Peter Paone, 89, of Mt. Airy, a renowned artist, educator, and mentor whose work has been exhibited in some of the world’s most prestigious museums and galleries, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., died May 14 at Jefferson Abington Hospital after a brief illness.
Paone’s work recently had been exhibited at Woodmere where the Chestnut Hill museum displayed 30 of the artist’s gouaches, images Paone called “Snowpeople.” The paintings were shown as part of the grand opening of Woodmere’s new Frances M. Maguire Hall for Art & Education.
“Peter really became a legend in his own lifetime,” said William Valerio, chief executive officer and director at Woodmere, calling Paone “an amazing artist and a good friend.
“Peter was a very generous, loving, unpretentious person,” Valerio said. “He really appreciated his roots in South Philadelphia, and he never tried to be a fancy person. He was memorable, creative and original and one of the greatest draftsmen I’ve ever known. He also contributed so much to the city’s art scene as a teacher. I have met so many of the leading figures in today’s Philadelphia’s art scene who turned out to have been his students at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.”
Valerio said he first met Paone through Anne d’Harnoncourt, director and CEO of the Philadelphia Museum of Art from 1982 to 2008, when Valerio was assistant director for administration there. “Anne recognized him as a legend in the art world of the city. So it was natural when I got here at Woodmere to have a relationship with him,” he said.
A new series of 40 still lifes by Paone was also on exhibit in “Peter Paone: Not so Still Life” from Oct. 11 last year to March 15 this year at the Michener Art Museum in Doylestown. According to arttnewsnow.com, “Paone [in the Michener exhibit] combines seemingly disparate objects and animals like cakes, cats, asparagus, skeletons, birds and fish into intriguing arrangements.”
“For me, a still-life painting is much more than a composition of household goods. It’s a gathering from a journey of life lived,” Paone told museum officials.
Chief Curator Laura Turner Igoe said of the exhibit, “These tantalizing still lifes from Peter Paone delight the eye with bright colors, fantastical creatures, and imaginative cakes and table settings. They also encourage us to engage with the world around us, ask questions, and think about new possibilities.”
Paone had been a major figure in the Philadelphia arts community as an artist, collector and teacher for more than 50 years. In 1980, he established the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts’ printmaking department, where he taught from 1978 to 2009, and served as the department’s first chairperson. He was also vice president of the Print Club (now the Print Center) for six years, and he served on Woodmere’s collection management committee.
In a podcast, “Being an Artist,” in 2021 with acclaimed Germantown artist Tom Judd that explores the lives of artists, Paone said he never once considered being anything but an artist.
“When I was two years old,” he said, “my mother said I’d be scribbling on the window to make marks. At age 4, I was trying to trace reflections on the window. They were my first drawings. I was a first-generation child in the 1940s. No one bought you crayons. They were 10 cents a box, and that money went to food instead. So I used a lead pencil on a paper bag. My professional career started when I was 13. I had a studio in my parents’ basement.
“An oil cloth was my table covering. The Philadelphia Board of Education had a major art department. Some wonderful artists came out of World War II and worked for the Board of Ed. I was selling paintings for $3 to $5 each, 24” x 30” — I was everywhere. I’d go to lectures and exhibit openings at the Philadelphia Art Museum, Philadelphia Art Alliance” and more.
Paone also created numerous ornate frame designs. His expertise in cutting, carving and gilding frames was garner from his job at age 13 at Papale Brothers’ frame shop in South Philadelphia.
At age 16, Paone was invited to join the Barnes Foundation, and got a four-year scholarship from the Board of Education. His whole last year of high school was spent at the Barnes. He also took classes at the Fleisher Art Memorial and Bartram High School. From 1954 to 1958, he studied at the Philadelphia Museum College of Art, which later became the University of the Arts.
“I realized the only way I would make it was to be everywhere and be seen everywhere,” he said. “I was fortunate. In my second year of art school, I became Ben Shawn’s assistant. I had five drawings in a student exhibit. Ben Shawn came to the school with Robert Motherwell to give a lecture. Ben saw my drawings and bought all five for $10 apiece. He asked me to work for him. He said, ‘I will pay you nothing, but you can keep everything you learn.’ I met so many great people in his studio like [composers] Igor Stravinsky and Gian Carlo Menotti … During COVID I had no distractions. I worked seven days a week. I had nowhere to go. I survived it very well. We were fine.”
Tom Judd told the Local last week, “Peter Paone was a force of nature, an artist who was full of ideas and a willingness to express them. A tenacious, courageous and inspired talent. And a good friend. I will miss him.”
Paone is survived by his wife of 50 years, Alma Alabilikian, his brother John (Terri) and countless family members, admirers, colleagues and friends. Donations may be made to the Permanent Endowment Fund, St. Sahag and St. Mesrob Armenian Church in Wynnewood. A memorial event will be held at Woodmere at a later date.
Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com.
