Opening next week at White Cube Bermondsey, ‘Al Held: About Space’ is a major survey of the trailblazing work of the late-American abstract painter.
The exhibition includes key works being shown publicly for the first time, including colossal canvases measuring over 4m x 9m, and marks the first European presentation of paintings from late in the artist’s career. With roots in Abstract Expressionism and an abiding passion for the Italian Renaissance, Held explored space through a combination of hard-edged geometry, perspective, and spontaneous gestural expression.
Masterworks from several series – from the vibrant, expressive ‘Taxi Cab’ paintings (1959– 60) to the hyper-real, futuristic spaces of the ‘Luminous Constructs’ (1985–2005) will feature in the show.
Al Held: About Space, 27th June – 1st September 2024, White Cube Bermondsey
Al Held’s large-scale painting Black Nile VII (1974) was shown by White Cube at Art Basel Unlimited. Published by White Cube, the new monograph Al Held: Selected Works 1956–2004 features texts by Daniel Belasco, Michael Craig-Martin, Robert Storr and an in-conversation with Irving Sandler.
About the artist
Al Held was born in Brooklyn in 1928 and died in Todi, Italy in 2005. He exhibited extensively throughout his career including solo exhibitions at Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1966); San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC (1968); ICA, Philadelphia (1968); Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston (1969); Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (1974); and ICA, Boston (1978), among other museums. He produced major public artworks in prominent cities around USA including Philadelphia, Washington DC, New York and Orlando. Held’s work features in many museums and public collections including those of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington DC; Neunationalgalerie, Berlin and Kunstmuseum, Basel.
