Inside a Painter’s Mythical NYC Studio of 55 Years

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A self-taught artist, John Willenbecher (b. 1936) initially set out to be an art historian. Born in the Lehigh Valley in Pensylvania, he attended Brown University and then he took three years of graduate studies in art history at NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts. After a six month wanderjahr, traveling in Europe, Willenbecher returned to New York resolved, to become an artist. Seeing The Art of Assemblage, a groundbreaking exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1961, solidified his determination. Willenbecher’s earliest works were greatly inspired by Joseph Cornell, and those compositions developed into the game-like constructions that landed Willenbecher his first exhibition in 1963 at Feigen+Herbert, New York. Donald Judd, reviewing the show, said “The sorts of meaning Willenbecher is dealing with are interesting. Insofar as art is philosophical this is relevant, believable philosophy, which, since it is in the art, takes art. For sales inquiries: [email protected]

Video Directed by Joshua Charow
Cinematography by Luke Piotrowski
Sound Mixing by Gunnar Nagle
Edited by Abraham Howard

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