Gregory Perillo

Art Brokerage: Gregory Perillo American Artist: Gregory Perillo is one of today's most respected and renowned American Western artists. His powerfully dramatic, emotional depictions of Native Americans and early settlers, as well as Western landscapes and wildlife, have made him one of America's leading painters and sculptors. Born in Greenwich Village, Perillo moved to Staten Island, New York, at age two and has lived there his entire life. Poverty stricken as a boy, he was forced to use as canvases the paper bags ironed by his mother and his first medium was coffee. His earliest impressions of the American West came from his father, an immigrant, who was studying American History. As a youngster, Perillo studied the works of the masters of American Western art, spending much of his time at the American Indian exhibit in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. After serving in the Navy in World War II, through the GI bill he began his formal art education. He attended the Pratt Institute, the School of Visual Arts and the Art Students League. Interestingly, Perillo's most productive learning experience was spawned from a visit to Arizona in 1950, where he had a chance meeting with the legendary American master William Robinson Leigh. In what became almost a father-son relationship, Leigh taught Perillo, his only known pupil, for several years. Since then, Perillo has often traveled to Native American lands, where he has spent time studying the culture and customs as well as sketching the people and scenery of the American West. Listings wanted.