Anton van Dalen, Whose Art Examined an Evolving Neighborhood, Dies at 85
Mr. van Dalen said that he kept his relationship with Mr. Steinberg from everyone but family and close friends, as a survival tactic.
“I was self-conscious that people might think that either I was shaped by him or advantaged through him — I would not allow either,” he told Steven Heller, a former senior art director of The Times who teaches at the School of Visual Arts, in an interview for the catalog of the Steinberg exhibition that Mr. van Dalen curated in 2004.
Mr. van Dalen taught life drawing at S.V.A. for many years, bringing to class chickens and rabbits from his menagerie of pets.
“Then he’d arrange for the human nudes,” Ms. van Dalen, his daughter, said.
In addition to his daughter, Mr. van Dalen is survived by a son, Jason; three grandchildren; and a brother, Leen. His wife, Rebecca Mays Owen, a psychologist, died in 2002. He credited her with opening his eyes to the social problems on the Lower East Side through her work as a city welfare caseworker.
Mr. van Dalen was also known for keeping white pigeons in his rooftop coop, a hobby that he started at age 12. The birds represented migration, freedom and peace to him, and he depicted them in his art.
In his painting, “Self-Portrait with Pigeon Coop Looking South” (2014), Mr. van Dalen stands on a ladder and releases the birds, who take flight toward the World Trade Center. And, as cars move on Avenue A, Mr. van Dalen appears in another spot on the canvas, on East 10th Street, his cutout theater strapped to his back. In a companion painting, the pigeons come home.
Last year, he gave up the coop and the birds because of safety concerns.
“But once it was gone,” his daughter said, “he developed a flock of wild pigeons that he fed on the roof.”
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