1960s - 1970s Social Commentary Paintings by Renee Radell    

Renee Radell, at that time a Michigan resident, first attracted the attention of the art world’s inner circles in 1952. Then Director of The Detroit Institute of Art, Dr. Edgar P. Richardson, had followed her rapid rise in visibility since her graduation from the Detroit Society of Arts & Crafts. Having made a prior purchase of a Radell watercolor for the museum’s permanent collection, in 1961 Richardson commented in the catalogue for her second one-person show:

“Expressiveness has matured into passion. Subtlety has grown into power. Her art today is work which one looks at carefully and with the most serious attention.”

A review in the Detroit News covered the event, portending a flurry of critical acclaim:

“Radell's first solo show disclosed a painter of great potential; her second show fulfills every promise made then. They [the paintings] are so personal, so unconventional, that they cannot fail to move the viewer.”
- Detroit News 1961

Radell soon made it to the New York stage for her powerful contribution to social commentary painting during the 1960s. A series of one-person exhibitions in New York galleries created a stir among international art critics:

“These are powerful paintings in the Expressionist tradition of Joseph Levine and Ben Shahn. However, Radell expresses a humanism and a pathos that is more universal and more moving than the older forms of social commentary.”
- ArtsMagazine 1967

“Explosive canvases…..almost an ethereal beauty.”
- New York Sunday Times 1967

“In her work, pathos and poetry grow in exalting each other.”
- La Revue Moderne 1968

Through the Vietnam War era, Radell continued to use the brush to record her piercing view of human essence, causing Dr. Russell Kirk, quintessential man of letters and biographer of T.S. Eliot, to predict in 1974:

“Her high talent with the brush transmutes a moment’s experience into a timeless image. From our milieu she extricates those truths about the human condition, which renew mind and conscience. Her pictures will be preserved as brilliant period pieces.”
- Detroit News Magazine 1974

Radell moved to New York City in 1985 and has taught at Parsons School of Design and at the Cleveland Art Institute’s fine arts program in Lacoste, France. She is represented in several museums and extensively among international collectors.