Joseph Raffael (born February 22, 1933 – July 12, 2021)[1] was an American contemporary realist painter known for his large-scale watercolors.
Joseph Raffael | |
|---|---|
 Joseph Raffael - 2013 | |
| Born | Joe Raffaele 22 February 1933 |
| Died | 12 July 2021 (aged 88) |
| Education | Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art Yale School of Art |
| Known for | Painting Watercolor |
| Notable work |
|
| Spouse | Lannis Raffael |
| Awards | 1974: First Prize, Tokyo International Biennial, Japan |
| Website | josephraffael.com |
Early life
editRaffael was born on February 22, 1933 in Brooklyn, New York.[2] He was the youngest of three children and the only son of Sicilian and Swiss-Irish parents, Joseph Marino Raffaele and Cora Kaelin Raffaele.[3] He became interested in drawing at age 7, and during high school years took classes at the Brooklyn Museum.[4] From 1953–54, he attended Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. In the summer of 1954 he studied with Joseph Albers at the Yale Summer School, then attended Yale University where he received his BFA in 1956.[5]
Career
editIn 1958, he won a Fulbright fellowship to study for two years in Florence and Rome, and began painting complexly colored watercolors of flower forms. He mounted his first New York City exhibition of his Umbrian watercolors in 1963, at the d’Arcy Galleries, while at the same time battling hepatitis from which he almost died; when he recovered, he shifted to "real life" images based on photographs.
Raffael’s work received critical praise beginning in the mid-1960s. In 1965, Eleanor Ward’s Stable Gallery held a one-person show of his work. In 1972, using photographs of rivers taken by the artist William Allan, he began to produce his "water painting".[5]
In 1973 Time Magazine published an article by Robert Hughes A Slice of the River[dead link], describing his water paintings.[6] Hughes stated that the artist’s color-drenched canvases display “a tender virtuosity without parallel in other American figurative painting today.”[6]
In 2018, Raffael collaborated with David Pagel to produce Talking Beauty: A Conversation Between Joseph Raffael and David Pagel about Art, Love, Death, and Creativity. In a review of the book in the San Francisco Review of Books, it was written that, "...the joy of this book is slowly reading the interchange of ideas form the exchanged emails between these two men – comments on life, death, art and artists, writing, creativity, children, pets – all blended into a wondrous tapestry of the essence of being truly alive."[7]"
Personal life
edit
On May 19, 2019 his wife Lannis Wood Raffael died after a long period of health crises. Before her death, Raffael completed his painting "For Lannis: 1944–2019".[citation needed]
Raffael died in Cagnes-sur-Mer at the age of 88 on July 12, 2021.[8]
Awards
edit- 1974 First Prize, Tokyo International Biennial, Japan[9]
- 1960 Louis Comfort Tiffany Fellowship[citation needed]
- 1958 Fulbright Fellowship[citation needed]
Collections
editJoseph Raffael’s paintings are in the collections of nearly 50 museums, private and public institutions, including the Oakland Museum of California,[10] the Art Institute of Chicago,[11] the Whitney Museum of American Art,[12] among other institutions.[13]
Selected publications
editBooks
editRaffael, Joseph; Pagel, David; Erlanson, Amanda (ed.). Talking Beauty: A Conversation Between Joseph Raffael and David Pagel About Art, Love, Death, and Creativity (Zero Publishing, 2018); ISBN 978-1937222512
Goodman, Lanie; Dillard Stroud, Betsy; Pagel, David. Moving Toward the Light: Joseph Raffael (ACC Editions, 2015); ISBN 978-1851498055
Wallach, Amei; Kuspit, Donald. Reflections of Nature, Paintings by Joseph Raffael (Abbeyville Press, 1998); ISBN 978-0789202802
Arthur, John. Realists at Work: Studio Interviews and Working Methods of Ten Leading Contemporary Painters (Watson-Guptill Publications, 1983); ISBN 978-0823045105
References
edit- ^ Jones, Kelly (28 October 2021). "In Memory of Joseph Raffael". Museum of Outdoor Arts. Retrieved 9 October 2024.
- ^ "Raffaele, Joseph". RKD Research. Retrieved 9 October 2024.
- ^ "2003 interview with Helen Ferrulli for Childhoods of Artists Research Project".
- ^ MacEvoy, Bruce (2015). "Watercolor Artists: Joseph Raffael". Handprint.
- ^ a b "Joseph Raffael: Autobiographical". Nancy Hoffman Gallery.
- ^ a b Hughes, Robert (1973). "A Slice of the River". TIME.
- ^ "Book Review: 'Talking Beauty: A Conversation Between Joseph Raffael and David Pagel About Art, Love, Death, and Creativity' by Joseph Raffael". Retrieved 2019-01-25.
- ^ "Biography of Fine Art Watercolor Artist, Joseph Raffael". josephraffael.com. Retrieved 2021-07-20.
- ^ Kawakita, Michiaki. "Tokyo International Biennale: New Image in Painting". Specific Object/David Platzker. Retrieved 8 October 2024.
- ^ "Collections search". Oakland Museum of California. Retrieved 8 October 2024.
- ^ "Two Fish in Dark Bubbly Water". Art Institute of Chicago. Retrieved 8 October 2024.
- ^ "Joseph Raffael Pink Lily with Dragonfly 1981". Whitney Museum of American Art. Retrieved 8 October 2024.
- ^ "www.nancyhoffmangallery.com".
Further reading
edit- Furman, Anna. Joseph Raffael’s Prismatic Watercolors Celebrate the Beauty of the Natural World. Artsy, 21 Sept 2015.
- MacMillian, Kyle. In this case, being beautiful is enough. The Denver Post, 13 May 2009.
- Joseph Raffael: Random Thoughts and Painting Diaries. artistsnetwork, 16 March 2009.
- Cotter, Holland. Art in Review: Joseph Raffael. The New York Times, 25 March 1994.