Steven Assael paints modern-day figures in haunting, quietly psychological portraits. A leader in contemporary figurative painting, Assael works exclusively from live models, fusing his modern subjects—goths and teens, men and women in costume—with an Old Master style and traditional tableaux. “Even though art is dead as we have known it, painting is not,” he has said. Assael’s work has been compared to that of Thomas Eakins, and reveals a similar interest the human figure both as aesthetic form and as vehicle for emotions and psychological states.
Exhibitions
EDUCATION:
1975-79 Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY
1977 Independent Study in Europe, Pratt Scholarship
TEACHING:
1985-Present School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
{C}1991-92 Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY
1999 Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY
1997-Present New York Academy Graduate School, New York, NY
SELECTED ONE PERSON EXHIBITIONS:
2011
Steven Assael: Drawings and Paintings, Hite Art Institute, Cressman Center for Visual Art, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY
Uncovered, New York Academy of Art at Eden Rock Gallery, St. Barthelemy, French West Indies
ACOPAL at the National Arts Club, New York, NY
2010
Steven Assael: Illusions of Reality, Patty & Jay Baker Naples Museum of Art, Naples, FL
Collector’s Show & Sale, Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, AR
2009
Steven Assael: Paintings & Drawings, Carol Gallery Craven, Vineyard Haven, MA
Steven Assael: New Paintings & Drawings, Forum Gallery, New York, NY
Steven Assael: Drawings Forum Gallery, New York, NY
2007
Steven Assael: Drawings, Forum Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Steven Assael, Gallery Camino Real, Boca Raton, FL
2005
Steven Assael: New Paintings & Drawings, Forum Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2004
Steven Assael: Drawings & Paintings, Cress Gallery of Art, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Chattanooga, TN
Steven Assael: 20th Century Figurative Master, Lowe Gallery, Atlanta, GA
2002
Steven Assael: Paintings, Forum Gallery, New York, NY
2001
Steven Assael: Drawings from 1996-2001, Forum Gallery, New York, NY
Steven Assael, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL
2000
Steven Assael: Drawings, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL
Steven Assael Paintings and Drawings, North Carolina State University at Chapel Hill, NC
1999
Steven Assael: A Decade of Painting and Drawing, Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA (catalogue)
1998-89
New Paintings and Drawings by Steven Assael, Forum Gallery, New York, NY (catalogue)
1997
New Drawings, More Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1996
New Paintings and Drawings, Tatistcheff & Co., Inc., New York, NY (catalogue)
1995
Paintings and Drawings, Payne Gallery of Moravian College, Bethlehem, PA
1994
Paintings and Drawings, Tatistcheff & Co., Inc., New York, NY
1991
Steven Assael: Recent Paintings and Works on Paper, Gray Art Center, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC
1990
Fendrick Gallery, Washington, D.C.
1989
Staempfli Gallery, New York, NY
1987
Staempfli Gallery, New York, NY
1980
National Arts Club, Gregg Gallery, New York, NY
SELECTED PUBLIC AND PRIVATE COLLECTIONS:
The Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, AR
The Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, NY
The Art Institute of Chicago
Mr. Richard Brown Baker
Mr. John Bolton
Mr. and Mrs. Jacques Busquet
Celestial Seasonings Corporation, Boulder, CO
Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH
Mr. and Mrs. Richard Danziger
Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA
The Hunter Museum of Art, Chattanooga, TN
Jalane and Richard Davidson
The Juliet Museum of Art, Avampato Discovery Museum for the Arts & Sciences
K & B Corporation, New Orleans, LA
Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art & Design, Kansas City, MO
Kumada Corporation, Kobe, Japan
Mr. Steve Martin
Dr. Thomas A. Mathews
Mr. and Mrs. Philip Messinger
Racine Art Museum, Racine, WI
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
The Murray Collection
Mr. and Mrs. Richard D. Segal
Mr. and Mrs. Toshio Takashima
Mr. and Mrs. James Thompson
The Howard A. and Judith Tullman Collection
Walt Disney Corporation, Burbank, CA
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Dantzic, Cynthia Maris. 100 New York Painters, Schiffer Press, Atglen, PA, 2006, page 30.
“Steven Assael at Ann Nathan Gallery,” American Arts Quarterly, Winter 2006.
Bass, Ruth. “When a Rose is a Rose,” ArtNews, February, 1996.
CBS, “Sunday Morning” Television Show, “A Look at a Modern Master,” April 4,
1999.
Codrington, Andrea. “Figuratively Speaking,” Art and Auction, June, 1996.
Gehman, Geoff. “Spiritual Treasure Chest,” Morning Call, January, 1996.
“Goings on About Town,” New Yorker, November 12, 1990, p. 22.
Hagen, Charles. “In Connecticut, a Collector’s Eclecticism,” The New York Times, Friday, July 14, 1995.
Henry, Gerritt. “Steven Assael at Staempfli,” Art in America, January, 1990.
“Steven Assael at Forum,” Art in America, May, 1999.
Jaeger, William. “Biennial Exhibit of Extremes,” Times Union, May 5, 1996.
Karnel, Pepe. “Depicting Multiculturalism,” New York Times, September, 1995.
Lipson, Farin. “Portraits in Courage, Art and Poetry of Heroism,” Newsday, March,
1992
Mann, James. “Steven Assael, Challenge of Realism,” American Arts Quarterly,
Vol. XIII, No. 1, 1996.
Newman, Sasha M., Collecting with Richard Brown Baker, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT, 1995.
Raven, Arlene. Steven Assael: Selected Drawings, Linden Hill Art Books
“Steven Assael: Revealing Light,” The World & I, August, 1999, pp. 122-127.
Welzenbach, Michael, “Dramas in Dark Detail: The Paintings of Steven Assael,” The Washington Post, Saturday, May 19, 1990, p. C2.
Wilson, Janet, “Romantic Realism,” The Washington Post, Saturd
Awards
1980 and 1990 Elizabeth T. Greenshields Grant, Montreal, Ontario
1977 Charles Romans Award
National Academy of Design, New York, NY
1975 Pratt Institute Full Scholarship, Brooklyn, NY
