Philip Pavia facts for kids

Philip Pavia (1911-2005) was an important American artist. He was known for his unique sculptures and for helping artists talk about their ideas. He helped create the New York School of Abstract Expressionism. This group of artists changed the art world.

Pavia helped move the center of modern art from Paris to New York City. He did this by starting The Club. He also created, edited, and published an important art magazine called It Is: A Magazine for Abstract Art. Many famous artists like Picasso and Peggy Guggenheim had this magazine in their collections. The Club also inspired famous art shows and essays.

Philip Pavia's Sculptures

Philip Pavia first studied architecture at Yale University. Then, in 1931, he went to the Art Students League of New York. There, he met his lifelong friend, Jackson Pollock, who was also an abstract expressionist artist. For a few years, Pavia studied art in New York and traveled in Europe.

In 1937, Pavia moved to New York City for good. He worked as an artist for the WPA Federal Art Project. He said this was a great way for him and his friends, like Willem de Kooning, to learn and practice art every day.

By 1946, Pavia started showing his art professionally. He was seen as a very original artist. His first big art show was in the 1960s. It featured "tumbling blocks of coloured stone" that looked like Willem de Kooning's paintings. These works were very unique.

In 1971, Pavia explained his art to the New York Times. He said he liked to make light come out of the stone. He tried to carve so that light would seem to shimmer along the sculpture. He believed that color and light made the marble look real.

Pavia was famous for his large abstract sculptures called assemblages. He also made sculptures that looked like people or things. Some of his biggest works are in major public places. In 1971, he helped sculpt 10 pieces for New York City's first Sculpture Symposium. This event was at the Cooper Hewitt Museum of Design.

In 1973, he showed a six-foot-tall bronze head of President Kennedy at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Other big sculptures include Wind, Sand and Stars. This 10-foot-high marble sculpture was at New York's Cloisters Museum. Another piece, Ides of March, stood outside the New York Hilton for almost 25 years. This sculpture had "four large, rough-hewn diamond shapes."

Pavia's marble sculpture "East Pediment, Sun-up" was shown at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. in 1966. It then traveled to other museums before finding its permanent home in Buffalo, New York.

Pavia also created large abstract figures. In 1982, he made "imaginary portraits" of many members of The Club. A critic from the New York Times said these sculptures looked very much like the people. In Pavia's last show in 2005, he showed "12 colossal terracotta heads." These heads were compared to the work of Alberto Giacometti.

The Club: A Place for Art Ideas

Philip Pavia was known as a strong voice in the art world. In 1948, he started The Club. He wanted artists, writers, and thinkers to meet regularly and discuss art. They had lectures, member-only talks, and other events twice a week.

The Club started after World War II. Many famous European modern artists came to New York City for safety. Pavia said there were about 30 "geniuses walking in the streets." These included Piet Mondrian, Max Ernst, and Marcel Duchamp. Even Matisse visited. These artists moved to uptown New York, and American artists decided to create their own art scene.

The Club was like a school, a theater, a gallery, and a dance hall. People discussed art and also performed. There were concerts, dances, and plays. Poets, composers, painters, sculptors, filmmakers, and critics all met there. They argued about art ideas during panel discussions. Over time, artists like Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning changed their styles. After many talks at The Club about expressionism and abstraction, these ideas mixed. This led to America's first major art movement, Abstract Expressionism.

Pavia once said that there was "blood on the floor every night" because of the intense art debates. These discussions covered art and philosophy. People who were not members, like Hannah Arendt and John Cage, also joined in. The Club brought together artists who made abstract art and those who made expressionist art. This helped make the term "abstract-expressionism" popular. Artists like Elaine de Kooning, Willem de Kooning, Barnett Newman, and Robert Motherwell also attended meetings. Pavia believed that without these meetings, artists might have become lonely and stopped creating.

It is. A Magazine for Abstract Art

In 1956, Pavia left The Club. In the spring of 1958, he published the first issue of It is. A Magazine for Abstract Art. This magazine was another way for artists to share ideas. It was used to discuss new ideas and to support both new artists, like Allan Kaprow and Robert Rauschenberg, and famous ones.

Pavia used the magazine to support art forms that were not getting enough attention. For example, in 1959, he wrote a letter asking for more support for artists who created art that looked like real things. He felt these artists needed more help than abstract artists.

Many well-known artists supported the magazine. Elaine de Kooning helped spread the word about it. A critic named Phong Bui said that even though there were only six issues, It is is a very important record of American art from that time. The last issue focused only on sculpture.

Interviews

• Bui, Phong. "The Club IT IS: A Conversation with Philip Pavia." Feb-March 2001: The Brooklyn Rail.
• De Antonio, Emile. "Painters Painting" (1973, 116 min).
• Hooten, Bruce. "Oral history interview with Philip Pavia, 1965 Jan. 19." Archives of American Art.
• Potter, Jeffrey. "Meet Your Neighbor." Springs, NY, 1989. LTV Public Access Archives, East Hampton, New York. (1989, 29 min).
• Tatge, Catherine. "Robert Motherwell & The New York School: Storming the Citadel." (1991, 55 min).

Where to See Philip Pavia's Art

You can find Philip Pavia's sculptures in many public art collections:

• Albright-Knox Art Gallery
• Hofstra University Museum Outdoor Sculpture Collection
• National Academy of Design, The
• Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Museo dei Bozzetti (Pietrasanta, Italy)
• Museo della Scultura Contemporanea Matera (MUSMA, Italy )
• Renwick Gallery at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
• Whitney Museum of American Art

Awards and Honors

Philip Pavia received many awards for his art:

• Honorary doctorate, Pennsylvania Academy of Painting and Sculpture, 1995
• Selected as one of the Artists of the Millennium for an exhibition at the United Nations, 1999
• Pollack-Krasner Foundation Grant, 2000
• Artists Equity Honoree, 2002
• Guggenheim Award for Sculpture, 2004

Philip Pavia's Family Life

Pavia was married to Natalie Edgar, who was a painter, art critic, and writer. They had two sons. His older son, Luigi, passed away in 2012. His younger son, Paul, is also a sculptor, following in his father's footsteps.