Artist

Philip Pavia

born Bridgeport CT 1911-died New York City 2005
Also known as
  • Phillip Pavia
  • Phillip G. Pavia
Born
Connecticut, United States
Died
New York, New York, United States
Active in
  • New York, New York, United States
Biography

Born in Connecticut, studied in Europe, settled in New York. Sculptor who went back to carving stone, after experimenting with bronze, because of his interest in "bouncing light."

Charles Sullivan, ed American Beauties: Women in Art and Literature (New York: Henry N. Abrams, Inc., in association with National Museum of American Art, 1993)

Luce Artist Biography

Philip Pavia, son of a master stonecutter, grew up in New York and attended the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design and the Art Students League. Pavia made large-scale abstract carvings and assemblages, and carved eighteen tons of marble in less than four years. He loved controversy and arguments with other artists, and was a founding member of The Club, an influential group of abstract expressionist artists who met weekly to discuss art. In the 1960s, although he was “proud to be an Abstract Expressionist,” he experimented with more representational art, including portrait heads of famous figures in pop culture.