Lowell Nesbitt, Two Violet Roses 1974, Op Art Floral Oil on Canvas Painting

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Lowell Blair Nesbitt is an American painter, draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor. Although he worked in a variety of media and … Read more Lowell Blair Nesbitt is an American painter, draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor. Although he worked in a variety of media and covered a wide range of subjects throughout his career, he is best known for his large, Photorealist botanical paintings.

Born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1933, Nesbitt earned a degree from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University. Later, he also studied at London’s Royal Academy of Arts.

Working in stained glass and etching and also producing abstract paintings in his early career, a 1962 encounter with artist Robert Indiana led him to steer his aesthetic toward realism. Though he held his first solo show at the Baltimore Museum of Art in 1958, it was his 1964 debut at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. that would truly bring him to the attention of the art world. In this exhibit, his botanical series of paintings, drawings, and prints captivated the art world and public alike. The game-changing Corcoran Gallery show would send his career down the trajectory of sustained success.

In 1976, Nesbitt moved from his New York City West 14th Street studio to a massive space located at 389 West 12th Street. The 12,500 square foot living and workspace supplied ample room for creating his enormous paintings (the largest was more than 30 feet long), but it also bragged an indoor swimming pool, a four-story atrium, and a rooftop area for entertaining. “The Old Stable,” as Nesbitt came to call it, soon became a popular hangout for celebrities, dignitaries, and other art world heavy hitters. Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Indiana, Jasper Johns, Robert Motherwell, Larry Rivers, and James Rosenquist were all known to have frequented The Old Stable or to have at least paid a visit.

Throughout his long career, Nesbitt was known as an artist who could successfully capture an array of diverse subject matter using a variety of techniques. Creating beyond his signature Photorealistic flowers and botanicals, Nesbitt produced paintings, drawings, and prints of everything from landscapes to reptiles to electronic components. He is even credited as the first artist to use computer parts as artistic subject matter.

In 1980, the United States Postal Service honored his contributions to the art world with a series of four stamps based on his trademark floral paintings. Another unique honor arrived when Nesbitt became the official artist for NASA’s Apollo 9 and Apollo 13 space flights.

In 1993, Nesbitt died of natural causes at his New York studio at age 59. Today, the prolific artist’s works can be found in the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the National Collection of the Fine Arts at The Smithsonian Institution; and in a staggering multitude of other prestigious museums and private collections around the world. See less