Hedy O’Beil
Hedy O’Beil’s paintings are a sophisticated fusion of gestural abstraction and geometric form. Her work is distinguished by a signature chromatic language: vivid pinks, blues, and yellows interweave with ethereal greys and translucent whites, achieving a delicate harmony akin to an improvised jazz composition—bursts of unbridled vitality shaped by an underlying, restrained order.
Over the course of her career, O’Beil’s contributions to Abstract Expressionism were recognized with two awards from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, alongside honors from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the Frohheim Foundation. Her paintings have been exhibited more than 70 times at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and the Philadelphia Art Museum.
Beyond her accomplishments as a painter, O’Beil was also an active contributor to New York's art ecosystem. An incisive critic, lecturer, and guide, she bridged the worlds of creation and commentary with a unique voice. As artist and critic Maureen Mullarkey observed, "It is always fascinating to witness a critic’s creative work—the soul of their criticism, their preferences and convictions, often crystallize within their art. For nearly four decades, Hedy O'Beil helped illuminate the artistic landscape: from her writings during the golden years of Arts Magazine (1976–1985, under editor Hilton Kramer) to her continued influence through teaching, writing, and lecturing."
Hedy O’Beil 1928-2022
Born Henrietta Gersten-Liebowitz in New York in 1928, O’Beil received her early training at the Brooklyn Museum Art School under landscape painter Reuben Tam. She furthered her studies at the State University of New York Empire State Collegeand Goddard College, and trained at the Art Students League of New York under Ernest Fiene and Harry Sternberg. Residencies at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and Traphagen School of Design honed her mastery of form and color.
Deeply influenced by artists such as Georgia O'Keeffe and Patrick Henry Bruce, O'Beil remained dedicated to her practice well into her later years. For more than two decades, she lived and worked at Westbeth Artists Housing in Manhattan’s West Village—a storied community that has nurtured figures like Robert De Niro, Diane Arbus, and Merce Cunningham since the 1960s.
