Harold Moncreau Stevenson Jr. (March 11, 1929 – October 21, 2018) was an American painter known for his paintings of the male nude. He was a friend, a mentor, and an associate of

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (;''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''"Warhol" born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director and producer. A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol ...

, and appeared in the Warhol film ''

Heat In thermodynamics, heat is energy in transfer between a thermodynamic system and its surroundings by such mechanisms as thermal conduction, electromagnetic radiation, and friction, which are microscopic in nature, involving sub-atomic, ato ...

'' (credited as "Harold Childe").

Biography

Stevenson was born in

Idabel, Oklahoma Idabel is a city in and the county seat of McCurtain County, Oklahoma, McCurtain County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 6,961 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is in Oklahoma's southeast corner, a tourist region known ...

, in 1929 and attended the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...

before moving to New York City in 1949. He moved to Paris in 1952 and exhibited at European galleries for the next 20 years. Stevenson's most well-known works were painted in the 1960s, including his most famous works, ''Eye of Lightning Billy'' and ''The New Adam''. ''Eye of Lightning Billy'' was exhibited at the Sidney Janis Gallery in 1962 as part of the "New Realists" exhibit, which included works by Warhol (including his '' 200 Campbell’s Soup Cans''),

Claes Oldenburg Claes Oldenburg (January 28, 1929 – July 18, 2022) was a Swedish-born American sculptor best known for his public art installations, typically featuring large replicas of everyday objects. Another theme in his work is soft sculpture versions ...

Roy Lichtenstein Roy Fox Lichtenstein ( ; October27, 1923September29, 1997) was an American pop artist. He rose to prominence in the 1960s through pieces which were inspired by popular advertising and the comic book style. Much of his work explores the relations ...

, Robert Moskowitz, Robert Indiana,

George Segal George Segal Jr. (February 13, 1934 – March 23, 2021) was an American actor. He became popular in the 1960s and 1970s for playing both dramatic and comedic roles. After first rising to prominence with roles in acclaimed films such as '' Ship o ...

, Jim Dine, Peter Agostini,

James Rosenquist James Albert Rosenquist (November 29, 1933 – March 31, 2017) was an American artist and one of the proponents of the pop art movement. Drawing from his background working in sign painting, Rosenquist's pieces often explored the role of advert ...

, Wayne Thiebaud and

Tom Wesselmann Thomas K. Wesselmann (February 23, 1931 – December 17, 2004) was an American artist associated with the Pop Art movement who worked in painting, collage and sculpture. Early years Wesselmann was born in Cincinnati. From 1949 to 1951 he atten ...

. ''The Eye of Lightning Billy'' was acquired by the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

in 2008. In 1963, Stevenson's massive mural, ''The New Adam'', was displayed at the

Iris Clert Gallery The Iris Clert Gallery ( in French) was a single-room art gallery named after its Greeks, Greek owner and curator, Iris Clert. It was located on 3 :fr:Rue des Beaux-Arts, rue des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France. It was open from 1955 to 1976 and dur ...

in Paris. The mural is an 8-foot by 39-foot reclining nude man. The model was young actor Sal Mineo, and the painting was dedicated to Stevenson's lover at the time, Lord Timothy Willoughby de Eresby, the heir to the Earl of Ancaster. The work was considered for inclusion in the 1963 seminal Pop Art exhibition "Six Painters and the Object" at the Guggenheim, but was considered too large, and that it would distract from the rest of the works. In 2005, the painting was acquired by the

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue between 88th and 89th Street (Manhattan), 89th Streets on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It hosts a permanent coll ...

. In 1963, Stevenson created a 40-foot tall painting of the Spanish

bullfighter A bullfighter or matador () is a performer in the activity of bullfighting. ''Torero'' () or ''toureiro'' (), both from Latin ''taurarius'', are the Spanish and Portuguese words for bullfighter, and describe all the performers in the activ ...

El Cordobes, which was hung from the

Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower from 1887 to 1889. Locally nicknamed "''La dame de fe ...

with the permission of the French government. The resulting traffic jam caused the government to require that the painting be taken down. In 1968, in Paris, Stevenson exhibited "The Great Society", a collection of portraits of individuals from his hometown. The collection is now owned by the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma. Having lived in New York, Paris,

Key West Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida, at the southern end of the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it con ...

and

the Hamptons The Hamptons, part of the East End (Long Island), East End of Long Island, consist of the town (New York), towns of Southampton (town), New York, Southampton and East Hampton (town), New York, East Hampton, which together compose the South Fork ...

, Stevenson returned to his hometown of Idabel. He frequently contributed to NIGHT magazine. Stevenson died on October 21, 2018, in Idabel, Oklahoma, at the age of 89.

Selected works

*''The New Adam'' - http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/collection-online/artwork/15278 *''The Eye of Lightning Billy'' - https://matthewmarks.com/exhibitions/project-for-a-revolution-in-new-york-07-2007/lightbox/works/project-for-a-revolution-in-new-york-9 *''The Great Society'' - https://web.archive.org/web/20141112051912/http://www.ou.edu/content/fjjma/experience/collections/contemporaryArt/HaroldStevensonCollection.html "The Arm of Don Juan" - https://blanton.emuseum.com/objects/14188/the-arm-of-don-juan?ctx=cf8e4bfc8e8533a408943ea9fde9d237e639a6e6&idx=0

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stevenson, Harold 1929 births 2018 deaths American pop artists 20th-century American painters Painters from Oklahoma People from Idabel, Oklahoma American gay artists LGBTQ people from Oklahoma 21st-century American painters