GINO HOLLANDER American, August 4, 1924-August 27, 2015
Gino Hollander approached painting as an urgent act of expression, an unfiltered exchange between feeling and form in which gesture, intuition, and emotion converged. His work stands as a vivid record of a life lived with intensity, curiosity, and an unwavering commitment to the immediacy of art.
Gino Hollander (1924–2015) was an American painter celebrated for his emotive, gestural abstractions that often explored the human figure, equine forms, and the vitality of bulls. Working in a bold, fluid style reminiscent of Franz Kline, Hollander developed a distinct approach, his brushwork spontaneous yet deeply intentional, driven by what he described as “the immediacy of expression.” He believed painting to be a mirror of the self, a lifelong dialogue between inner experience and outward gesture.
Born on August 4, 1924, in Newark, New Jersey, Hollander attended Rutgers University before serving in the U.S. Army’s Mountain Division Ski Troop during World War II. His early professional years were spent as a documentary filmmaker throughout the 1950s, a career that sharpened his sense of narrative, movement, and emotional rhythm. In 1960, after forming close friendships with Abstract Expressionist painters at the legendary Cedar Tavern in New York, he committed fully to painting, a decision that would define the next five decades of his creative life.
Hollander’s canvases often blended abstraction with suggestion, allowing viewers to sense rather than decipher the stories behind his forms. His work evolved through periods spent in Spain and later Colorado and California, each environment influencing his palette and energy. Deeply connected to the creative process, he also wrote poetry and maintained extensive journals that reflected the philosophical undercurrents of his art.
He died on August 27, 2015, in Newport Beach, California, at the age of 91. Today, Hollander’s paintings reside in notable institutions including the Bristol City Museum, the Aspen Art Museum, and the City College of New York, and continue to be collected for their raw emotion, dynamic movement, and timeless exploration of the human condition.