Ralph Della-Volpe

Ralph Della-Volpe’s brightly-colored, light-infused, ornamental compositions bring together aspects of many modernist art movements including Fauvism, Impressionism, Symbolism, and abstraction. Born in 1923 in New York, Della-Volpe attended the renowned National Academy Design, but paused his artistic career during World War II to serve in the Army. He was wounded in the Normandy Invasion and received a Purple Heart. After the war, he resumed his artistic study at the Art Students League of New York. Several years later, Della-Volpe took a position as an instructor of painting and drawing at Bennett College in Millbrook, New York, where he taught for 28 years and served as chair of the art department.  Throughout his teaching career, he continued to his studio practice. The pastoral themes of many of his pictures, such as sailboats gliding across the harbor or fields dappled with spring flowers, reflect the atmosphere of the New England landscape.