If your heart opens up, and you’re stunned by the creativity you see, that’s a work of art. You can’t open your heart up to a square or a circle. ”
——Charles Melohs.(Sunday News, 8.29.1971)
Charles Mehlos
Charles Melohs (Charles Weissman 1908-1982) was born in Brooklyn, New York. He spent his childhood and adolescence in Brooklyn orphan asylum. It was, perhaps, this emotional deprivation that led to his seeking solace and expression in the art of painting. He received his first payment $100 for a painting when he was 13 years old. His imagination roamed free and his natural ability with a brush gave structural form to his mind’s eye. By a chance, his remarkable untutored development was brought to the attention of patrons of the orphanage who provide him with a full art scholarship to Pratt Institute.
Melohs has his own painting style. His excellent color choosing, fancy approach, and unlimited imaginations have built thousands of unique paintings. He has traveled many places including California; therefore, some of his paintings appeared to be California’s style, his travel experiences also provided him a plentiful theme.
Melohs once said, “If governments would consult the artists, there would be a paradise on earth — not just a dull, peaceful world, but one bursting with life and excitement.”(Sunday News, 8.29.1971) He is a less social person, it caused his character became lonely and lived in his own world; however, it allowed him to focus on his paints and created his exquisite brushworks.
Mehol’s paintings are mysterious that people with different moods, under different situations, or has different characters will have different feelings toward the paintings. The curator of paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art wrote: ”This is color the impression painter was looking for. Your romantic paintings remind me of Van Gogh...”(Sunday News, 8.29.1971)
Charles Melohs’ imaginations and his paintings were much surpassed the time he was living. He left a lot of paintings in many museums and universities, including MoMA(Museum of Modern Art), which still surprising people today. Charles Melohs is not just a person that full of fashion imagination, but also a greatness artist for society.