April Kingsley
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Comment: needs substantial reviews of her books in third-party published independent reliable sources, not press releases, blurbs, blogs, Amazon, or Goodreads DGG ( talk ) 05:25, 3 March 2021 (UTC)
April Kingsley | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 16, 1941 |
| Died | June 13, 2023 (aged 82) |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | Art critic, curator |
April Kingsley (1941–2023)[1] was an American art critic and curator known for her support of abstract expressionism[2] in New York, her work on the catalogue raisonné of Franz Kline, and her book about the rise of abstract expressionism, The Turning Point.[3] In addition to her work as an art critic, art historian, and author, Kingsley was an educator and an curator especially of figurative- and abstract-expressionist work.[4][5]
Early Life and Education
Kingsley was born on February 16, 1941, in Queens, New York, to Kingdon Edward Kingsley and Grace Helene Consilia Haddock. She grew up in Whitestone, New York, and Winthrop, Maine, and graduated from Flushing High School in New York in 1958. She attended Queens College School of Nursing beginning in 1960. She was married in 1961 to Walter McMenamin, and worked for a time as a nurse in Manhattan. After her marriage to McMenamin ended, she attended New York University, where she studied with H.W. Janson[6],and earned her MFA from the Institute of Fine Arts in 1968. She later remarried, to composer Max Schubel, and earned a Ph.D in Art History at the City University Graduate Center.[7]
Career
Kingsley devoted her career to supporting the abstract expressionism movement in New York, curating influential exhibitions, and writing extensively on abstract expressionism, figurative expressionism[8], and the movements’ notable artists. She was a curator at The Museum of Modern Art[9] in New York City, The American Craft Museum in New York City, and at the Pasadena Art Museum. She curated a number of exhibitions in and around New York. During the 1970s, she wrote numerous articles, reviews, and criticism for Artforum, Art in America, Art International, Art News, Newsweek, The Soho Weekly News, and The Village Voice as well as profiles and catalogues for artists and galleries.
Kingsley has written major monographs on numerous artists including Jean Miotte and Alice Dalton Bown, and contributed to the catalogs of more than 75 artists. Her first book publication was in 1989 when she contributed Abstract Expressionism in Context to the compilation “Three Hundred Years of American Paintings: The Montclair Art Museum Collection,” published by Hudson Hills Press. It was followed in 1992 by “The Turning Point: The Abstract Expressionists and the Transformation of American Art,” published by Simon & Schuster. In 2013, she published a work that had as its impetus the traveling exhibitions she helped prepare for the Western Association of Art Museums during the 1970s, “Emotional Impact: American Figurative Expressionism.”
Influence
Her book, The Turning Point: The Abstract Expressionists and the Transformation of American Art, 1992, was a month-by-month study of the developments in New York in 1950 when nearly all the key artists were in New York and becoming aware of their burgeoning influence on the new abstract expressionism movement.
In addition to her early support for the abstract- and figurative-expressionism movements, Kingsley launched a major traveling exhibition called “Afro-American Abstraction” which turned the spotlight on a number of African-American artists including Jack Whitten, Mel Edwards, and Edward Clark, among others. Her writing on African-American art was featured in “Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power,” the book accompanying the exhibition at the Tate Modern [10]. Her presence in and influence on the art worlds in New York City and Cape Cod, Massachusetts, impacted the careers and legacies of many notable artists, such as Mary Shaffer; Sandy Skoglund, Franz Kline, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, Adolph Gottlieb, Michael Loew, Arturo Alonzo Sandoval, and Boaz Vaadia.[11]
Personal Life
Kingsley resided most of her adult life in New York City, New York, and Cape Cod, Massachusetts. In 1973, she married painter and author Budd Hopkins.[12] The marriage produced Kingsley's only child, artist Grace Hopkins. Kingsley and Hopkins divorced in 1991. She married Donald Spyke in 2005. She lived in Harwich, Massachusetts, until her death on June 13, 2023.
Publications
- "Abstract Expressionism in Context," in Three Hundred Years of American Paintings: The Montclair Art Museum Collection (1989)
- The Turning Point: The Abstract Expressionists and the Transformation of American Art (1992)[13]
- Emotional Impact: American Figurative Expressionism (2013)[14]
References
- ^ Genzlinger, Neil. "April Kingsley, Curator Who Championed Unsung Artists, Dies at 82". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
- ^ "Nonfiction Book Review: The Turning Point: The Abstract Expressionists and the Transformation of American Art by April Kingsley, Author Simon & Schuster $30 (0p) ISBN 978-0-671-63857-3". PublishersWeekly.com.
- ^ Kingsley, April (May 12, 1992). The turning point: the abstract expressionists and the transformation of American art. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 9780671638573 – via National Library of Australia (new catalog).
- ^ Engagement, University Outreach and. "News". Arts and Culture at MSU.
- ^ Giuliano, Charles. "Rethinking Abstract Expressionism: Beyond the Canon - Berkshire Fine Arts". www.berkshirefinearts.com.
- ^ Russell, John (October 3, 1982). "PROF. H. W. JANSON IS DEAD AT 68; WROTE BEST-SELLING 'HISTORY OF ART'". The New York Times.
- ^ "Biographical Note | A Finding Aid to the April Kingsley and Budd Hopkins papers, circa 1945-2017". www.aaa.si.edu.
- ^ Giuliano, Charles. "Emotional Impact: American Figurative Expressionism - Berkshire Fine Arts". www.berkshirefinearts.com.
- ^ "Grace Hopkins curates gallery in footsteps of artist parents in Provincetown".
- ^ "Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power – Exhibition at Tate Modern". Tate.
- ^ "Essay by April Kingsley". www.vaadia.com.
- ^ Fox, Margalit. "Budd Hopkins, Abstract ExpressionistArtist, Dies at 80". query.nytimes.com.
- ^ ISBN-10: 0671638572
- ^ ISBN-10: 1611860849