Stephen Greene (September 19, 1917 â November 18, 1999) was an American artist known for his abstract paintings and in the 1940s his social realist figure paintings.
Stephen Greene was born in New York City. He attended the National Academy School of Art and then the Art Students League, and earned a BFA and a MA at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. He studied with Philip Guston, and they remained friends until Guston's death in 1980.
Greene taught at Princeton University for many years where he was teacher to many well-known figures in the art world including Frank Stella and art critic and historian Michael Fried. Mr. Greene also taught for many years at the Tyler School of Art of Temple University. Greene had more than two dozen solo exhibitions of his work in leading art galleries in New York City. He also taught at the Art Students League of New York for several decades. After the mid-1950s and until his death Greene's mature work was related to abstract expressionism, color field painting and surrealism. His work is represented in numerous public collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Carnegie Museum of Art, and the Tate Gallery in London.
He died aged 82 in November 1999 at his home in Valley Cottage, New York, where he had lived for more than 40 years with his wife the novelist Sigrid de Lima (1921âÂÂ1999), who died two months earlier. Their daughter, Alison de Lima Greene, is a curator at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts and has published a number of works on modern art.
2014: âÂÂArt in the Making: A New Adaptation,â Luther W. Brady Art Gallery, The George Washington University, Washington, DC (May 6âÂÂJuly 17); Reading Public Museum, Reading, PA (August 15âÂÂDecember 18).<br /> 2011: âÂÂSurface Truths: Abstract Painting of the âÂÂSixties,â Norton Simon Museum of Art, Pasadena, CA (March 25âÂÂAugust 15)<br /> 2010: âÂÂCollecting Biennials,â The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (January 16 â November 28)<br /> 2009: âÂÂThe Lens and the Mirror: Modern Self-Portraits from the Collection,â The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (AprilâÂÂJuly 12, 2009)<br /> âÂÂAbstraction from the Collection,â Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia (October 2âÂÂDecember 13, 2009)<br /> 2007: âÂÂThe Abstract Impulse: Fifty Years of Abstraction at the National Academy, 1956-2006,â National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts, New York (August 1, 2007 â January 6, 2008)<br /> 1997: âÂÂView From Abroad: American Realities,â Whitney Museum of American Art.<br /> 1995: âÂÂ47th Annual American Academy Purchase Exhibition,â The American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York<br /> 1992: âÂÂPainting, Self-Evident Abstraction,â Spoleto, USA and The William Halsey Gallery, Simmons Center for the Arts, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC<br /> 1991: âÂÂAmerican Life and American Art,â Whitney Museum of American Art, New York<br /> âÂÂAmerican Abstraction,â Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA<br /> 1988: âÂÂRecent Acquisitions,â Neuberger Museum, Purchase, NY<br /> 1982: âÂÂThirty-fourth Annual Hassam & Speicher Fund Purchase Exhibit,â American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York<br /> âÂÂDistinct Visions: Expressionist Sensibilities, Elaine deKooning, Stephen Greene, Grace Hartigan,â Milton and Sally Avery Art Center, Bard College Annandale-on Hudson, NY<br /> âÂÂRealism & Realities: The Other Side of American Painting,â Rutgers University Gallery, New Brunswick, NJ<br /> 1981: âÂÂDecade of Transition: 1940-50,â Whitney Museum of American Art, New York<br /> âÂÂ156th Annual Exhibition,â National Academy of Design, New York, NY<br /> 1979: âÂÂThe Figurative Tradition,â The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York<br /> 1977: âÂÂAmerican Postwar Painting,â Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York<br /> 1975: âÂÂAn American Dream World,â Whitney Museum of American Art, New York<br /> 1973: âÂÂTwenty Years of American Painting,â Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York<br /> âÂÂBiennial of Contemporary American Painting and Sculpture,â Whitney Museum of American Art, New York<br /> 1972: âÂÂAnnual Exhibition,â Whitney Museum of American Art, New York<br /> 1970: âÂÂLâÂÂart vivant aux Etats Unis,â Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France<br /> 1969: âÂÂAmerican Paintings, Watercolors and Drawings from the Museum Collection,â Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York<br /> âÂÂSeven Decades of American Painting,â Whitney Museum of American Art, New York<br /> 1967: âÂÂAnnual Exhibition,â Whitney Museum of American Art, New York<br /> 1963: âÂÂAnnual Exhibition,â Whitney Museum of American Art, New York<br /> 1962: "65th Annual American Exhibition,â Art Institute of Chicago, (January 5 â February 18, 1962)<br /> âÂÂAbstract Drawings and Watercolors,â Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil<br /> 1961: âÂÂAnnual Exhibition,â Whitney Museum of American Art, New York<br /> âÂÂAbstract Expressionists and Imagists,â Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York<br /> âÂÂVI São Paulo Bienal,â São Paulo, Brazil<br /> 1959: âÂÂAnnual Exhibition,â Whitney Museum of American Art, New York<br /> âÂÂMuseum DirectorâÂÂs Choice,â Baltimore Museum of Art<br /> 1958: âÂÂBiennial of Religious Art,â Salzburger Museum, Carolino Augusteum<br /> 1957: âÂÂAnnual Exhibition,â Whitney Museum of American Art, New York<br /> âÂÂAnnual Exhibition,â Los Angeles County Museum, Los Angeles<br /> 1956: âÂÂAnnual Exhibition,â Whitney Museum of American Art, New York<br /> âÂÂRecent Drawings USA,â Museum of Modern Art, New York<br /> 1955: âÂÂThe New Decade: 35 American Painters and Sculptors,â Whitney Museum of American Art, New York<br /> âÂÂItaly Rediscovered,â Munson Williams Proctor Institute, Utica<br /> 1954: âÂÂAnnual Exhibition: Sculpture, Watercolor, Drawing,â Whitney Museum of American Art, New York<br /> âÂÂLe Dessin Contemporarin au ÃÂtats Unis,â Musée National dâÂÂArt Moderne, Paris<br /> âÂÂReality and Fantasy,â Walker Art Center, Minneapolis<br /> 1952: âÂÂAnnual Exhibition: Contemporary American Painting,â Whitney Museum of American Art, New York<br /> âÂÂ65th American Exhibition, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago<br /> âÂÂCarnegie International,â Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh<br /> 1951: âÂÂAnnual Exhibition: Sculpture, Watercolor, Drawing,â Whitney Museum of American Art, New York<br /> 1950: âÂÂAmerican Painting Today,â The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York<br /> âÂÂAnnual Exhibition: Contemporary American Painting,â Whitney Museum of American Art, New York