Lennart Anderson (U.S.,1928-2015) was an artist renowned for his deceptively complex paintings that transform common delicacies, mundane objects and a sitter’s calm interiority into phenomenological meditations on light, form and time. His paintings reveal a world of things we may overlook; however, with the tender innocence and humor of a haiku poet, he represents to us mysteries worthy of careful consideration. As he worked from observation during the height of non-objective painting, he often described his practice as “humble pie,” but he was unapologetic about his exhaustive search for an elusive quality of light and the nobility of his subject.
In collaboration with the Lennart Anderson estate and Leigh Morse Fine Arts, and originating from the New York Studio School, the Bo Bartlett Center will host one of the largest iterations of this first major survey featuring more than 40 works from both private and public collections, such as the Center for Figurative Painting, Brooklyn Museum, Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia, and Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.