Cy Twombly (1928 - 2011)
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Born in Lexington, Virginia, Edwin Parker "Cy" Twombly, Jr. was an American artist known for his large-scale, calligraphic-style graffiti paintings. At the early age of 12, Twombly took private art lessons with the Spanish modern master Pierre Daura. After graduating from Lexington High School in 1946, Twombly attended Darlington School in Georgia. He also studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, from 1948 to 1949, and at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, from 1949 to 1950. In 1951, Twombly was encouraged to attend Black Mountain College, where he studied with Franz Kline, Ben Shahn, and Robert Motherwell. Twombly's first solo exhibition was arranged by Motherwell in the Samuel M. Kootz Gallery in New York in 1951. After receiving a grant, which enabled him to travel to countries such as North Africa and Spain, Twombly moved to Virginia to teach at the Southern Seminary and Junior College.
In 1953, Twombly served as a cryptologist in the U.S. army, an occupation that highly marked his artistic style. Fascinated with tribal art and the bold, expressionist strokes of Franz Kline, Twombly used painterly language to invoke primitivism. He soon developed a gestural drawing technique and assembled his sculptures from discarded objects. Twombly was a recipient of many awards, including the "Internationaler Preis fur bildende Kunst des Landes Baden-Wurttemberg" (1987) and the Praemium Impariael (1996).
In 1953, Twombly served as a cryptologist in the U.S. army, an occupation that highly marked his artistic style. Fascinated with tribal art and the bold, expressionist strokes of Franz Kline, Twombly used painterly language to invoke primitivism. He soon developed a gestural drawing technique and assembled his sculptures from discarded objects. Twombly was a recipient of many awards, including the "Internationaler Preis fur bildende Kunst des Landes Baden-Wurttemberg" (1987) and the Praemium Impariael (1996).