Al Loving; abstract painter
Hyfler/Rosner
BYLINE: By MARGALIT FOX
NY Times
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Al Loving, a prominent abstract painter and collage artist
whose work explored the ways color, space, line and form
play out in vibrant counterpoint, died on June 21 at
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan. He was
69 and lived in Kerhonkson, N.Y.
The cause was complications of lung cancer, his wife, Mara,
said.
Mr. Loving first came to public attention with a solo show
at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1969. Crisp and
hard-edged, his early paintings were studies in pure
geometric form, often depicting arrangements of cubes. His
later works were more fluid: layered constructions of heavy
paper that had been painted with bright acrylics, cut into
circles, whorls and ribbons, and arranged in multilayered
compositions.
Reviewing an exhibition of Mr. Loving's constructed pieces
in The New York Times in 1974, Peter Schjeldahl wrote, ''As
dynamically composed reliefs -- as 'wall pieces' -- they
energize the space around them, seemingly almost to be
caught in the act of moving across the wall.''
It was striking for an African-American of Mr. Loving's
generation to make his reputation in abstract art, a genre
from which most black artists were discouraged. In the
1960's and 70's, when he entered the field, African-American
artists were under great public pressure to depict the black
experience in their work, pushing them toward figurative
art.
Alvin Demar Loving Jr. was born in Detroit on Sept. 19,
1935. His father, Alvin Demar Loving Sr., was an educator
and part-time sign painter who was later a dean at the
University of Michigan School of Education. His mother, the
former Mary Helen Greene, was a quilter, as was his
grandmother. As a boy, Alvin used to sit at their feet as
they sewed, watching their layered constructions take shape.
Mr. Loving earned a bachelor's degree in fine arts from the
University of Illinois in 1963 and a master's in fine arts
from the University of Michigan in 1965. He moved to New
York City in 1968. From 1988 to 1996, he taught at City
College in New York.
Mr. Loving's first marriage, to the former Eleanor Jean
Randles, ended in divorce. His second wife, the former Wyn
Riser, died in 1990. Besides his wife, the former Mara
Kearney, he is survived by a brother, Paul, of Detroit; a
sister, Pamela Loving Copeland of Flint, Mich.; a son from
his first marriage, Alvin Demar Loving III of Long Beach,
Calif.; two daughters from his second marriage, Alicia
Loving of Manhattan and Anne Loving Bethel of Eleuthera, the
Bahamas; and eight grandchildren. A daughter from Mr.
Loving's first marriage, Lauri Loving Hurd, died in 2001.
Mr. Loving's work is in the permanent collections of the
Whitney, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Studio Museum
in Harlem, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Detroit
Institute of Arts, among others.
His most recent commission, for the Metropolitan
Transportation Authority, is on view at the Broadway-East
New York subway station in Brooklyn. Completed in 2001, it
comprises 70 brightly colored stained-glass windows and a
large mosaic wall.
Hyfler/Rosner
Al Loving: Touched people around the world with art
June 24, 2005
BY ERIN CHAN
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
Like one of the spirals he was so known for painting, Al
Loving's life spread continuously outward in concentric
rings, touching and teaching and awing and astonishing more
people than an art museum could contain.
Mr. Loving's influence spread in art exhibitions far beyond
his hometown of Detroit, to places like Brooklyn and Buenos
Aires, Argentina; Myrtle Beach, Fla., and Mozambique.
Yet he did not forget the place where he grew up. One of his
public art creations -- a mural made of Pewabic tile --
still sparkles at the Millender Center stop for the People
Mover in downtown Detroit.
Mr. Loving, who used his paintbrush and personality to warm
people all over the planet, died of lung cancer Tuesday at
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.
He was 69.
"Al was one of the most innovative artists," said George
N'Namdi, Mr. Loving's art dealer and the owner of three art
galleries nationwide, including one in midtown Detroit. "He
was one of the most well-loved artists that I know. He was
always helping everyone."
Mr. Loving, born in Detroit in September 1935, became
enamored with art while watching his father, Alvin Demar
Loving, paint billboards and signs, recalled his brother,
Paul D. Loving, 67, of Detroit.
"When we were kids, anything he looked at, he could draw,"
said Paul Loving.
After graduating from Cass Technical High School in Detroit,
Mr. Loving took a few drawing classes at what is now the
College of Creative Studies before serving a couple of years
in the U.S. Army, Paul Loving said.
Mr. Loving then graduated with a bachelor's degree in fine
arts from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and
a master's degree, also in fine arts, from the University of
Michigan before moving to New York to pursue painting.
Said Paul Loving: "He was one seriously beautiful person."
Aside from his brother, Mr. Loving is also survived by his
wife, Mara Kearney; daughters Alicia Cortez-Loving and Ann
Loving; son Alvin Demar Loving III, and a sister. Memorial
services are being planned in Detroit and New York, but
details have not yet been decided.
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Playmate? (Miss Jan.,1979)