“While my paintings seem to be figurative, my process is more closely aligned with expressionism. I work with acrylics in a semi liquid state, wet into wet on wood panels to achieve spacial effects. I am interested in retaining the graphic quality of the subjects—planes, ships, castles, armored car—and burrowing those forms into the space around them. An early obsession with film has influenced the use of cinematic light in the recent works.”
—Arthur Levine, 2026
Characters lodged deep in Levine’s consciousness and in our shared cultural references have made their way to the surfaces of his canvas—the mime from Carné’s le infants du Paradis/Children of Paradise, the demon Mephistopheles, a Spaghetti Western cowboy, and a Prussian General. Each stroke of paint carries these actors toward explosive dramatic expression. Rather than a director making scripted decisions, Levine is right there on the stage, bringing an impastoed wellspring of spontaneous strokes into cohesion What remains on the canvas is a sole, breathless performer, still caught in the heat of the act.
Click to read an Interview with Arthur Levine, 2022
Curriculum Vitae
Education
1950–1952
Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France
1950
MFA University of Iowa
1949
BFA University of Iowa
One Person Exhibitions
2026
Tilting at the Surface, Prince Street Gallery, New York, NY
2017
Prince Street Gallery, New York, NY
2014
Prince Street Gallery, New York, NY
2012
College of Staten Island, Cuny, New York, NY
Prince Street Gallery, New York, NY
2009
Prince Street Gallery, New York, NY
2006
Prince Street Gallery, New York, NY
2002
55 Mercer Gallery, New York, NY
1994 / 1955
Mercer Gallery, New York, NY
1988
College of Staten Island, Staten Island, NY
1987
Anna Swenson Gallery, Brattleboro, VT
Patricia Heesy Gallery, New York, NY
1984
Alliance Francaise, Toronto, Canada
1984 / 1980 / 1978
Prince Street Gallery, New York, NY
1967
Ceeje Galleries, New York, NY
1966 / 1963
Ceeje Galleries, Los Angeles, CA
1960
Beloit college, Beloit, WI
Selected Group Exhibitions
National Academy Museum Invitational, New York, NY
Society for Contemporary Art, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Los Angeles County Area Exhibition, Los Angeles, CA
Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, MI
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Albright Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
Butler Institute of Art, Youngstown, Ohio
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, MA
Salon de Mai, Musee d’’Art Moderne, Paris, France
Walker Art Center, St. Paul, MN
Prince Street Gallery, New York, NY
City University of New York, New York, NY
National Drawing Invitational, Santa Rosa Junior College, Santa Rosa, CA
Patricia Heesy Gallery, New York, NY
Art on Paper Invitational, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, University of North Carolina
Collections
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Walker Art Center, St. Paul, MN
Bradley University, Peoria, IL
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
State of Illinois Collection, Springfield, IL
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Franklin Pierce College, Rindge, NY
E.F. Hutton, New York, NY
Awards and Fellowships
1993
Fellowship in Painting, National Endowment for the Arts
1981
City University of New York, Research Grant
1971
City University of New York, Research Grant
1963
University of California, Faculty Fellowship
1958
University of Illinois, Faculty Fellowship
1950
Fulbright Grant, Paris, France