Phillip Pearlstein (American, 1924-2022), Reclined Nude Figures

Sepia ink wash on paper, 1961, signed and dated at lower right, matted and framed below glass.

Sheet sight 13 3/4 x 16 1/2 in.

New York artist Philip Pearlstein revived a realist style during the 1960s when many artists were experimenting with abstract expressionism. Focusing on the human form, his compositions feature nude models, often rendered at foreshortened angles in interiors.

Pearlstein was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and studied at the Carnegie Institute of Technology's art school, where he befriended Andy Warhol. After graduating in 1949, the two artists moved to New York, finding work in commercial illustration. Pearlstein enrolled in the Masters in Art History program at the New York University Institute of Fine Arts and began attending live figure drawing sessions in 1958. Two years later, his figurative paintings and drawings were exhibited at the Allan Frumkin Gallery in Chicago. His works were later featured in retrospective exhibitions at the Brooklyn Museum, the Frye Museum in Seattle, and the Carnegie Museum. Pearlstein was a distinguished professor at Brooklyn College and resided in New York until his death in 2022.

Slight mat burn and toning to the sheet, not examined outside the frame.