Al Held Foundation

Al Held’s Collage paintings marked a period of stylistic transition in the artist’s life. Pictured here, this 1957 piece encompasses Held’s painting against pasted illustrations from a 1957 LIFE magazine feature on Hearst Castle.  On view in Los Angeles through June 18! Al Held Untitled, 1959 Oil, acrylic, charcoal, and collage on paper, mounted on canvas 99 3/4 x 93 1/2 x 1 1/2 inches 253.4 x 237.5 x 3.8 cm (AH33)

We recently had the pleasure of working with artist and photographer Saul Chernick to document some of the spaces at Al Held’s historic home and studio (Boiceville, NY) where the foundation is headquartered. While we continually document Held’s artwork, it was a nice change of pace to turn the lens toward the spaces around us. Saul spent a day at the foundation, documenting Held’s studio (slide 2) and former residence, including the library (slide 1) and living room (slide 3). Photos by Saul Chernick of Radiant Gradient Photography, courtesy the photographer. Artwork in slide 2: Al Held, Noah’s Focus I, acrylic on canvas, 132 x 300 inches. Artwork in slide 3: Al Held, Duccio VI (working painting), acrylic on canvas, 48 x 84 inches. All artwork © Al Held Foundation / Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York. @saulchernick @radiantgradientphotography #AlHeld #AlHeldFoundation

Now in LA – Al Held’s first solo presentation in the city in over 50 years.  Circle and Triangle, 1964 Acrylic on canvas, in four parts 144 x 336 x 2 1/2 inches 365.8 x 853.4 x 6.3 cm Untitled, 1959 Oil, gouache, and collage on paper mounted on canvas 100 3/8 x 98 3/4 x 1 1/2 inches 255 x 250.8 x 3.8 cm Images: Installation views, Al Held: Epic Abstraction, Los Angeles, 2026

Opening soon in Los Angeles AL HELD EPIC ABSTRACTIONS Made between 1961 and 1967, the Alphabet Paintings radically eliminated expressionist brushwork in the search for increasingly potent elemental forms. In each, Held stages a monumental letterform—or an apparent fragment of one—so enlarged that it seems to fill past the picture’s edges. Pictured 1-AL HELD, The “N”, 1963, Acrylic on paper mounted on canvas, 13 3/4 x 16 15/16 inches 2- Eva Hesse standing in front of “N” 1963 3- MoMA collection - Al Held, The Big N, 1964, Synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 9’ 3/8” x 9’ (275.2 x 274.3 cm) Credit Mrs. Armand P. Bartos Fund

On permanent view at the Boca Raton Museum of Art (Florida) is Held’s “Mantegna’s Edge” (1983), a monumental acrylic-on-canvas mural spanning 55 feet. It was originally commissioned in 1982 for the lobby of the Southland Center in Dallas, Texas. The title references Renaissance painter Andrea Mantegna’s murals in Mantua, which embody the notion that when a mural becomes the wall, the architecture becomes secondary. In 1991, “Mantegna’s Edge” was subsequently installed at the Boca Raton Museum of Art in the museum’s Grand Hall, which was purpose-built to house it. Now with enhanced seating in the hall, visitors are encouraged to take in the work’s complexity and epic proportions. Al Held, Mantegna's Edge, 1983, acrylic on canvas, 173 x 634 inches. © Al Held Foundation / Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York. Installation view courtesy Boca Raton Museum of Art. @bocamuseum #AlHeld #AlHeldFoundation

Al Held painting the “I” of ‘I and We,’ 1967, in his Boiceville in 1967 @alheldfoundation #alheld

This week we had the pleasure of witnessing Koyolzintli bring her new show to life in Al Held’s former drawing studio. Curated by Jess Wilcox and organized in partnership with River Valley Arts Collective, “How to Play a Broken Bone” opens this Saturday, April 18. Join us for a tour at 12pm or 2pm (link in bio). Engaging the artist’s core themes of material memory, cosmology, and embodied knowledge, her most recent body of work emerges from an investigation into a small, three-inch Chancay flute (slide 2). Inspired by the flute’s intricate ornamentation and its relationship to celestial mapping, Koyolzintli created three large-scale graphite drawings, which are presented with the flute and a recording of the artist playing it. The show also features several large ceramic whistling vessels that she developed through research into Pre-Columbian sound systems. The multi-chambered instruments are designed to hold water and produce a range of low and high tones through vibration and air flow. A collection of small handmade ceramic wind and percussive instruments are showcased alongside drawings that visualize these same instruments being performed at specific sites under distinct temporal, lunar, and weather conditions. Koyoltzintli is an interdisciplinary artist from the Pacific coast of Manabí, Ecuador. Please use the link in bio to sign up for a tour on April 18, May 4, May 17, or June 5. The tour on May 17 will include a brief performance in which the artist activates the whistling water vessels. @rivervalleyartscollective @alheldfoundation @koyoltzintli @jesskawilcox @avbpov @olgadekalo

River Valley Arts Collective is pleased to inaugurate our 2026 season with Koyoltzintli's solo exhibition, How to Play a Broken Bone. Curated by Jess Wilcox and staged in Al Held’s former drawing studio, the artist's newest body of work emerges from an investigation into a small, three-inch Chancay flute. The exhibition is on view April 18 through June 5, 2026 and features works on paper that reference the flute's ornamentation and its relationship to celestial mapping. Also included is a series of large ceramic instrumental forms the artist developed through extensive research into Pre-Columbian sound systems alongside drawings that visualize the instruments performed at specific sites under distinct temporal, lunar, and weather conditions. RSVP with a link in bio. The Al Held Foundation is not open to the public, however pre-scheduled and by-appointment guided tours are available.

Last week we had the pleasure of hosting a pop-up exhibition by advanced art students from nearby Onteora High School. This beloved annual event is the culmination a multi-step partnership with art teacher Shelly Hamilton. Each fall, several classes tour the Al Held Foundation to learn about Held’s life and artistic legacy. Upon returning to the classroom, they create a new artwork that responds in some way to the visit. Their point of inspiration could be a visual component of Held’s style, an aspect of his philosophy or working methods, or even something about the architecture or history of the buildings. The students return to the foundation in late winter to showcase their new work in a group exhibition in the Drawing Studio, learning valuable skills by participating in the installation process. During the reception, each student speaks about their work to an enthusiastic audience of parents, teachers, and school administrators. We’re very grateful to Shelly Hamilton and the Onteora Central School District for supporting this fruitful educational experience. Photo credit: Josh True @onteoracsd #AlHeld #AlHeldFoundation

We’re delighted to share that Al Held’s woodblock print “Pachinko” (1989) is on view at Berggruen Gallery in San Francisco as part of the current “Editions and Works on Paper” show. This colorful print was created in collaboration with master woodblock printer Tadashi Toda in Kyoto and published by Crown Point Press. Swipe to see a few behind-the-scenes photos of Held working on “Pachinko” at the printer’s studio in Kyoto, 1989. With Berggruen and Crown Point practically next-door neighbors, this exhibition signifies a homecoming of sorts for Held’s print. It’s presented along with the work of 15 other artists, including Vija Celmins, Richard Diebenkorn, Spencer Finch, Philip Guston, Peter Halley, Ann Hamilton, Ellsworth Kelly, and Kiki Smith, to name a few. Catch the exhibition before it closes March 5. Slide 1: Install view, “Editions and Works on Paper,” Berggruen Gallery, 2026. Held’s print on the left appears with work by Ellsworth Kelly (center) and Kiki Smith (right). Photo credit: Berggruen Gallery. Slides 2, 3, 4: Snapshots of Al Held and Tadashi Toda working on “Pachinko” in Kyoto, 1989. Artwork details: Al Held, Pachinko, 1989, color woodcut on Echizen Kozo paper, 26 5/16 x 33 5/16 inches. © Al Held Foundation / Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York. @berggruengallery @crownpointpress #BerggruenGallery #CrownPointPress #AlHeld #AlHeldFoundation

In 1964, Al Held was featured in ARTnews’s famous “Paints a Picture” series documenting artists making one specific work step by step. Irving Sandler’s text and Rudy Burckhart’s photographs provided a behind-the-scenes look at Al working on the development of “Genesis” (1963) in his Fifth Avenue studio in New York. In Burckhart’s photo, both gestural brushstrokes and concrete shapes are visible in the evolution of one of the largest works in Al’s Alphabet series, which grew out of experimentation with letter forms. A Swiss American photographer and filmmaker, Burckhardt was an active contributor to the New York art scene as a documentarian and participant in the onset and evolution of the New York School. Al Held Paints a Picture, ARTnews, 1964. Photo by Rudy Burckhardt. Artwork details: Al Held, Genesis, 1963, acrylic on canvas, 114 x 336 inches. © Al Held Foundation / Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York. @artnews #AlHeld #AlHeldFoundation #AlHeldArchives #RudyBurckhardt #IrvingSandler ARTnews

Al Held’s 1989 woodcut “Pachinko” is now part of the permanent collection at the Syracuse University Art Museum. Syracuse alum and printmaker John Thompson ’72 has gifted 48 works of art to the museum, opening an exciting array of educational opportunities. The donation includes pieces by Trenton Doyle Hancock, Niho Kozuru, Robert Freeman and Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, among other artists. We are delighted to have Syracuse join the growing number of academic museums with a work by Al Held in their collections. This particular print was created in collaboration with master woodblock printer Tadashi Toda in Kyoto for Crown Point Press. Al Held, Pachinko, 1989, color woodcut on Echizen Kozo paper, 26 5/16 x 33 5/16 inches. © Al Held Foundation / Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York. @suartmuseum @crownpointpress #AlHeld #AlHeldFoundation