Joel Levinson Retrospective; Photography, Architecture, Paintings, Drawings
JOEL LEVINSON ∞ RETROSPECTIVE
Photography Architecture Paintings Drawings
NICHOLS BERG GALLERY CHESTNUT HILL PHILADELPHIA, PA
June 3rd through June 25th, 2011
BACKGROUND: A 1963 graduate of the School of Fine Arts at the University of Pennsylvania, Joel Levinson has been practicing architecture since 1966, and interior design since the mid-70s. Although he began to photograph, paint, draw and sculpt in his early teens, photography has become his primary art. Mostly self-trained in the fine arts, Joel has exhibited his work at the Philadelphia Art Alliance where he founded the Architectural League of the Philadelphia Art Alliance, at a gallery at the University City Science Center, where he designed two office buildings, and at other less formal venues.
PHOTOGRAPHY: A large portion of this retrospective is devoted to Joel’s photography, which has been an abiding passion for almost 60 years. Like his architecture, his most successful images capture a larger-than-life presence of the subject while imbued with a spirit of repose. The interaction of water and light are continuing themes, as is geometry ⎯both Euclidian expressions as well as more subtle and mysterious manifestations. Joel photographs the architectural projects produced by his firm, has photographed a valuable collection of studio glass, and loves to shoot portraits, landscapes, and the work of other architects and artists. Aaron Levinson, Joel’s music producer son, has used his father’s photographs for record album covers. Most recently, Joel was asked to photograph a ‘royal’ wedding at a chateau in northern France and then went on to do studies in Bali and Singapore. A writer of fiction and non-fiction, Joel often writes several paragraphs about his best photographs and includes these when he sells photographs or gives them as gifts.
DRAWINGS: In his youth, Joel took a course or two from time to time at the Allens Lane Art Center, The Fleisher Art Memorial, The Rittenhouse Town art classes, and The New Hope Fine Arts Workshop, where he also assisted in teaching sculpture. He loved How To Draw books, which he studied in bed when he was home sick from grammar school. Perspectives, nudes, and portraits were his favorite subjects. He has always enjoyed sketching people and uses his drawing skills to render architectural projects such as his thesis at Penn ⎯Air and Space Museum for Washington, DC, and a Shakespearean theatre in Fairmount Park.
PAINTINGS: Joel’s paintings are few and far between. This exhibit includes an abstraction of a beach house he designed, a landscape he did in his teens (after 80 minutes, the bees drove him back home), and a still life he also did in his youth. The call of the easel, however, is beckoning him once again and he has numerous themes, based on his photographs, that he hopes to find time to paint.
ARCHITECTURE AND INTERIOR DESIGN: In the 1974 book, ARCHITECTURE IN PHILADELPHIA, A GUIDE, by Teitleman and Longstreth, Joel’s first residential project ⎯the 1966 Brasler Residence in East Falls⎯was illustrated with the comment: “ Joel Levinson, while just beginning his practice, is part of no school but is a source of tasteful and inventive works.” His reputation was raised a notch in 1969 when his strikingly original Arbor House in Melrose Park, PA won a national design award. The house, which is entirely surrounded by trellises, has continued to attract recognition in national and international professional journals. Joel’s drawings, models, and correspondence are now being collected by The Architectural Archives at the University of Pennsylvania, where they will be preserved for future research. A book to be published by The Archives titled, The Houses of Joel Levinson, is in the planning phase. Joel and his very capable, long-term senior associate, Monroe Buckner, were active recently in the design of the Elfant-Wissahickon Real Estate offices on Germantown Avenue. JLA has also been working jointly with Jeff Krieger’s office on a facelift of the Chestnut Hill Hotel, where two new entrances designed by Joel are in the early stages of construction. The work of Joel Levinson Associates can be seen at the firm’s website
