Al Held

American abstract expressionist painter (12 October 1928, Brooklyn, New York — 27 July 2005, Todi, Italy). Al Held is particularly renowned for pioneering "Hard-edge paintings" (also described as "post-painterly abstraction," "new abstraction," "concrete expressionism," and "cool art"). He developed this ground-breaking style in the late 1950s, alongside Kenneth Noland (1924—2010) and Morris Louis (1912—1962), as a reaction to their disillusionment and dissatisfaction with "gestural painting" (and the abundance of mediocre artists and copycats devaluing the movement). Al Held was Yale University's professor from 1963 to 1980.