Henry Pearson
- Introduction
- Henry C. Pearson (October 8, 1914 – December 3, 2006) was an American abstract and modernist painter. Pearson was born in Kinston, North Carolina, graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1938, and studied theatrical design at Yale University. He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps in the Second World War, designing maps for the Okinawa campaign, and then re-enlisted to serve in the US occupation of Japan, where he was influenced by Japanese art and theatre forms. Moving to New York in the early 1950s, he studied at the Art Students League of New York with Reginald Marsh and Will Barnet; he remained friends with Barnet for the remainder of his life. Pearson was loosely associated with the Op Art movement and the famous Responsive Eye exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1965. Other influences were Piet Mondrian and Kasimir Malevich. Pearson was known for abstract, multi-colored globes; 'stochastic' or chance-generated paintings; paintings modeled on Dogon (West African) sculpture; as well as paintings based on the map work he did in the army. In general, his mode was hard-edged abstraction, although not without traces of humor and whimsy. His works are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and the North Carolina Museum of Art. He taught at The New School for General Studies and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts for many years. Pearson was also greatly interested in literature and illustrated several poems by the Irish Nobel Prize–winning poet Seamus Heaney. His correspondence with Heaney, and his comprehensive collection of Heaney books, manuscripts and memorabilia, is now housed at the University of North Carolina. Pearson died in 2006 after a long illness.
- Wikidata
- Q5719056
- Introduction
- American painter and sculptor is considered a progenitor of Op art.
- Nationality
- American
- Gender
- Male
- Roles
- Artist, Lithographer, Painter, Sculptor
- Name
- Henry Pearson
- Ulan
- 500074491
Exhibitions
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Transforming Chronologies: An Atlas of Drawings, Part Two
May 10–Oct 2, 2006
MoMA
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Master Prints from the Collection
Apr 6–Aug 8, 1989
MoMA
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Selections from the Permanent Collection: Prints and Illustrated Books
May 17–Dec 18, 1984
MoMA
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Tamarind: Homage to Lithography
Apr 29–Jun 30, 1969
MoMA
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20 Drawings: New Acquisitions
Aug 2–Oct 2, 1966
MoMA
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Henry Pearson has
10 exhibitionsonline.
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Henry Pearson Sotoba-Komachi 1960
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Henry Pearson 5 5/8" CIRCLE #6 1961
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Henry Pearson Sphere 1964
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Henry Pearson The Rime of the Ancient Mariner 1964
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Henry Pearson Study for Albatross 1964
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Henry Pearson Untitled 1964
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Henry Pearson Coleridge Poem I 1964
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Henry Pearson Untitled 1964
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Henry Pearson Part III 1964
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Henry Pearson Untitled 1964
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Henry Pearson Clustered Round the Mast from Rime of the Ancient Mariner 1964
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Henry Pearson And Looked Far Forth - Yet Little Saw for the book The Rime of the Ancient Mariner 1964
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Henry Pearson Clustered Round the Mast for the book The Rime of the Ancient Mariner 1964
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Henry Pearson Untitled 1964
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Henry Pearson Untitled 1964
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Henry Pearson Black on White 1964
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Henry Pearson Gyros III 1965
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Henry Pearson Gyros IV 1965
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Henry Pearson Gyros V 1965
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Various Artists, Saul Steinberg, Henry Pearson, Robert Motherwell, Richard Lindner, Roy Lichtenstein, Willem de Kooning, Ellsworth Kelly, Sam Francis, Louise Nevelson 9 1966–67, published 1967
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Henry Pearson Face from 9 1967
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Henry Pearson Five Psalms 1969
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