Harold Moncreau Stevenson Jr. (March 11, 1929 – October 21, 2018) was an American painter known for his paintings of the male nude. He was a friend, a mentor, and an associate of

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...

, and appeared in the Warhol film ''

Heat In thermodynamics, heat is defined as the form of energy crossing the boundary of a thermodynamic system by virtue of a temperature difference across the boundary. A thermodynamic system does not ''contain'' heat. Nevertheless, the term is al ...

'' (credited as "Harold Childe").

Biography

Stevenson was born in

Idabel, Oklahoma Idabel is a city in and county seat of McCurtain County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 7,010 at the 2010 census. It is located in the southeast corner of Oklahoma, a tourist area known as Choctaw Country. History Idabel was estab ...

, in 1929 and attended the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...

before moving to New York City in 1949. He moved to Paris in 1952 and exhibited at European galleries for the next 20 years. Stevenson's most well-known works were painted in the 1960s, including his most famous works, ''Eye of Lightning Billy'' and ''The New Adam''. ''Eye of Lightning Billy'' was exhibited at the

Sidney Janis Gallery Sidney may refer to: People * Sidney (surname), English surname * Sidney (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Sidney (footballer, born 1972), full name Sidney da Silva Souza, Brazilian football defensive midfielder * Si ...

in 1962 as part of the "New Realists" exhibit, which included works by Warhol (including his '' 200 Campbell’s Soup Cans''),

Claes Oldenburg Claes Oldenburg (January 28, 1929 – July 18, 2022) was a Swedish-born American sculptor, best known for his public art installations typically featuring large replicas of everyday objects. Another theme in his work is soft sculpture versions ...

Roy Lichtenstein Roy Fox Lichtenstein (; October 27, 1923 – September 29, 1997) was an American pop artist. During the 1960s, along with Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, and James Rosenquist among others, he became a leading figure in the new art movement. Hi ...

, Robert Moskowitz, Robert Indiana, George Segal,

Jim Dine Jim Dine (born June 16, 1935 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is an American artist whose œuvre extends over sixty years. Dine’s work includes painting, drawing, printmaking (in many forms including lithographs, etchings, gravure, intaglio, woodcuts, l ...

Peter Agostini Peter Agostini (February 13, 1913 Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan – March 27, 1993) was an American sculptor. Life Agostini studied at the Leonardo da Vinci Art School in 1935 and 1936. He taught sculpture and painting at the New York Studio School, ...

James Rosenquist James Rosenquist (November 29, 1933 – March 31, 2017) was an American artist and one of the proponents of the pop art movement. Drawing from his background working in sign painting, Rosenquist's pieces often explored the role of advertising a ...

Wayne Thiebaud Morton Wayne Thiebaud ( ; November 15, 1920 – December 25, 2021) was an American painter known for his colorful works depicting commonplace objects—pies, lipsticks, paint cans, ice cream cones, pastries, and hot dogs—as well as for his la ...

and

Tom Wesselmann Thomas K. Wesselmann (February 23, 1931 – December 17, 2004) was an American artist associated with the Pop Art movement who worked in painting, collage and sculpture. Early years Wesselmann was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati. From 1949 ...

. ''The Eye of Lightning Billy'' was acquired by the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

in 2008. In 1963, Stevenson's massive mural, ''The New Adam'', was displayed at the

Iris Clert Gallery The Iris Clert Gallery (''Galerie Iris Clert'' in French) was an art gallery named after its Greek owner and curator, Iris Clert. The single-room gallery The Iris Clert Gallery (Galerie'' Iris Clert'' in French) was an art gallery named after its ...

in Paris. The mural is an 8-foot by 39-foot reclining nude man. The model was young actor

Sal Mineo Salvatore Mineo Jr. (January 10, 1939 – February 12, 1976) was an American actor, singer, and director. He is best known for his role as John "Plato" Crawford in the drama film '' Rebel Without a Cause'' (1955), which earned him a nomination ...

, and the painting was dedicated to Stevenson's lover at the time, Lord Timothy Willoughby de Eresby, the heir to the

Earl of Ancaster Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form ''jarl'', and meant "chieftain", particular ...

. The work was considered for inclusion in the 1963 seminal Pop Art exhibition "Six Painters and the Object" at the Guggenheim, but was considered too large, and that it would distract from the rest of the works. In 2005, the painting was acquired by the

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue on the corner of East 89th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It is the permanent home of a continuously exp ...

. In 1963, Stevenson created a 40-foot tall painting of the Spanish

bullfighter A bullfighter (or matador) is a performer in the activity of bullfighting. ''Torero'' () or ''toureiro'' (), both from Latin ''taurarius'', are the Spanish and Portuguese words for bullfighter and describe all the performers in the activit ...

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, which was hung from the

Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; french: links=yes, tour Eiffel ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower. Locally nicknamed "'' ...

with the permission of the French government. The resulting traffic jam caused the government to require that the painting be taken down. In 1968, in Paris, Stevenson exhibited "The Great Society", a collection of portraits of individuals from his hometown. The collection is now owned by the

Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art is an art museum on the University of Oklahoma campus in Norman, Oklahoma. Overview The University of Oklahoma’s Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art holds over 20,000 objects in its permanent collection. The museum c ...

at the University of Oklahoma. Having lived in New York, Paris,

Key West Key West ( es, Cayo Hueso) is an island in the Straits of Florida, within the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it cons ...

and

the Hamptons The Hamptons, part of the East End of Long Island, consist of the towns of Southampton and East Hampton, which together comprise the South Fork of Long Island, in Suffolk County, New York. The Hamptons are a popular seaside resort and one o ...

, Stevenson returned to his hometown of Idabel. He frequently contributed to

NIGHT magazine Established in 1984, and published monthly by Mondiale Publishing Ltd, ''NIGHT'' magazine covered operational, technical and design developments within bars, clubs, student unions, casinos and live venues across the UK. Through its partnership wit ...

. Stevenson died on October 21, 2018, in Idabel, Oklahoma, at the age of 89.

Selected works

*''The New Adam'' - http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/collection-online/artwork/15278 *''The Eye of Lightning Billy'' - https://matthewmarks.com/exhibitions/project-for-a-revolution-in-new-york-07-2007/lightbox/works/project-for-a-revolution-in-new-york-9 *''The Great Society'' - https://web.archive.org/web/20141112051912/http://www.ou.edu/content/fjjma/experience/collections/contemporaryArt/HaroldStevensonCollection.html "The Arm of Don Juan" - https://blanton.emuseum.com/objects/14188/the-arm-of-don-juan?ctx=cf8e4bfc8e8533a408943ea9fde9d237e639a6e6&idx=0

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stevenson, Harold 1929 births 2018 deaths American pop artists 20th-century American painters Painters from Oklahoma People from Idabel, Oklahoma American gay artists LGBT people from Oklahoma 21st-century American painters