Beautifully illustrated exhibition catalog featuring the art and biography of Harold Stevenson (American, 1929-2018). The curated art pieces cover more than 70 years of Stevenson’s career. Jordan includes biographical narratives that introduce the reader to Stevenson’s childhood growing up in rural southeastern Oklahoma. Choctaw Indians and African Americans were his neighbors and frequent models for the artist.
Stevenson dropped out of college, moved to New York and then to Paris France. He was an early contributor to the Pop Art Movement and primarily exhibited in Europe.
The catalog includes previously unknown details about Stevenson’s most important exhibitions and group shows. Alexander Iolas gave Stevenson his first show in 1949 after discovered him in 1949 at the Art Students League. Rauschenberg was Stevenson’s classmate. Stevenson exhibited at the Wilding Gallery (1953), The New Realists at Sidney Janis (1962), The Whitney Annual (1963), Iris Clert during the Venice Biennale (1962 and 1964), Feigen+Palmer (1960s), La Medusa (1970s); Louvre (1969 and 1983), National Museum in Athens (1989), Andy Warhol Museum (1998), and Paul Kasmin NY (2014). The Museum of the Red River exhibition (2020) featured 52 of Stevenson’s work and the printing of this book.
The book includes full-color reproductions beginning with a childhood piece from 1936 and concluding with one of the last works, a portrait sketch from 2010. It also includes archival photos of the artist at work, at leisure, and with friends. Illustrations are accompanied by in-depth narratives of provenance.
In good company – the other artists
Jordan identifies more than one hundred selected artists Stevenson exhibited with. Andy Warhol, Armand Arman, Claes Oldenburg, David Hockney, Dorthea Tanning, Ed Ruscha, Francis Bacon, Frank Stella, Frida Kahlo, Georgia O’Keefe, Grace Hartigan, James Rosenquist, Jasper Johns, Jean Tinguely, Keith Haring, Larry Rivers, Man Ray, Marcel Duchamp, Marisol. Paul Cadmus, Pavel Tchelitchew, Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein, Tom Wesselman, Victor Brauner, Wayne Thiebaud, Willem de Kooning, and Yves Klein are only a few.
Stevenson’s works are included in the permanent collections of the Solomon R. Guggenheim, NY; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; Museum of Modern Art, NY; Yale University Art Gallery; Blanton Gallery at the University of Texas and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.