Schnabel, Julian (shnä`bəl), 1951–, American artist, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. He studied art at the Univ. of Houston and the Whitney Museum. A neoexpressionist, he became a superstar of the 1980s art world after his first one-man show in New York (1979). Schnabel is particularly noted for large paintings that incorporate broken crockery, e.g., The Walk Home (1985), and for other kinds of work that flout high-art conventions, such as paintings on velvet or linoleum. He has also executed a number of sculptures and is well known for his pronouncements on art. In the 1990s he branched out into writing and singing and also became a successful filmmaker, directing Basquiat (1996) and Before Night Falls (2000).

Bibliography

See his memoir, C.V.J.: Nicknames of Maitre D's and Other Exerpts from Life (1987).

Schnabel, Julian

(born Oct. 26, 1951, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. painter. He studied at the University of Houston and the Whitney Museum of American Art. In the 1980s he was a leading exponent of Neo-Expressionism. His works exhibit an ambivalent emotional tone, jarring colour harmonies, and a rough-hewn style; his best-known works incorporate shards of broken plates. Though he has enjoyed considerable success, there has been controversy regarding both the quality of his art and his aggressive self-promotion. Starting in the 1990s, Schnabel began to pursue film. He received widespread critical acclaim for his direction of Before Night Falls (2000), a film about Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas.