Renée Radell (August 9, 1929 - January 21, 2023) was an American Figurative

Expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

painter whose work focused on themes portraying children and families, social commentary subjects, and politics with some art critics noting similarities to earlier American Expressionist painters Jack Levine and

Ben Shahn Ben Shahn (September 12, 1898 – March 14, 1969) was an American artist. He is best known for his works of social realism, his left-wing political views, and his series of lectures published as ''The Shape of Content''. Born Benjamin Shahn in Ka ...

Early life

Radell was born in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...

. Because of the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, Radell moved with her family to

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

while still a child. She received regional awards and press recognition for her watercolors as a teenager studying at

Cass Technical High School Cass Technical High School (simply referred to as Cass Tech) is a four-year Public magnet high school in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, United States. from the University Cultural Center Association, retrieved June 9, 1001 It was established in 19 ...

, which led to regional gallery exhibitions. She was a student at the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts, now

College for Creative Studies The College for Creative Studies (CCS) is a private art school in Detroit, Michigan. It enrolls more than 1,400 students and focuses on arts education. The college is also active in offering art education to children through its Community Arts ...

Career

Teaching

Radell was an Artist in Residence at Mercy College of Detroit from 1973 until 1983. She taught at

Parsons School of Design The Parsons School of Design is a private art and design college under The New School located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 1896 after a group of progressive artists broke away from established Manhattan art ...

in Manhattan.

Exhibitions

Radell has exhibited her artwork since her first one-person show in Detroit in 1953 and has been represented in New York at the Tasca Gallery, Robert Shuster Gallery, Alan Stone Gallery, Spanierman Gallery, Silverstein Gallery, Access Gallery, Hanson Gallery, Westwood Gallery, and Hammer Gallery. Her most recent solo exhibition in New York in 2012 displayed non-objective works. Radell's paintings have sold at auction in New York at Christie's and Sotheby's.

Critical notices

Early in her career, Radell won regional watercolor painting awards and received press reviews for gallery exhibitions in the Detroit area. E. P. Richardson, Director of the Detroit Institute of Arts, wrote the foreword for her first solo exhibition and her work is included in the collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts. Radell received critical notices in New York and Parisian art circles in the 1960s through a series of New York gallery exhibitions. Art critics described her as a colorist and figurative painter, and noted her often satirical approach to social commentary subject matter. Her visual statements about society, and politics evoked reference to Jack Levine and

. Radell also chooses family and children, nudes, landscapes and still-life as subject matter. In the February 24, 1974 ''Detroit Sunday News Magazine'',

Russell Kirk Russell Amos Kirk (October 19, 1918 – April 29, 1994) was an American political philosopher, moralist, historian, social critic, literary critic, author, and novelist who influenced 20th century American conservatism. In 1953, he authored '' T ...

, author and biographer of T.S. Eliot, wrote a pictorial essay published in the ''Detroit News Sunday News Magazine'' about Radell, in which Kirk draws parallels between Eliot's "permanent things" and symbols in many of Radell's paintings. The article was republished in the University Bookman in 2007.

Personal life

During her time at Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts, Radell met and later married sculptor Lloyd Radell, with whom she had five children. She died on January 21, 2023.Renee Kathleen Radell
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References

External links

Renee Radell
{{DEFAULTSORT:Radell, Renee 1929 births 2023 deaths 20th-century American artists 20th-century American women painters 20th-century American painters Painters from Michigan American Figurative Expressionism American Expressionist painters American contemporary painters Artists from Birmingham, Alabama