Richard Hennessy, Untitled, 1972

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Richard Hennessy, 1972. Born in Rochester, NY, in 1941, Hennessy began as a gifted concert pianist studying at the Eastman … Read more Richard Hennessy, 1972. Born in Rochester, NY, in 1941, Hennessy began as a gifted concert pianist studying at the Eastman School of Music from 1954-1959. He went on to study art history at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, from 1963-66, after which he began his career as a fine artist. His early paintings were quickly admired and supported by Henry Geldzahler, curator of Modern Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. His first exhibition was in 1969 at Olivier Bernier Inc. NYC, followed in 1970 by a show at the Tibor De Nagy Gallery, also in NYC. Over the years he has shown in San Francisco, Indiana, Arizona, Florida, and at other prominent NYC galleries including Robert Miller, Hamilton, John Good and a retrospective at NYU’s Grey Gallery. Aaron Copeland, America’s foremost composer, and John Ashberry, America’s premier poet, were early champions of his work. He is in NYC collections of the Brooklyn, Metropolitan, Guggenheim and Whitney Museums, as well as the Copland Manor house in Cortland NY, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Albright Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo and many others. He has been the recipient of grants from the Pollock Krasner Foundation and the Ann & Erlo Van Waveron Foundations. Art critic Roberta Smith called his work “ironic, lyrical abstraction.” Critic Christopher Scott: “Hennessy has, unlike many modern artists, not ignored the history of art, and his works are enriched by the paintings, sculptures, buildings, decorative arts, photographs, films, music and literature that he immersed himself in. He has harnessed the power of his talent and intelligence for artistic purposes leading to virtuoso maximalist. He has applied this intelligence with the same adventurousness of spirit visible in the early abstractions of Hans Hofmann and Willem de Kooning, spontaneous yet precise.”

Selected Public Collections:
ALBRIGHT KNOX ART GALLERY, BUFFALO, NEW YORK
BROOKLYN MUSEUM, BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
CARNEGIE MUSEUM, PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA
METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK
MOMA/P.S.1, STAIRWELL MURAL
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY, NEW YORK
PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART, PENNSYLVANIA
SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART
SOLOMON R. GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM, NEW YORK
THE WADSWORTH ATHENEUM, HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT
WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART, NEW YORK See less