April Kingsley
Born(1941-02-16)February 16, 1941
New York City, US
DiedJune 13, 2023(2023-06-13) (aged 82)
Wellfleet, Massachusetts, US
Known forArt critic, museum curator
Spouses
Children1
Websiteaprilkingsley.com

April Kingsley (February 16, 1941 – June 13, 2023) was an American art critic and curator known for her support of abstract expressionism in New York City, her work on the catalogue raisonné of Franz Kline, and her book about the rise of abstract expressionism, The Turning Point. In addition to her work as an art critic, art historian, and author, Kingsley was an educator and a curator especially of figurative- and abstract-expressionist work.[1][2]

Early life

Kingsley was born on February 16, 1941, in Queens, New York City to Kingdon Edward Kingsley and Grace Helene Consilia Haddock.[3] She grew up in Queens' Whitestone neighborhood,[3] and Winthrop, Maine.

Kingsley graduated from Flushing High School in 1958.[4] Beginning in 1960, she attended Queens College School of Nursing,[3] after which she worked as a nurse in Manhattan for a short time.[3] Later, she attended New York University, where she studied with H. W. Janson, and earned her Master of Fine Arts from the Institute of Fine Arts in 1966.[4] Kingsley eventually earned a PhD in art history at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.[3]

Career

Kingsley worked as a nurse for a brief time but devoted her career to supporting the abstract expressionism movement in New York, curating influential exhibitions, and writing extensively on abstract expressionism, figurative expressionism,[5] and the movements’ notable artists. She was a curator at The Museum of Modern Art and The American Craft Museum in New York City, the Pasadena Art Museum, and the Kresge Art Museum in East Lansing, Michigan.[4][6] She curated several exhibitions in and around New York. During the 1970s, she wrote numerous articles, reviews, and criticism for Artforum, Art in America, Art International, Art News, Newsweek, The Soho Weekly News, and The Village Voice, as well as profiles and catalogues for artists and galleries.

Kingsley contributed to the catalogs of more than 75 artists and wrote major monographs on several artists, including Jean Miotte and Alice Dalton Bown.[7] In 1989, her essay "Abstract Expressionism in Context" was included in the book Three Hundred Years of American Paintings from the Montclair Art Museum Collection.[8][9] In 1992, she published her first book, titled The Turning Point.[10] In 2013, she published Emotional Impact, which discussed her involvement with the traveling exhibitions hosted by the Western Association of Art Museums during the 1970s.

Influence

Her book, The Turning Point: The Abstract Expressionists and the Transformation of American Art, 1992, was a month-by-month study of the developments in New York in 1950 when nearly all the key artists were in New York and becoming aware of their burgeoning influence on the new abstract expressionism movement.[11]

In addition to her early support for the abstract- and figurative-expressionism movements, Kingsley launched a major traveling exhibition called “Afro-American Abstraction” which turned the spotlight on a number of African-American artists including Jack Whitten, Mel Edwards, and Edward Clark, among others. Her writing on African-American art was cited by fellow critics[12] and featured in "Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power," the book accompanying the exhibition at the Tate Modern.[13] Her presence in and influence on the art worlds in New York City and Cape Cod, Massachusetts, impacted the careers and legacies of many notable artists, such as Mary Shaffer, Sandy Skoglund, Franz Kline, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, Adolph Gottlieb, Michael Loew, Arturo Alonzo Sandoval, and Boaz Vaadia.[14]

The artist Pat Lasch referred to Kingsley as "a visionary" who "promoted artists of color and women when no one would touch them," and James Little cited her impact as having "helped change the course and conversation forever."[4]

Kingsley's papers from the 1960s until 2017 are stored at the Archives of American Art research centre within the Smithsonian Institution.[15]

Personal life

Kingsley resided most of her adult life in New York City and Cape Cod.

Kingsley's first marriage was to Walter McMenamin[16] in 1961, though the couple later divorced. She was briefly married to composer Max Schubel.[16] In 1973, she married painter and author Budd Hopkins.[17] The marriage produced Kingsley's only child, the artist Grace Hopkins.[18] Kingsley and Hopkins divorced in 1991.[3] She later married Donald Spyke, who died in 2020.[19]

Kingsley died from Alzheimer's disease in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, on June 13, 2023, at the age of 82.[3][4]

Publications

  • Afro-American Abstraction (1982)[20]
  • "Abstract Expressionism in Context," in Three Hundred Years of American Paintings: The Montclair Art Museum Collection (1989)[21]
  • The Turning Point: The Abstract Expressionists and the Transformation of American Art (1992)[22]
  • The Paintings of Alice Dalton Brown (2002)[23]
  • Suitcase Paintings: Small Scale Abstract Expressionism, co-written with John Corbett, Jim Dempsey, and Thomas McCormick (2007)[24]
  • Emotional Impact: American Figurative Expressionism (2013)[25]
  • The Soul of a Nation Reader: Writings By and About Black American Artists, 1960-1980[26]

References

  1. ↑ Engagement, University Outreach and. "News". Arts and Culture at MSU.
  2. ↑ Giuliano, Charles. "Rethinking Abstract Expressionism: Beyond the Canon - Berkshire Fine Arts". www.berkshirefinearts.com.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Art Historian, Critic, and Curator April Kingsley Dies at 82". The Provincetown Independent. 2023-06-21. Retrieved 2023-07-01.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Genzlinger, Neil (June 29, 2023). "April Kingsley, Curator Who Championed Unsung Artists, Dies at 82". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
  5. ↑ Giuliano, Charles. "Emotional Impact: American Figurative Expressionism - Berkshire Fine Arts". www.berkshirefinearts.com.
  6. ↑ Sturner, Lynda (August 9, 2013). "Grace Hopkins curates gallery in footsteps of artist parents in Provincetown". Wicked Local. Retrieved July 1, 2023.
  7. ↑ "A Finding Aid to the April Kingsley and Budd Hopkins papers, circa 1945-2017". www.aaa.si.edu. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  8. ↑ "Three Hundred Years of American Painting : The Montclair Art Museum Collection by Kingsley, April, Cikovsky, Nicolai, Jr., Miles, Ellen G., Baigell, Matthew: Very Good (1989) | Better World Books". www.abebooks.com. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  9. ↑ "Books". www.aprilkingsley.com. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  10. ↑ "The Turning Point" (PDF). Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  11. ↑ "Nonfiction Book Review: The Turning Point: The Abstract Expressionists and the Transformation of American Art". PublishersWeekly.com. August 3, 1992. Retrieved July 1, 2023.
  12. ↑ Morrison, Keith (1978). "Art Criticism: A Pan-African Point of View". New Art Examiner. Retrieved July 1, 2023.
  13. ↑ "Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power – Exhibition at Tate Modern". Tate.
  14. ↑ "Essay by April Kingsley". www.vaadia.com.
  15. ↑ "April Kingsley and Budd Hopkins papers, circa 1945-2017". Smithsonian's National Zoo. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  16. 1 2 "April Kingsley, Curator Who Championed Unsung Artists, Dies at 82". The New York Times. 29 June 2023. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
  17. ↑ Fox, Margalit (August 28, 2011). "Budd Hopkins, Abstract Expressionist Artist, Dies at 80". The New York Times.
  18. ↑ "A Finding Aid to the April Kingsley and Budd Hopkins papers, circa 1945-2017". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 2023-07-02.
  19. ↑ "April Kingsley, curator who championed unsung artists, dies at 82". artdaily.cc. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
  20. ↑ Kingsley, April (1982). Afro-American Abstraction. The Association, San Francisco, California. OCLC 54201594.
  21. ↑ Three hundred years of American painting : the Montclair Art Museum collection. Montclair Art Museum. 1989. ISBN 9781555950132.
  22. ↑ Kingsley, April (1992). The turning point: the abstract expressionists and the transformation of American art. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 9780671638573.
  23. ↑ "The Paintings of Alice Dalton Brown book by April Kingsley". ThriftBooks. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  24. ↑ Suitcase paintings : small scale Abstract Expressionism. Chicago: Art Enterprises. 2007.
  25. ↑ Kingsley, April (2013). Emotional impact : American figurative expressionism. Michigan State University Press. ISBN 9781611860849.
  26. ↑ The Soul of a Nation Reader: Writings By and About Black American Artists, 1960-1980. Gregory R. Miller & Co. 2021. ISBN 9781941366325.
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