Paul Bellardo, The Artist

Paul Bellardo was born February 5, 1924 in Hartford, Connecticut. He demonstrated an early interest in painting and sculpture while enrolled in the Connecticut public school system. Upon his graduation, Paul became an arts and crafts instructor in the US Army - while stationed at the New Orleans Army Air Base from 1943-1946.

Next, Paul enrolled in Boston's School of the Museum of Fine Arts under the G.I. Bill. He graduated, and continued on at the school, as a ceramics instructor for the next ten years. During the 1950's, Paul was the recipient of the Clarissa Bartlett Traveling Scholarship for SMFA alumni, and was the first ceramist to receive the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Scholarship for study abroad.

Returning from Europe, Paul opened 'Galeria de Bellardo' in the heart of New York City's Greenwich Village. As demand for his work increased, Paul relocated to a larger gallery/studio space - the now infamous 'Bellardo Ltd.' at 100 Christopher Street location - where he produced ceramics and sculpture for the next twenty-eight years.

Paul's first one man show show was in 1954, at the DeCordova Museum of Fine Arts in Massachusetts. It was in Provincetown that Walter P. Chrysler purchased eighteen pieces of Paul's sculpture for inclusion in the permanent collection of the Chrysler Museum of Art. This success was quickly followed by shows at the Philadelphia Art Alliance, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the George Walter Vincent Smith Museum, and the Syracuse Museum of Fine Arts.

Aside from producing original works, Paul also experienced success as a commercial artist. His design became synonymous with postmodernism - in its temporal disorder, its disregard of linear narrative, and its mingling of fictional forms.

Most recently, several pieces of Paul's work were acquired by the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) - as part of their permanent collection.

Paul with NOMA Director, John Bullard.

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