Fairfield Porter

American, 1907 - 1975

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Fairfield Porter attended the Art Students League and graduated from Harvard. From 1928-30, he studied Art History with Bernard Berenson. Porter was a Realist best known for his lonely, austere interior scenes. His work can also reflect a calm amiability with a soft palette and broad brushwork. Porter frequently used large and small planes of color volumetrically set in a shallow space to emphasize the surface of the painting. The application of paint was planned to contribute to the overall formal structure. Porter's subjects varied from landscapes and still lifes to art world luminaries such as Warhol, Larry Rivers and the poet John Ashbery. In the 1950s Porter wrote art reviews, working as an editorial associate to ArtNews from '51-'58 and then as a critic for The Nation in 1959. He also published a book of the artist Thomas Eakins. Porter lived in South Hampton for the majority of his career. Porter gained much respect and fame for both his painting and writing and continued to enjoy and prolific career and financial success until his death in 1975.Biography courtesy of The Caldwell Gallery,
Fairfield Porter paintings