Ellen Altfest (born

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, 1970) is an American painter who lives and works in New York. She is best known for her realist depictions of landscapes and still lifes that often blur the distinction between the two genres.

Education

Altfest graduated from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

with a BFA in Painting and a BA in English, an MFA in Painting from

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

in 1997, and studied at the

Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture is an artists residency located in Madison, Maine, just outside of Skowhegan. Every year, the program accepts online applications from emerging artists from November through January, and selects 65 ...

Artwork

According to art critic Randy Kennedy, Altfest is known for her "painstakingly labor-intensive canvases that look at things in the world." For example, while completing her 2013 work ''Tree'', Altfest spent 13 months sitting in front of a tree trunk exploring the details. Altfest is also known for small-scale works. The previously mentioned ''Tree'', an oil on canvas, is approximately the size of a piece of typing paper. Altfest had ten works shown at Bellwether Gallery in 2005 at her "first New York gallery show." Altfest organized "Men," a group show in 2006 of ten paintings of men by ten different women artists at I-20. In 2007, London's White Cube gallery held a solo exhibition of her work which included the first extensive series of paintings of men. A monograph was released on the occasion of her exhibition at White Cube. Her work has featured in several prominent exhibitions, including "The Leg" at the

Chinati Foundation The Chinati Foundation/La Fundación Chinati is a contemporary art museum located in Marfa, Texas, and based upon the ideas of its founder, artist Donald Judd. Mission The specific intention of Chinati is to preserve and present to the public perm ...

in Marfa, Texas in 2010, "Head and Plant" at the

New Museum The New Museum of Contemporary Art, founded in 1977 by Marcia Tucker, is a museum in New York City at 235 Bowery, on Manhattan's Lower East Side. History The museum originally opened in a space in the Graduate Center of the then-named New Sch ...

in New York in 2012, "The Encyclopedic Palace" at the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

in 2013, and a survey exhibition at the MK Gallery in Milton Keynes, United Kingdom in 2015. Altfest's influences include Albrecht Dürer's ''The Large Turf'',

Jackson Pollock Paul Jackson Pollock (; January 28, 1912August 11, 1956) was an American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. He was widely noticed for his " drip technique" of pouring or splashing liquid household paint onto a hor ...

Sylvia Sleigh Sylvia Sleigh (8 May 1916 – 24 October 2010) was a Welsh-born naturalised American realist painter who lived and worked in New York City. She is known for her role in the feminist art movement and especially for reversing traditional g ...

, and

Lucian Freud Lucian Michael Freud (; 8 December 1922 – 20 July 2011) was a British painter and draughtsman, specialising in figurative art, and is known as one of the foremost 20th-century English portraitists. He was born in Berlin, the son of Jewis ...

. Altfest's works also include: * ''Large Rock,'' (2002) * ''Studio Window at Night,'' (2003) * ''Tumbleweed,'' (2005) * ''Two Logs,'' (2005) * ''Penis,'' (2006) * ''Reclining Nude,'' (2006-2007) * ''Gourds,'' (2006-2007) * ''Green Gourd,'' (2007) * ''The Butt,'' (2007) * ''The Bent Leg,'' (2008) * ''Torso,'' (2010) * ''Armpit,'' (2011) * ''Abdomen,'' (2015)

References

External links

Ellen Altfest - Artist Page - Bellwether Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Altfest, Ellen 1970 births American women painters Cornell University College of Architecture, Art, and Planning alumni Living people Painters from New York (state) Trompe-l'œil artists 20th-century American painters 21st-century American painters 20th-century American women artists 21st-century American women artists Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture alumni

Education

Artwork

Further reading

References

External links