Allison Lefcort

Last updated
Allison Lefcort
Born (1975-05-14) May 14, 1975 (age 48)
NationalityAmerican
Known forPainting
Notable workHillary Clinton, King Hussein, Queen Noor, Ellen DeGeneres, Disney characters
Movement Pop art
Website www.allisonlefcort.com

Allison Lefcort (born May 14, 1975) is an American pop art painter who has made works of rock stars, singers, political figures and Disney characters. Some of her more notable subjects are Hillary Clinton, Jim Morrison, Melissa Etheridge, Hugh Hefner, Ellen DeGeneres, and King Hussein of Jordan. Her work is influenced by Andy Warhol and Keith Haring.

Contents

Personal life

Allison Lefcort was born the daughter of Robert and Ronni Lefcort, a Yale University alumni and a visual artist. [1] When she was a little girl, Lefcort created a portrait of Dan Marino, which is displayed in her studio in Boca Raton, Florida. [2]

She attended Spanish River High School in Boca Raton. While there she made a painting of the band The Doors, which was the genesis of her "pop art" style. She graduated from high school in 1993. Lefcort attended Skidmore College and majored in art. [3] She decided to drop out of college when, successfully selling her works, an art teacher told her and her classmates to forget all they knew about art so that she could be taught properly. Her parents made a deal with her: If she attended the New York Art Expo and her work was recognized, she could pursue her career rather than return to college. She sold made beneficial contacts and sold three paintings at the expo. [2] [3] She didn't return to college and her mother, a supporter throughout her artistic career, is her publicist and manager. [3]

Seeds of Peace, GLAAD and United Cerebral Palsy are charities that have benefited from Lefcort's artwork donations for fundraising. She has shared her love of art by teaching children's art classes. [2]

Career

Celebrity portraits

In 1992, when she was 17 years old, Lefcort's work was exhibited at the Greenwich Village Art Gallery, her first professional exhibition. [2] Starting in 1991, Lefcort made paintings of the recipients of the Musicares's Humanitarian of the Year award. They are hung next to works by Peter Max at the Musicare's office in Los Angeles. [3] In 1998, Lefcort presented the portrait of the recipient, Luciano Pavarotti, at the awards ceremony. [3] [4]

She was made a portrait of Hillary Clinton [4] on 4' by 4' canvas. [3] Lefcort also made a portrait that size for Ellen DeGeneres, who autographed a second painting Lefcort had made for herself. [2] [3] She made portraits of Barbra Streisand, [4] [5] and Mikhail Baryshnikov. [2] Lefcort's painting of Roy Orbison is owned by the man who produced concerts for him, Brian Carabet. [6] In 1998, she made a portrait of Sigmund Freud that was presented for auction at the "Freud Amongst the Arts" show and auction, Southeast Florida Association for Psychoanalytic Psychology. [4]

By 2003, she made a portrait of Queen Noor and Hussein bin Talal, The King of Jordan, [7] that were hung in the king and queen's palace. [3] Lefcort also painted the portraits of Hugh Hefner, [8] Charlie Chaplin, Ray Charles, Jodie Foster, Jim Morrison, and James Dean. [2]

Walt Disney

In 2003 she was commissioned by Disney Fine Art to create paintings of characters, like Tigger and Mickey Mouse from Disney films. [7] Lefcort created Abracadabra for Disney's publisher, Collector's Editions, to mark the 75th anniversary of Mickey Mouse. It was released in November, 2004. Events were held in stores in Europe, Japan and the United States to market the limited edition paintings. [9]

Themes, subjects and methods

Her work is noticeable for its monochromatic scheme of black, white and grey in the foreground, and bright bold colors of the background. She uses acrylic paints exclusively on paper, wood, or canvas to create her pop art portraits. She spends more time designing and drafting a portrait than painting the work. Lefcort’s says "boldness and simplicity are the keys to unlocking the imagery." Her work is influenced by Keith Haring and Andy Warhol. [7] She says that "Boldness and simplicity are the keys to the success of my portraits. The vibrant color of the background accents the shapes and shadows and enhances the three-dimensional appearance." [7]

Lefcort refers to images of celebrities from photographs, books or magazines to formulate the original image that she will make. She does not have her works reproduced to avoid licensing issues, instead, if she wants a second or more copies, she'll paint each separately. For instance, she made a copy of a Mikhail Baryshnikov painting, one of her first and favored, for a couple who wished to have the painting. Disney, though, does make reproductions of her work for their enterprise. [2]

She generally paints portraits on 4' by 4' canvas, but has also painted images on guitars, like one made of Elvis and on smaller canvases. [2]

Exhibitions

Collections

Liza Minnelli, Luciano Pavarotti, Dionne Warwick, Barbra Streisand, Phil Ramone, and Ellen DeGeneres have owned her works. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jackson Pollock</span> American abstract painter (1912–1956)

Paul Jackson Pollock was an American painter. A major figure in the abstract expressionist movement, Pollock was widely noticed for his "drip technique" of pouring or splashing liquid household paint onto a horizontal surface, enabling him to view and paint his canvases from all angles. It was called all-over painting and action painting, since he covered the entire canvas and used the force of his whole body to paint, often in a frenetic dancing style. This extreme form of abstraction divided the critics: some praised the immediacy of the creation, while others derided the random effects. In 2016, Pollock's painting titled Number 17A was reported to have fetched US$200 million in a private purchase.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbra Streisand</span> American singer and actress (born 1942)

Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand is an American singer, actress, and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment and is among the few performers awarded an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony (EGOT).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tamara de Lempicka</span> Polish painter (1898–1980)

Tamara Łempicka, better known as Tamara de Lempicka, was a Polish painter who spent her working life in France and the United States. She is best known for her polished Art Deco portraits of aristocrats and the wealthy, and for her highly stylized paintings of nudes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucian Freud</span> British painter and engraver

Lucian Michael Freud 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 Jewish architect Ernst L. Freud and the grandson of Sigmund Freud. Freud got his first name "Lucian" from his mother in memory of the ancient writer Lucian of Samosata. His family moved to England in 1933, when he was 10 years old, to escape the rise of Nazism. He became a British naturalized citizen in 1939. From 1942 to 1943 he attended Goldsmiths' College, London. He served at sea with the British Merchant Navy during the Second World War.

Jennifer Anne Saville is a contemporary British painter and an original member of the Young British Artists. Saville works and lives in Oxford, England and she is known for her large-scale painted depictions of nude women. Saville has been credited with originating a new and challenging method of painting the female nude and reinventing figure painting for contemporary art. Some paintings are of small dimensions, while other are of much larger scale. Monumental subjects come from pathology textbooks that she has studied that informed her on injury to bruise, burns, and deformity. John Gray commented: "As I see it, Jenny Saville's work expresses a parallel project of reclaiming the body from personality. Saville worked with many models who under went cosmetic surgery to reshape a portion of their body. In doing that, she captures "marks of personality for the flesh" and together embraces how we can be the writers of our own lives."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emily Kame Kngwarreye</span> Aboriginal Australian artist (1910–1996)

Emily Kame Kngwarreye was an Aboriginal Australian artist from the Utopia community in the Northern Territory. She is one of the most prominent and successful artists in the history of Australian art.

<i>Dora Maar au Chat</i> Painting by Pablo Picasso

Dora Maar au Chat is an oil-on-canvas painting by Pablo Picasso. It was painted in 1941 and depicts Dora Maar, the artist's lover, seated on a chair with a small cat perched on her shoulders. The painting is listed as one of the most expensive paintings, after achieving a price of $95 million at Sotheby's on 3 May 2006. It is currently the sixth-highest-selling painting by Picasso.

Alison Watt OBE FRSE RSA is a British painter who first came to national attention while still at college when she won the 1987 Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery in London.

<i>Diana and Actaeon</i> (Titian) 1550s painting by Titian

Diana and Actaeon is a painting by the Italian Renaissance master Titian, finished in 1556–1559, and is considered amongst Titian's greatest works. It portrays the moment in which the hunter Actaeon bursts in where the goddess Diana and her nymphs are bathing. Diana is furious, and will turn Actaeon into a stag, who is then pursued and killed by his own hounds, a scene Titian later painted in his The Death of Actaeon.

<i>Benefits Supervisor Sleeping</i> 1995 painting by Lucian Freud

Benefits Supervisor Sleeping is a 1995 oil on canvas painting by the British artist Lucian Freud depicting a naked woman lying on a couch. It is a portrait of Sue Tilley, a Jobcentre supervisor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Noah (American painter)</span> American painter

Noah Elias is an American artist, known simply as Noah, working within the fine art market and custom art scene. He is best known for painting the Suki art car in 2 Fast 2 Furious, but is also a widely collected painter of Disney Fine Art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jerry Weiss (artist)</span> American painter

Jerry Weiss is an American figurative, landscape, and portrait painter and a writer. He studied classical drawing, and his career has centered on both the figure, and landscape. He says he is "intrigued by the portrait and figure as a most sacred subject."

Wintjiya Napaltjarri, and also known as Wintjia Napaltjarri No. 1, is a Pintupi-speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region. She is the sister of artist Tjunkiya Napaltjarri; both were wives of Toba Tjakamarra, with whom Wintjiya had five children.

<i>Nude, Green Leaves and Bust</i> Painting by Pablo Picasso

Nude, Green Leaves and Bust is a 1932 oil on canvas painting by Pablo Picasso, featuring his mistress Marie-Thérèse Walter.

<i>Portrait of Kitty</i> Painting by Lucian Freud

Portrait of Kitty is a painting by Lucian Freud of Kitty Garman, his wife and the eldest daughter of the sculptor Jacob Epstein and Kathleen Garman. Completed between 1948 and 1949, this oil on board measures 35 by 24 centimetres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pricasso</span> Australian painter

Tim Patch, commonly known by his professional stage name Pricasso, is an Australian artist who is known for using his genitals to paint portraits, landscapes and female nudes.

<i>Three Studies of Lucian Freud</i> Oil-on-canvas triptych by Francis Bacon

Three Studies of Lucian Freud is a 1969 oil-on-canvas triptych by the Irish-born British painter Francis Bacon, depicting artist Lucian Freud. It was sold in November 2013 for US$142.4 million, which at the time was the highest price attained at auction for a work of art when not factoring in inflation. That record was surpassed in May 2015 by Version O of Picasso's Les Femmes d'Alger series.

Anmanari Brown is an Australian Aboriginal artist. She was one of the pioneers of the art movement across the Ngaanyatjarra, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara lands, which began in 2000. Since then, her paintings have gained much success. Her work is held in the National Gallery of Victoria, the Art Gallery of Western Australia, the Queensland Art Gallery, and the National Gallery of Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Judy Takács</span> American contemporary figurative painter

Judy Takács is a contemporary figurative painter, known for her realistic paintings from her ongoing, traveling portrait series, Chicks with Balls: Judy Takács paints unsung female heroes. “Takács is a figurative artist who tells stories about people who have something uplifting to share.” She is an elected member of, and past Social Media Chair for Allied Artists of America. She is past Social Media Chair and Literature Committee writer for the Cecilia Beaux Forum of the Portrait Society of America. In 2018, Takács was elected to membership in the Salmagundi Art Club and the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club in New York City. She holds Signature Status with Portrait Society of America, American Women Artists and Akron Society of Artists. She lives and works in Solon, Ohio.

<i>Femme au Chien</i> Painting by Pablo Picasso

Femme au Chien is an oil-on-canvas painting by Pablo Picasso, which he painted in 1962. It is a portrait of Picasso's second wife, Jacqueline Roque, and their dog Kaboul, an Afghan Greyhound. The painting is an illustration of the great affection that Picasso displayed for both of the subjects in the portrait and has elements of the cubist style that he pioneered. It was produced in Picasso's later years when the couple was living at Notre-Dame-de-Vie, near Mougins, France. On 14 May 2019, it was sold at Sotheby's auction for almost $55 million and is now housed in the collection of Wynn Fine Art in Florida.

References

  1. ↑ "Ruth Holtsberg, Entrepreneur of Worth Avenue Shops, Dies". Palm Beach Daily News. CMG Corporate Services. February 3, 2013. Archived from the original on June 10, 2014. Retrieved December 23, 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Mary Damiano. "Local Boca Artist Lives and Paints 'Larger Than Life'". Express Gay News. Archived from the original on 2013-12-24. Retrieved December 23, 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "A self-confessed star-gazer, Allison Lefcort paints almost nothing but celebrities". Boca Raton News. January 13, 1998. Retrieved December 23, 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Fifth Annual 'Freud Amongst the Arts' Is Set". Boca Raton News. April 13, 1998. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  5. ↑ "Barbra Streisand". ArtNet. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  6. ↑ Jolie Carpenter (2003). Spectacular Homes of Texas: An Exclusive Showcase of Texas' Finest Designers. Gibbs Smith. p. 215. ISBN   978-0-9745747-0-7.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 "Collectors Editions signs Allison Lefcort. (Disney Fine Art gets new artist)". Art Business News. Next Step Media, LLC. September 1, 2003. Archived from the original on June 10, 2014. Retrieved December 23, 2013.
  8. ↑ "Hef in Art". Viewing America - Virginia.edu. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved December 23, 2013.
  9. ↑ "Collector's editions plans a year of Mickey events (Up Front)". Art Business News. Next Step Media, LLC. January 1, 2004. Archived from the original on June 10, 2014. Retrieved December 23, 2013.
  10. ↑ "Picture Gallery". Art Business News. Next Step Media, LLC. February 1, 2004. The announcement included a photo of Lefcort with collectors Sherri Rockower and Ben Gleeson[ dead link ]
  11. ↑ "New York (Picture Gallery)". Art Business News. Next Step Media, LLC. June 1, 2004. Archived from the original on June 10, 2014. Retrieved December 23, 2013.
  12. ↑ "D23 Expo Guidebook" (PDF). Walt Disney Info. pp. 1, 36. Retrieved 23 December 2013.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.