Larry Connatser
Larry Stuart Connatser (born September 17, 1938 in Birmingham - died 1996) was a visual artist.
Connatser was the son of Roy and Evelyn Meyers Connatser of Birmingham. The family moved to Atlanta, Georgia while he was a child. He was devoted to piano lessons and attended public schools. He was valedictorian of his class and editor of the school newspaper at Northside High School and went on to earn a degree in English literature at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. While a student he and a friend opened a coffeehouse called "Tulip is Black".
Connatser became interested in painting while Austrian expressionist Eugene Bel-Bienne was teaching at Vanderbit. After graduating, he moved to Chicago, Illinois to take a job with an educational publisher, and began painting on the side. He was largely self-taught, but was never ignorant of art history as he pursued vibrant, interlocking compositions reminiscent of musical expression. He quit his job in 1963 to paint full time and had his first solo exhibit in 1965 at Chicago's St Xavier College. His work was included in the 69th Chicago and Vicinity Show at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1966 and was exhibited at the Newark Museum in New Jersey in 1967.
In 1971 Connatser returned to Georgia and worked prolifically, eschewing gallery representation in favor of direct sales to patrons and commission work. During his artistic career Connatser produced more than 2500 paintings and over 800 drawings. He was responsible for two 26-foot x 66-foot public murals adorning the MARTA station in Decatur, Georgia. He also executed a large library floor design and the original logo for the Savannah College of Art and Design.
His works are in the collections of the Savannah College of Art and Design, the Telfair Museum of Art, and Atlanta's High Museum of Art. Most of his works were donated by his estate to the Morris Museum of Art in Augusta, Georgia.
Connatser died from AIDS in 1996.
References
- Larry Connatser, Joan Cobitz, and Hollis Koons McCullough (2002) Southern Melodies: A Larry Connatser Retrospective. exhibition catalog. Savannah, Georgia: Telfair Museum of Art
- Klacsmann, Karen Towers (March 28, 2008) "Larry Connatser (1938-1996)" New Georgia Encyclopedia
- "Southern Eccentric: Paintings by Larry Connatser at the Morris Museum of Art" (April 24, 2009) Artdaily.org