Harry Carmean rare "classical" drawings

These are some of Carmean's most beautiful drawings which were always done from his imagination. They are done in a more formal style with carefully thought out compositions reminiscent of the Baroque and Mannerist periods of art. A number of them ended up as paintings, such as the top one, titled "The Poem" which also became a print (which is currently available at the Poetic Eye on ebay.). Most of these drawings were done in the 1970's and have been sold so they are extremely hard to locate these days.

About Lorser Feitelson

Lorser Feitelson was one of California's true master painters who worked in both a figurative and abstract style. He was also Harry Carmean's mentor and friend for over thirty years and so there is a strong tie stylistically between the two artists.  Feitelson originally lived and studied art in Paris, France and then moved over to the United States in the early 1900's with his wife Kitty (also an artist) who appears in his work of that time (second painting from the top is of her and her sister). He later moved to the Los Angeles area and married Helen Lundeburg who was also a painter and who became just as as well known as Feitelson.

His earliest work was inspired by the Italian Futurists where Feitelson uses simplified moving lines as can be seen as the third painting from the top. Although the kinetic works appear abstract they are actually based on the lines of the human figure, which was also the case with some of his later abstract works. He moved on to create some stunning Nazarine inspired works of peasants, then on to some Baroque and Mannerist inspired works in the 1930's and 40's. It is this period that influenced Harry Carmean the most in terms of subject matter, the strong use of darks and lights and a painterly style.

In the 1940's Feitelson started exploring more abstract forms of expression resulting in his Magical Space Form series and hard edge "Boulder" series. He was the founder of the Hard-edge movement in Los Angeles of which his wife Helen Lundeburg and Eva Slater (another Poetic Eye artist) were core members. He died in 1978, but his legacy continues, since aside from being a master artist, he was a well known teacher and historian as well. The paperback book shown above is out of print but still available if you look on the internet and it has some excellent reproductions of Feitelson's figure drawings.

About Miriam Slater

Miriam Slater (1952-) Born in Los Angeles, California studied painting at California State University Fullerton, graduating in 1975. From 1978-9 she received several California Arts Council Artist in Residence grants during which she taught art and mural making at all levels throughout the public school system. In 1979, she attended Art Center College of Design and intensively studied drawing and painting with Harry Carmean, whom she later married. Aside from her paintings, she is also known for a variety of painted objects including furniture, letter boxes, musical instruments, teacups and jewelry.

Slater is the daughter of Eva Slater, a Hard Edge artist and grew up surrounded by lots of art, including that of Lorser Feitelson and Helen Lundeburg (who are also periodically carried in this gallery). Slater's work is in a number of prominent collections including that of Jack Nicholson, Henry Kissenger, Quincy Jones, Brooke Astor, Jeff Bridges, Anjelica Huston, Cedars Sinai Medical Center, the Los Angeles County Art Museum and Experience Music Project in Seattle. To learn more about Miriam Slater visit miriamslater.com and the Miriam Slater blog.