A successful illustrator for Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, Richard Lindner took up painting in his 1950s, drawing on expressionistic exaggeration, Surrealist fantasy, and Cubist manipulations of form. He became known for erotic and enigmatic renderings, first based on memories from his childhood in Germany and later inspired by the vulgar, fetishistic aspects of life in New York. His harsh colors and highly defined outlines exaggerated the garishness of the streetwalkers, circus women, and men in uniform that became his favorite subjects. Overtones of Berlin’s cabaret culture of the 1930s infuse his style. Although his work shares some aspects of Pop art, he avoided the association.

Lindner's work appears in public collections including the Smithsonian in Washington D.C.; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC; the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis; The Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid; the Tate Gallery in London; and the UKFine Arts Museum of San Francisco. 

Courtesy of Robert Fontaine Gallery