Rico Lebrun

Lebrun was born in 1900 in Naples, Italy.[4] He initially studied banking and journalism before taking art classes at the Naples Academy of Fine Arts from 1919 to 1921.[4] Following this he went to Florence, where he studied as a muralist.[4] He received practical training at a stained-glass factory.[5]

After emigrating to the United States in 1924,[5] he worked as a commercial artist in Pittsburgh and New York for several years. In the early 1930s he returned to Italy where he studied the frescoes of Luca Signorelli.[4] He moved to California in 1936. He exhibited in New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Toronto. In the mid-1950s, his work focused on the experience of the concentration camps at Buchenwald and Dachau.[4] He is best known for his series of paintings on "The Crucifixion."[6]

In 1940, Lebrun taught at the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles, then at the Jepson Art Institute, also in L.A., from 1947-50, directing it from 1951-54 when it closed. In 1958 Lebrun was a visiting lecturer of art at Yale University.[7] He also taught at UCLA, Tulane University.and the Art Students' League of New York.[4]

LeBrun was survived by his filmmaker son David (b. 1944),[8] his widow, Constance, his mother, Assunta Lebrun, brother, Eugenio and sister, Maria.[4]

• John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship (1936–37)[9]
• John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship (1937–38)[9]
• First Prize, "Abstract & Surrealist American Art", The Art Institute of Chicago (1947)
• Norman Wait Harris Silver Medal, The Art Institute of Chicago (1947)
• First Prize, "Artists of Los Angeles & Vicinity", Los Angeles County Museum of Art (1948)[10]
• Purchase Prize, "Illinois National Exhibition of Contemporary Painting", University of Illinois (1949)
• Second Prize, "American Painting Today", The Metropolitan Museum of Art (1950)[11]
• Award of Merit of the American Academy of Arts & Letters for "Outstanding achievement in the past five years in paintings" (1952)[4]
• Temple Gold Medal, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (1953)[12]
• Lippincott Prize, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (1962)[13]
• Elected into the National Academy of Design (1962)[14]
• Purchase Award, "Third Biennial National Print Exhibit", Pasadena Art Museum (1962)[12]
• Joseph Pennell Award, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (1963)[12]
• John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship (1962–63)[9]

Lebrun's papers are held in the Smithsonian Archives of American Art.[15] His work is included in numerous collections, including:

• the Museum of Modern Art, New York,[16]
• the Los Angeles County Museum of Art,[17]
• the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York[18]
• the Whitney Museum of American Art,[19]
• The Jewish Museum, New York,[20]
• the North Carolina Museum of Art,[21]
• the Benton Museum of Art,[22]
• the Santa Barbara Museum of Art,[23]
• the Vincent Price museum of Art,[24]
• the Harvard Art Museum,[25]
• the Museo ItaloAmericano,[26] and
• the Claremont Museum of Art.[27]
• the Collection of Modern Religious Art, Vatican Museums[28]

• Rico Lebrun
• Tobey C. Moss Gallery