Introduction
Ellen Altfest (born New York City, 1970) is a realist painter based in New York.
Biography
Altfest graduated from Cornell University with a BFA in Painting and a BA in English, an MFA in Painting from Yale, and studied at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. She paints still lifes and male figures from life in detail. Her work is noted for its precision and trompe-l'œil accuracy. Influences include Albrecht Dürer's The Large Turf, Jackson Pollock, and Lucian Freud.
Artwork
In 2007, White Cube, a London art 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 in Marfa, Texas in 2010, "Head and Plant" at the New Museum in New York in 2012, "The Encyclopedic Palace" at the Venice Biennale in 2013, and a survey exhibition at the MK Gallery in Milton Keynes, United Kingdom in 2015.
Altfest is well known as an artist 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's works also include:
- Tumbleweed (2005)
- Penis (2006)
- Reclining Nude (2006-7)
- Green Gourd (2007)
- The Butt (2007)
- The Bent Leg (2008)
- ^ Kennedy, Randy (June 6, 2013). "Warming to Painting in the Cold". The New York Times. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
- Reilly, Maura, ed. (2015). "Ellen Altfest: A New, New Realism". Women Artists: The Linda Nochlin Reader. New York: Thames & Hudson, Inc. pp. 417–425. ISBN 978-0-500-23929-2.