Draft:Albert Handell

Albert Handell (February 13, 1937 - present) is an American artist, known for his work as an oil painter and pastelist. He is a writer and teacher, and his work has been exhibited and collected around the world.



Early life
Born in Brooklyn, NY on February 13, 1937, Handell was the only child of immigrant parents. His father was a cafeteria worker from Russia, and his mother, who came from England, was a seamstress. At age five, he would buy chalk from the corner store to draw on the sidewalks of his neighborhood. He admired the work of Norman Rockwell and Dean Cornwell and intended to become an illustrator.

Education
By age sixteen, Handell began formally studying drawing and human anatomy. He attended the School of Industrial Arts, now known as the High School of Art and Design. One of his teachers told him about the Art Students League, so he enrolled in 1954. He studied at the Art Students League for two years while he completed high school and then for an additional two years. He studied with Louis A. Priscilla and Robert Ward Johnson and later studied painting for two years with Frank Mason.

In the 1950s, abstract expressionism was in its hey-day; however, Handell was more interested in realism. This prompted criticism from his classmates and teachers. “They thought I was ridiculous for painting realism. But my feeling was, I haven’t done it yet, and that is what I want to do. I was very young and naïve but my philosophy was—and is—if you’re good at something, you’ll make a living at it.”

Early career and Europe
From 1961 to 1965, Handell lived and traveled throughout Europe, where he painted and studied the works of the European masters. After returning to the U.S. from Europe, he was honored with a one-man exhibition at New York City’s famed American Contemporary Art (ACA) Gallery in September 1966. The exhibition led to an introduction to Bill Holden, an editor with Watson/Guptill Art Publications, who visited the exhibition and asked Handell to participate in a revision of Elinor Lathrop Sears’ book Pastel Painting Step by Step.

Woodstock, NY (1970-1983)
Handell moved to Woodstock, New York, in 1970. There he began painting from life out of doors (called plein air painting) in pastel. He found inspiration in the trees and mountain streams in the Catskill Mountains. Because pastel painting supplies were difficult to locate and purchase, Handell set up a pastel store in his studio so that his students could more easily access supplies. His materials were supplied by the Morilla Company in Massachusetts. During this time, he also began offering plein air painting workshops.

Soon after, Handell was featured in Joe Singer’s books How to Paint Portraits in Pastel (1972) and How to Paint Figures in Pastel (1976), making Handell one of the most recognized pastel artists in the country.

Santa Fe, NM (1983-present)
Handell's first visit to northern New Mexico occurred in 1981 when he visited Santa Fe and Taos during a painting workshop. Handell said he was enthralled by the light, colors, and the art market, surroundings in sharp contrast to the light and landscapes of upstate New York.

Handell’s home and studio are located near Santa Fe’s historic plaza. He continues to teach studio and plein air workshops in oil and pastel across the country.

Style and criticism
In a 2013 article in Southwest Art Magazine, Wolfgang Mabry, fine art consultant at Ventana Fine Art in Santa Fe, summarized Handell’s style and appeal: “His paintings, whether in oil or pastel, reveal the master’s touch in composition, color, design, and choice of subject, and a brilliant understanding and application of opposites,” Mabry said. “Translucent washes and glazes underlie judicious areas of higher texture in his oils, producing a topography that catches and holds rapt attention bordering on awe. He also blends realism with a degree of abstraction in a fusion of ideals, which has come to be recognized as another signature Handell characteristic. Handell creates atmosphere in his paintings, awakening that magical something in viewers, something beyond aesthetic or emotional stimulus—a long-lasting sense of being in the presence of greatness.”

Awards and recognition
Since 1961, Handell has been featured in more than 30 exhibitions and has received more than 70 prizes and awards. His paintings have been included in exhibitions of the Allied Artists of America, the Audubon Artists of America, The National Academy of Design, Académie Artists of America, and the National Arts Club, among many others.

He has been named in Who’s Who in American Art, and he has been profiled in many publications, including Pastel Painting Step by Step (1968) by Elinor Lathrop Sears, How to Paint Portraits in Pastel (1972) and How to Paint Figures in Pastel (1976) by Joe Singer, and in The Best of Oil Painting (1996) by Tom Nicolas and John C. Terelak.

In 1987, Handell was only the third living American artist to be named a Hall of Fame Honoree of the Pastel Society of America. Handell holds the distinctions of Master Pastelist with the Pastel Society of America and Master Signature Member of the Oil Painters of America.

In 2007, he was recognized at the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio, with a retrospective of his pastel paintings. In April 2019, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Plein Air Convention & Expo in San Francisco. He is an Emeritus Member of the Salmagundi Club.

Publications
Handell is the author of five books. With his wife, Leslie Trainor Handell, he wrote Oil Painting Workshop (1979), Pastel Painting Workshop (1981), Intuitive Composition (1989), and Intuitive Light (2003). With collaborator Anita Louise West, he wrote Painting the Landscape in Pastel (2000). He has written many articles for publications such as Pastel Journal, Southwest Art, and Plein Air Magazine.

Handell also has created several instructional videos for oil and pastel painters for PaintTube.TV and for the Tucson Art Academy Online.