BIO
Alvin Sella was born in West Hoboken, New Jersey, of Italian parents.
He did his professional studies at Yale School of Fine Arts, Art Students League of New York, Columbia University School of Arts, Syracuse University College of Fine Arts, University of New Mexico Department of Art, and independent study and travel in Mexico.
In 1946 his work was accepted by the Director of the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, and he was given a one-man show there. From 1948 to 1961, he was Artist-in-Residence and head of the Art Department of Sullins College in Bristol, Virginia.
In 1960 he was nominated (HON.) Fellow of the International Institute of Arts and Letters, and is life member of the Arts Student League of New York.
In 1999, The University of Alabama Society of the Fine Arts, awarded Professor Sella Distinguish Arts Career Award. He has painted primarily in Mexico, New York, Virginia and now lives in Alabama where he is a Professor of Art at the University of Alabama.
REVIEWS & COMMENTS:
Sella has fertile imagination, variety, and is a colorist of first quality.
-- Carlos Merida Director of Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City
As an instigator of “Atmosphere,” he is to be much admired and is significantly
and intelligently indebted to contemporary Mexican painting.
-- Stuart Preston, New York Times
In eliminating much, in using color tastefully and in giving each work balance
and understanding its realism, Mr. Sella proves he has gone far towards achieving
recognition and popularity.
-- Carlyle Burrows, New York Herald Tribune
As might be expected, Sella’s work is highly individual, even though it is closely
integrated to his time. In general, most of his canvases are turbulent abstractions,
using geometric curves and crosses within a framework of horizontal and vertical
defining edges. His color, though brilliant, has a thoroughly tasteful restraint.
That is, there is a logic and a pattern in his use of color.
-- Richard F. Howard, Birmingham Museum of Art, 1969
Sella possesses that unique gift of an ebullient personality tempered
with a somer, serene and incisive approach to his paintings. It seems
he is deliberately endeavoring to control his painterly passions in order
to achieve this combination of subtlety and power. One has to look
twice to grasp the inner fire and imagination inherent sub-rosa in his
oeuvre; but it is there!
-- Edward C. Califano, Director Galerie Internationale New York City, 1969
Despues de ver lo que pintaba Alvin Sella en su primera mocedad,
Puedo ahora asegurar, sin necesidad de tenerla presente, que en
La actualidad sigue teniendo un merito superior. Porque Sella
Es un artista excepcional, dotado para sacar imagenes de mundos
Poeticos poco conocidos port otros artistas, y crear con ellas un
Arte que no es de ayer o de hoy. Que es de siempre, pues parte
De las raices profundas del sentimiento y de la inteligencia.
After seeing what Alvin Sella painted in his early youth, I can
Now be sure without the need to have them face to face, that
His painting continues to have a superior quality. Because Sella
is an exceptional artist, endowed to bring out the poetic images of worlds
little known to other artists, and to create with them the art not of
yesterday or today but of all times, since it stems from the profound
foundations of his perception and intellect.
-- Felipe Cossio del Pomar is the founder of the Escuela Universitaria de Bellas
Artes, Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico.
Alvin Sella was born in West Hoboken, New Jersey, of Italian parents.
He did his professional studies at Yale School of Fine Arts, Art Students League of New York, Columbia University School of Arts, Syracuse University College of Fine Arts, University of New Mexico Department of Art, and independent study and travel in Mexico.
In 1946 his work was accepted by the Director of the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, and he was given a one-man show there. From 1948 to 1961, he was Artist-in-Residence and head of the Art Department of Sullins College in Bristol, Virginia.
In 1960 he was nominated (HON.) Fellow of the International Institute of Arts and Letters, and is life member of the Arts Student League of New York.
In 1999, The University of Alabama Society of the Fine Arts, awarded Professor Sella Distinguish Arts Career Award. He has painted primarily in Mexico, New York, Virginia and now lives in Alabama where he is a Professor of Art at the University of Alabama.
REVIEWS & COMMENTS:
Sella has fertile imagination, variety, and is a colorist of first quality.
-- Carlos Merida Director of Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City
As an instigator of “Atmosphere,” he is to be much admired and is significantly
and intelligently indebted to contemporary Mexican painting.
-- Stuart Preston, New York Times
In eliminating much, in using color tastefully and in giving each work balance
and understanding its realism, Mr. Sella proves he has gone far towards achieving
recognition and popularity.
-- Carlyle Burrows, New York Herald Tribune
As might be expected, Sella’s work is highly individual, even though it is closely
integrated to his time. In general, most of his canvases are turbulent abstractions,
using geometric curves and crosses within a framework of horizontal and vertical
defining edges. His color, though brilliant, has a thoroughly tasteful restraint.
That is, there is a logic and a pattern in his use of color.
-- Richard F. Howard, Birmingham Museum of Art, 1969
Sella possesses that unique gift of an ebullient personality tempered
with a somer, serene and incisive approach to his paintings. It seems
he is deliberately endeavoring to control his painterly passions in order
to achieve this combination of subtlety and power. One has to look
twice to grasp the inner fire and imagination inherent sub-rosa in his
oeuvre; but it is there!
-- Edward C. Califano, Director Galerie Internationale New York City, 1969
Despues de ver lo que pintaba Alvin Sella en su primera mocedad,
Puedo ahora asegurar, sin necesidad de tenerla presente, que en
La actualidad sigue teniendo un merito superior. Porque Sella
Es un artista excepcional, dotado para sacar imagenes de mundos
Poeticos poco conocidos port otros artistas, y crear con ellas un
Arte que no es de ayer o de hoy. Que es de siempre, pues parte
De las raices profundas del sentimiento y de la inteligencia.
After seeing what Alvin Sella painted in his early youth, I can
Now be sure without the need to have them face to face, that
His painting continues to have a superior quality. Because Sella
is an exceptional artist, endowed to bring out the poetic images of worlds
little known to other artists, and to create with them the art not of
yesterday or today but of all times, since it stems from the profound
foundations of his perception and intellect.
-- Felipe Cossio del Pomar is the founder of the Escuela Universitaria de Bellas
Artes, Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico.