InLiquid Art + Design and Lauren Anrig Addis are proud to present a retrospective selection of paintings by Lee Lippman, a well-known and storied Philadelphia artist. Lippman, who turned 90 last year, has lived and worked in Philadelphia most of his life. The exhibition will highlight works from three distinct stylistic periods in his career, featuring his journeys in Mexico, the Mountain West, Philadelphia, New York City, and the surrounding area.
Lippman’s early works are marked by dark and moody brushstrokes, as he experimented with art brut style abstraction. In his youth, he studied in Mexico with the famous muralists, Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros. He also experimented with new media at the Instituto Polytecnico Nacional. Lippman would work on a mural crew with Siqueiros before returning to school at the Philadelphia College of Art (now University of the Arts), where he was awarded the senior prize for painting.
Lippman returned to Mexico with his wife Arlene Love (also an accomplished artist), where they would spend 12 years. His work took on a new sense of vibrancy and began the transformation towards the signature style he is known for today. Lippman documented the rich, rural landscapes in bold blocks of color, juxtaposing vivid and earthy tones to capture the intense light and energy of his surroundings.
Since 1975, Lippman continues to paint every day, and moved from painting exclusively on canvas to introducing works on paper. His recent works are modernist in style with a touch of abstraction, and capture everyday moments, both cityscape and countryside. His swirling strokes create dynamic imagery that suggest movement and tactility. Lippman’s signature landscapes are marked by impressionism with a hint of the surreal, with distinctive horizon lines that meet expansive skies and pronounced foregrounds.
Lippman’s work is included in numerous private collections, as well as at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Woodmere Art Museum, James A. Michener Art Museum, Phillip Morris International, MAS Corporation, numerous universities and colleges such as Philip and Muriel Berman Museum (Ursinus College), and more.