The George Cup & Steve Elliott Research Center for the Minimal Art

Pressinformation

July 22. 2008

George Cup 1930 - 2008
George Cup, of New York City, NY, died on Sunday (July 20, 2008) in New York, where he had lived for 65 years. He was 78.

Cup was born on March 25, 1930 in Hesslingen (today Wolfsburg) in Germany. He emigrated with his family from Germany before the war in 1936. With Steve Elliott he collaborated in sculpture, painting and experimental film. In the mid1960s, Cup developed a reputation as an important innovator in the field of Minimalist art, with his “Square” series and animation film work.
In 2008 the work of George Cup & Steve Elliott will be presented for the first time in Germany in two exhibitions taking place in the cities of the artists births. Opening in September at the Kunstverein Wolfsburg, birthplace of George Cup (born Georg Anton Kupsch * 1930 - 2008) the work will then travel to the Staedtische Gallery Nordhorn, birthplace of Steve Elliott (born Stephan Berliott *1933 -1986). The retrospectives, two years in planning, recall the work and lives of these two artists. Both artists emigrated to the USA with their families prior to the second world war and met as students at the Art Students League of New York. They remained connected for over 27 years, though Elliott's life was cut tragically short and Cup's dramatically altered. After serving nearly 20 years in a New York State prison charged with the murder of Steve Elliott in 1986, George Cup was exonerated and released in January 2007.
The George Cup & Steve Elliott Research Center was founded shortly after the tragic death of Steve Elliott in 1986. From 2006 to the death of George Cup in July 2008 the Research Center has focused upon the art of this outstanding artist duo and has brought their practice to wider public attention. The Research Center has collected roughly 1200 letters, photographs, diaries, sketches, scrapbooks, business records and other documentation that supports the study of the lives of George Cup & Steve Elliot in both the United States and Germany. The Center has illuminated the history of George Cup & Steve Elliot through collecting, preserving, and making available for study this documentation. The George Cup & Steve Elliott Research Center has comprehensively gathered new information about the life and work of this important artist duo, which has been long overdue.

A memorial service will not be held. Please contact the Research Center for photos: service[at]georgecupresearchcenter.com

The George Cup Research Center
The George Cup & Steve Elliot Research Center
323 West, 39th Street W, NY, New York, 10018

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