Alfred Leslie

(1927 - )

Born in New York City in 1927, Alfred Leslie briefly served in the U. S. Coast Guard. Later, under the G.I. Bill, Leslie studied art from 1946 to 1947 with Tony Smith and William Baziotes at New York University, and later, at the Pratt Institute and the Art Students League. An outgoing personality with close ties to Abstract Expressionist artists, Leslie turned his studio into a lively gathering place for New York’s avant-garde. With his early work—forceful abstractions, ranging from large canvases to small collages—he soon made his name as a second-generation Abstract Expressionist, including Norman Bluhm, Al Held and Joan Mitchell.

Alfred Leslie's paintings are in the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; Kuntshalle, Basel, Switzerland; Museu de Arte Moderna, Sao Paulo, Brazil; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; and the Museum of Modern Art and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City. Now in his eighties, Leslie continues to live and work in New York City.