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EDWARD MENEELEY (USA, Pennsylvania, Wilkes-Barre b. 1927 / act: Lehighton) |
Edward Meneeley is an American artist who works primarily in painting, sculpture and printmaking. He was born on 17 December 1927 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, United States. The only child of Edward Sr. and Louina Halter, Meneeley joined the Navy shortly after the Japanese invasion of Pearl Harbor. He spent most of the Second World War as a medic caring for paraplegics in Riverside California, where he befriended Marlon Brando during the filming of The Men, which took place on his ward. Upon discharge, Meneeley returned to Wilkes-Barre and attended the Murray School of Art and began making frequent trips to New York City. He was then recalled for the Korean War, where he served as a Navy photographer at the Philadelphia Naval Hospital. When released, Meneeley staged two solo exhibitions at the Donovan Gallery in Philadelphia before moving to Manhattan to attend New York's School for Visual Arts on his second installment of the GI Bill.A three-time recipient of grants from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation as well as the National Endowment for the Arts and British Arts Council, Meneeley staged his first one-person exhibition in New York in 1962. Prior to making his mark in the arts community as an artist, Meneeley was best known for his archival photographic record of the works of others, first as a staff photographer of Contemporary Slides and later as owner of Portable Gallery Press and ESM Documentations. His last four decades included several solo and group shows in New York, London, and other major cities including Athens, Edinburgh, Atlanta and Wilmington, North Carolina. Meneeley cut his teeth in the world of abstract expressionism and the New York School beginning in his early adulthood in the 1950s. It was then when he was flavored by rapport with the likes of Franz Kline and Frank O'Hara through their artistic exchanges at the legendary Cedar Tavern and the Artist's Club. He visited the studios and became friends with Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Helen Frankenthaler, Robert Motherwell, Hans Hoffman, Andy Warhol and Willem de Kooning, among others. His first hand experience with the New York School was furthered by his serving as archival photographer for major exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art under the supervision of Alfred Barr and Dorothy Miller as well as major shows at such cutting edge galleries as Leo Castelli, Andre Emmerich, Alan Stone, Eleanor Ward, Betty Parsons and Martha Jackson. Artworks by Meneeley are kept at the following public art institutions: The American College of Greece - ACG Art, Athens; Art Students League, New York; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Tate Gallery, London; Victoria & Albert Museum, London; University College, Dublin; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
Edward Meneeley currently lives and works in Lehighton, Pennsylvania.
[Megakles Rogakos 12/2009]
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
CASTELMAN, RIVA Printed Art: A View of Two Decades 1980 Museum of Modern Art Catalog
ENDICK, KENNETH Exhibit of this Master Artist Belies His Age 28/11/1997 The Express-Times
FALLON, BRIAN Ed Meneeeley at Dowling Street 24/11/1976 The Irish Times
GLUECK, GRACE Instant Art 21/11/1965 New York Times
HEYER, MARIGRACE Art Show Features Noted Local 26/05/2005 Times News
KENEDY, R.C. 10/1971 Art International
MELVILLE, ROBERT Jelly Babies 03/09/1971 New Statesman
MORGAN, ROY Misericordia Boasts a Striking Art Show 18/10/1989 The Times Leader
OUTWATER, MYRAMeneeley Show an Intriguing Testament to Travels, Friends, and Experiences 09/10/1999 The Morning Call
THOMAS, ROBERT 04/1971 Art and Artists
WOLFF, THEODORE The Many Masks of Modern Art 24/11/9181 The Christian Science Monitor
WOLFF, THEODORE Fine Edward Meneeley Show 10/02/1982 The Christian Science Monitor
