Alfred Russell 1920 – 2007: Painter Who Repudiated Abstraction

The Chelsea Hotel community was saddened by the recent passing of long-time resident Alfred Russell. A part of the early abstract expressionist movement, Russell exhibited along side such well known painters as Willem De Kooning, Jackson Pollock, and Mark Rothko in Paris and New York in the fifties.   Becoming disillusioned with abstraction, he then turned to figurative painting, looking to the classical world for inspiration.  He taught art at Brooklyn College from 1946 until his retirement in 1976.
Russell’s first wife, painter Andress Descharnes, died in 1976.  Russell is survived by his daughter Elsie.  His second wife, Joan Silverstein, an author and classical scholar, still lives at the Chelsea.  (Source: http://www.parnasse.com/alfred.htm)  Photo of Alfred at the Chelsea by Claudio Edinger.