Joseph Jeswald (1927–2009) American, Oil on Canvas Figural Portrait, "Wizard"

Lot description

Joseph Jeswald (1927–2009) American, Oil on Canvas Figural Portrait, "Wizard". Oil on canvas figural portrait of a man with a party wizard holding a red balloon, looking a bit flummoxed. Signed lower right. Framed. Titled verso on frame. Overall Size: 50 1/2 x 26 1/2 in. Sight Size: 50 x 26 in. Joseph Jeswald (1927–2009) was an American painter known for his modernist figure paintings. Born in Leetonia, Ohio, he was raised in an Italian-American enclave and served in World War II, where he was among the first Americans to enter the concentration camps in Germany . Jeswald studied at the Académie Julian in Paris, under Fernand Léger, and at Columbia University . In 1969, he founded Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, Massachusetts, serving as its president until 1985 . From 1991 to 2009, he lived and worked in Sarasota, Florida, where his wife maintains his studio . Jeswald's work is part of many distinguished private collections and the permanent collections of institutions such as the Addison Gallery of American Art, the Hirshhorn Museum, Colby College, Simmons College, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Neuberger Museum of Art.