Nicolas Carone

Nicolas Carone belonged to the early generation of New York School Abstract Expressionist artists whose artistic innovation by the 1950s had been recognized across the Atlantic, including Paris. New York School Abstract Expressionism, represented by Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, Conrad Marca-Relli and others became a leading art movement of the postwar era.

Nick Carone started studying and painting at age 11. At 25 Carone received the Prix de Rome and in 2009, while still painting at 92, Carone received the Pollack-Krasner Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award. In the interim years Carone studied with Hans Hoffman, apprenticed with Leon Kroll, taught at New York Studio School and Cooper Union and lived at the Springs with fellow painters and friends Jackson Pollock and de Kooning. Of local note Carone, when he was Director of the famous Stable Gallery, gave Bob Rauschenberg his first New York show.

Carone has long been an important and influential artist in the New York art scene. In the 40’s and 50’s Carone, working closely with Hans Hoffman, Matta and Jackson Pollock was at the center of the New York School of artists who changed the way we think about art. As a founding faulty member at the New York Studio School and teacher for 20 years, his exuberance and passion for art-making influenced and inspired several generations of artists. And the re-discovery of Carone in the last five years gives new audiences an opportunity to be stirred and impressed by his masterful paintings.

Carone started studying and painting at eleven and at 92 still had the fire to paint. The Landscapes in this exhibit were painted in 2000. While Carone was a second generation Abstract Expressionist, his academic training and three years studying in Italy during his formative years greatly influenced his work. The paintings in this exhibit are an extraordinary combination of modern and old master and epitomize Carone’s life-long fascination with the use of metaphor and imagined imagery in art making.

Carone’s work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Whitney Museum, the Hirshhorn Museum, the Baltimore Museum of Art, National Academy of Art and the High Museum and in numerous private collections. Carone is represented by the Joan Washburn and Lohin Geduld Galleries in New York City. The artist passed away in July 2010, but leaves behind a legion of students who carry on his legacy of making meaningful art.

Untitled 1948 Nicolas Carone Oil on Linen 25x32"