had only briefly studied with Hofmann, the two stayed in contact and Holty began to incorporate Hofmann's teaching into his art. After his wife's death in 1930, Holty moved to Paris, where Robert Delaunay promoted Holty's membership in Abstraction-Création. In 1933, Holty's works were published in the group's magazine, and there were some notable exhibitions in Paris. In 1935 Holty returned to New York, where he met Hans Hofmann, Vaclav Vytlacil and Stuart Davis again. He also became a member of the American Abstract Artists group . From 1950 to 1970, Holty taught at Brooklyn College.
Exhibitions
- 1945 Annual Exhibition of Contemporary Painting ; Whitney Museum of American Art
- 1950 American Painting Today ; Metropolitan Museum of Art
- 1951 Abstract Painting and Sculpture in America ; Museum of Modern Art
- 1963 Contemporary American Painting and Sculpture ; Krannert Art Museum
- 1980-1981 Carl Holty: The World Seen and Sensed ; Milwaukee Art Museum
Individual evidence
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Holty, Carl |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Holty, Carl Robert (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American painter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1900 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Freiburg in Breisgau |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 22, 1973 |
| Place of death | New York City |