# Carl Holty

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{{Short description|German-American painter}}
{{Infobox artist
| name          = Carl Holty
| image         = Carl Holty with painting.jpg
| image_size    = 250px
| caption       = Holty with one of his paintings, ca. 1950, unidentified photographer. Carl Holty papers, [Archives of American Art](/source/Archives_of_American_Art), [Smithsonian Institution](/source/Smithsonian_Institution)
| birth_name    = Carl Robert Holty
| birth_date    = {{birth date |1900|6|21|mf=y}}
| birth_place   = [Freiburg, Germany](/source/Freiburg%2C_Germany)
| death_date    = {{death date and age |1973|3|22|1900|6|21|mf=y}}
| death_place   = [New York, New York](/source/New_York%2C_New_York), United States
| known_for     = [Painting](/source/Painting)
| training      =
| movement      = [Abstract](/source/Abstract_art)
| notable_works =
| patrons       =
| awards        = 2010 Wisconsin Visual Art Lifetime Achievement Award<ref name="WI">{{cite web|year=2006 |title=Carl Robert Holty (1900–1973) |publisher=Museum of Wisconsin Art |url=http://www.wisconsinart.org/archives/artist/carl-robert-holty/profile-71.aspx |accessdate=7 July 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007213104/http://www.wisconsinart.org/archives/artist/carl-robert-holty/profile-71.aspx |archivedate=2011-10-07 }}</ref>
}}

'''Carl Robert Holty''' (1900–1973) was a [German](/source/demographics_of_Germany)-born American [abstract](/source/abstract_art) painter. Raised in Wisconsin, he was the first major abstract painter to gain notoriety from the state.<ref name="WI"/> [Harold Rosenberg](/source/Harold_Rosenberg) described Holty as "a figure of our art history," known for his use of color, shape and form.<ref name="Spanierman">{{cite web | year=2011 | title=BIOGRAPHY – Carl Holty (1900–1973) | work=Gallery Selections | publisher=Spanierman Modern | url=http://www.spaniermanmodern.com/09_Gallery-Selections-Aug/holty040132.htm | accessdate=7 July 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120316235552/http://www.spaniermanmodern.com/09_Gallery-Selections-Aug/holty040132.htm | archive-date=2012-03-16 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Personal life and education==

Carl Holty was born in 1900 in [Freiburg, Germany](/source/Freiburg%2C_Germany). His parents, Americans, lived in Freiburg while his father, a [doctor](/source/physician),<ref name="AAAOral1">{{cite web | author= | year=1964 | title=Oral history interview with Carl Holty, 1964 Dec. 8 | work=Oral history interviews | publisher=Archives of American Art | url=http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-carl-holty-11685 | accessdate=7 July 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111114132403/http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-carl-holty-11685 | archive-date=14 November 2011 | url-status=live }}</ref> studied specialty [medicine](/source/medicine) since 1899. His father was German, gaining citizenship in the United States in 1906.<ref name="AAAOral1"/> Shortly after his birth, the family moved back to [Milwaukee, Wisconsin](/source/Milwaukee%2C_Wisconsin), where they lived in the German district with his grandparents.<ref name="AAA"/> The Holty family then moved to the [countryside](/source/countryside) near [Green Bay](/source/Green_Bay%2C_Wisconsin) where his father practiced medicine, before returning to Milwaukee around 1906.<ref name="AAAOral1"/> Holty's grandfather introduced him to art by taking him to visit local [art galleries](/source/art_galleries). Around the age of twelve, Holty began taking lessons with a local German painter. As a teenager, he started drawing [cartoons](/source/cartoons) and became interested in [poster art](/source/poster_art).<ref name="AAA"/> He attended [University School of Milwaukee](/source/University_School_of_Milwaukee), graduating high school within two and a half years. Holty attended [Marquette University](/source/Marquette_University) as a pre-med student.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Grant Wingate |first=Zenobia |title=Carl Holty |url=https://www.caldwellgallery.com/artists/carl-holty/biography |website=Caldwell Gallery Hudson}}</ref> Eventually he decided to attend art school.<ref name="AAAOral1"/><ref name=":0" /> That summer he enrolled at the [Art Institute of Chicago](/source/Art_Institute_of_Chicago), eventually attending classes at the [Parsons School of Design](/source/Parsons_School_of_Design). He returned to Milwaukee in 1923 and opened a [portrait](/source/portrait) painting [studio](/source/art_studio).<ref name="AAA">{{cite web | author= | year=2007 | title=Carl Holty papers, circa 1860s–1972, (bulk 1940–1967) | work=Finding Aid | publisher=Archives of American Art | url=http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/carl-holty-papers-9019/more | accessdate=7 July 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120929071621/http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/carl-holty-papers-9019/more | archive-date=29 September 2012 | url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1925 Holty married {{Who|date=August 2011}} and honeymooned in Europe, living there for the next ten years, first in [Munich](/source/Munich) and then [Switzerland](/source/Switzerland). In Switzerland Mrs. Holty sought treatment for her [tuberculosis](/source/tuberculosis), dying in 1930. He moved to Paris that year, before returning to the United States in 1935 and living in [New York City](/source/New_York%2C_New_York). In New York he remarried Elizabeth{{Who|date=August 2011}} and they had a daughter Antonia.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/03/24/archives/carl-holty-dies-abstract-painter-taught-at-brooklyn-collegeart.html|title=Cain Holty Dies; Abstract Painter|date=1973-03-24|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-02-13|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190213123627/https://www.nytimes.com/1973/03/24/archives/carl-holty-dies-abstract-painter-taught-at-brooklyn-collegeart.html|archive-date=2019-02-13|url-status=live}}</ref> He taught at [Brooklyn College](/source/Brooklyn_College) from 1950 until 1970. During that time he also was a visiting instructor at the [Art Students League](/source/Art_Students_League_New_York), [Washington University in St. Louis](/source/Washington_University_in_St._Louis), and [University of Louisville](/source/University_of_Louisville). Upon his retirement from Brooklyn College he was awarded the title of [professor emeritus](/source/professor_emeritus). Holty died on March 22, 1973, in New York City.<ref name="AAA"/>

==Artistic career==
[[File:'Bread and Fruit', oil on Masonite painting by Carl Holty, 1948, private collection.jpg|thumb|right|''Bread and Fruit'', oil on [Masonite](/source/Masonite)  painting by Carl Holty, 1948, private collection]]
In 1926, while living in Munich, Holty originally planned to attend the [Royal Academy](/source/Academy_of_Fine_Arts%2C_Munich),<ref name="AAAOral1"/> only to train under [Hans Hofmann](/source/Hans_Hofmann). Hofmann's ideas about [space](/source/Negative_space), [color](/source/color), and shape would transform Holty's work, with Holty's work becoming more abstract as time went on.

<blockquote>''"No one had ever talked to me about conceptual drawing, about knowing what I'm looking at from the point of view of my tactile knowledge as well as my visual knowledge. Hofmann did. And the world opened up just like that."''<br />- Carl Holty on Hans Hofmann's influence<ref name="SAAM1">{{cite web | author= | year= | title=Carl Holty | work=Search collections | publisher=Smithsonian American Art Museum | url=http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artist/?id=2282 | accessdate=7 July 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120924074618/http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artist/?id=2282 | archive-date=24 September 2012 | url-status=live }}</ref></blockquote>

From 1930 to 1935 he lived in [Paris](/source/Paris), exhibiting his work to good reception. There he met [Robert Delaunay](/source/Robert_Delaunay) and joined Delaunay's group ''Abstration-Création'' as their<ref name=":0" /> second American member.<ref name="AAA" /><ref name=":0" /> His work was published in the group's magazine and became associated with [Cubism](/source/Cubism) and [Neo-Plasticism](/source/Neo-Plasticism). His Paris works have been compared to the paintings of [Juan Gris](/source/Juan_Gris) and [Pablo Picasso's](/source/Pablo_Picasso) [Synthetic Cubism](/source/Synthetic_Cubism).<ref name="SAAM1"/>

Upon returning to the United States, he found artist representation in New York City and became involved, once again, with Hans Hofmann and [Vaclav Vytlacil](/source/Vaclav_Vytlacil) as well as [Stuart Davis](/source/Stuart_Davis_(painter)), whom he had known in Paris. Vytlacil invited Holty to participate in discussions which led to the formation of the [American Abstract Artists](/source/American_Abstract_Artists), which Holty would eventually come to [chair](/source/chairman), retaining his membership until 1944. During this time, he moved away from Cubism and started to experiment with [Biomorphism](/source/Biomorphism). In the 1930s he used [tape](/source/Masking_tape) to give strong edges to forms, also reworking and [overpainting](/source/overpainting) sections, as seen in his work ''Gridiron'' (1943–1944). Between 1945 and 1948 he was represented by the [Samuel M. Kootz](/source/Samuel_M._Kootz) Gallery. He continued to explore shapes and form, and by the 1960s [contours](/source/contour_line) had disappeared from his work, being replaced with subtle toned-down colors.<ref name="SAAM1"/>

Holty served as [artist in residence](/source/artist_in_residence) at [the University of Georgia](/source/University_of_Georgia), [University of Florida](/source/University_of_Florida), [University of California at Berkeley](/source/University_of_California_at_Berkeley), [University of Wisconsin](/source/University_of_Wisconsin) and the [Corcoran School of Art](/source/Corcoran_School_of_Art). He also wrote a book, with [Romare Bearden](/source/Romare_Bearden), titled ''The Painter's Mind'', published in 1969.<ref name="AAA"/>

===Legacy and reception===
thumb|right|''Untitled'', oil on Masonite painting by Carl Holty, c.1942, private collection
In 1977 the Carl Holty Papers were donated to the [Archives of American Art](/source/Archives_of_American_Art) by Charles Byrne.<ref name="AAA"/> On his role as a Wisconsin artist, Andrew Stevens stated in 1995 that "Holty's zeal for non-objective art was more closely identified with the younger group of American painters in the East. His artworks including his prints are among the first by a Wisconsin artist to come to grips with the tide of abstract art that spread from Europe to America at the beginning of the 20th century."<ref name="WI"/>

==Selected works==

*''Gridiron'', 1943–1944; [Smithsonian American Art Museum](/source/Smithsonian_American_Art_Museum)<ref name="SAAM2">{{cite web | author= | year=2006 | title=Gridiron | work=Search collections | publisher=Smithsonian American Art Museum | url=http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=10707 | accessdate=7 July 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120924074623/http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=10707 | archive-date=24 September 2012 | url-status=live }}</ref>
*''Untitled'', 1939; [Amon Carter Museum](/source/Amon_Carter_Museum)<ref name="Amon">{{cite web | author= | year=2008 | title=Carl Holty | work=Collections | publisher=Amon Carter Museum | url=http://www.cartermuseum.org/artworks/27410 | accessdate=7 July 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928002212/http://www.cartermuseum.org/artworks/27410 | archive-date=28 September 2011 | url-status=dead }}</ref>
*''Untitled'', 1950; [Kemper Art Museum](/source/Kemper_Art_Museum)<ref name="Kemper">{{cite web | author= | year= | title=Carl Holty | work=Collections | publisher=Kemper Art Museum | url=http://kemperartmuseum.wustl.edu/collection/explore/artwork/747 | accessdate=7 July 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929072133/http://kemperartmuseum.wustl.edu/collection/explore/artwork/747 | archive-date=29 September 2011 | url-status=live }}</ref>
*''Untitled'', series, 1951; [Brooklyn Museum](/source/Brooklyn_Museum)<ref name="Brooklyn">{{cite web | author= | year= | title=Carl Holty | work=Collections | publisher=Brooklyn Museum | url=http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/artists/4754/Carl_Holty | accessdate=7 July 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017182823/http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/artists/4754/Carl_Holty | archive-date=17 October 2012 | url-status=live }}</ref>

==Notable exhibitions==

*''Carl Holty: The World Seen and Sensed'', 1980–81; [Milwaukee Art Museum](/source/Milwaukee_Art_Museum)<ref name="WI"/>
*''Annual Exhibition of Contemporary Painting'', 1945; [Whitney Museum of American Art](/source/Whitney_Museum_of_American_Art)
*''American Painting Today'', 1950; [Metropolitan Museum of Art](/source/Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art)
*''Abstract Painting and Sculpture in America'', 1951; [Museum of Modern Art](/source/Museum_of_Modern_Art)
*''Contemporary American Painting and Sculpture'', 1963; [Krannert Art Museum](/source/Krannert_Art_Museum)<ref name="Artnet">{{cite web | author= | year=2011 | title=Carl Robert Holty | publisher=artnet | url=http://www.artnet.com/artists/carl%20robert-holty/ | accessdate=7 July 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022175558/http://www.artnet.com/artists/carl%20robert-holty/ | archive-date=22 October 2012 | url-status=live }}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==Further reading==

*Kaplan, Patricia. ''Carl Holty: Fifty Years, A Retrospective Exhibition''. New York: The City University of New York (1972).
*Larsen, Susan C. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1556919 "The American Abstract Artists: A Documentary History 1936–1941."] ''Archives of American Art Journal'': 14.1 (1974) 2–7.
*Mecklenburg, Virginia M. ''The Patricia and Phillip Frost Collection: American Abstraction 1930–1945''. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press for the National Museum of American Art (1989).

===Writing by Holty===

*Holty, Carl Robert. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1571868 "The Mechanics of Creativity of a Painter: A Memoir."] ''Leonardo'': 1.3 (1968). 243–252.

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holty, Carl}}
Category:German abstract painters
Category:American abstract painters
Category:Artists from Milwaukee
Category:Brooklyn College faculty
Category:Art Students League of New York faculty
Category:University of Louisville faculty
Category:Washington University in St. Louis faculty
Category:German cubist artists
Category:American cubist artists
Category:De Stijl
Category:1900 births
Category:1973 deaths
Category:Painters from Wisconsin
Category:20th-century American painters
Category:American male painters
Category:University School of Milwaukee alumni
Category:Emigrants from the German Empire to the United States

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Carl Holty](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Holty) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Holty?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.