The paintings of Robert Kaupelis (1928 - 2009) display a rich color sensibility which inspired former New York Times art critic John Canaday to write "Kaupelis is...a seductive colorist, whether he is dealing with explosions of magenta, orange and vermillion or quiet harmonies of sooty grays and neutral tans." Based in a mastery of the Abstract Expressionist idiom, Kaupelis combines a free exuberance of form with an overlay of rigidly defined patterns to create works that defy categorization.
Born in Amsterdam, New York in 1928 Mr. Kaupelis received his MA and Ed.D. from Columbia University (New York). He taught at New York University for almost three decades. In The Professors, Herbert Livesey cited Kaupelis as one of the outstanding teachers of art in the nation and devoted an entire chapter to Kaupelis's distinguished career.
Paintings and mixed media drawings by Kaupelis have been exhibited in numerous one-man and group shows at prestigious galleries and museums throughout the United States, including Museum of Modern Art and Bronx Museum, New York; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo; Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio; New York State University; Hudson River Museum; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts; and Detroit Art Institute.
The artist has received many awards in competitions juried by important art historians and art critics, including First Prize and Purchase Award, Fairfield County Connecticut Annual juried by Nancy Hall-Duncan, curator Bruce Museum and Dorothy Mayhall, Director, Stamford Museum; and four First Prize Awards, New England Annual, Silvermine, Connecticut, juried by John Bauer, former Director, Whitney Museum of American Art (1969), Marcia Tucker, Director, The New Museum(1973), Irving Sandler, author, The Triumph of American Painting (1979)and Henry Geldzahler, former Curator, Metropolitan Museum; and First Prize,the International Drawing Competition, State University at Potsdam, juried by James Hohnson Sweeney, former Director, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.
Kaupelis's art has been discussed in numerous publications, including:
- Artnews
- Art in America
- The New York Times
- Arts Digest
- Amsterdam Recorder
- La Revue Moderne Arts Magazine
- American Artist.
According to Arts Magazine, Kaupelis...skillfully combines the machine and the amorphous, the voids, and the rectangular solids. Perhaps these solids may be the last remnants of Cezannes famous color planes.
Mr. Kaupelis was the author of Learning to Draw and Experimental Drawing which are used as texts in colleges and universities throughout the United States. Works by the artist are in many important museum and public permanent collections, including:
- New York University
- State University of New York at Potsdam
- Atlanta Art Institute
- Duke University Museum of Art
- Albright College, Reading Pennsylvania.
A year before his death, he was provided a retrospective in Greenwhich, CT. GALLERY M offers a select of his original paintings, drawings and supporting documentation to his professional career. View his works online here or reach a GALLERY M specialist today.
