Ad Reinhardt

Reinhardt was born in Buffalo, New York December 24, 1913. Between 1931-1935, he studied art history with Meyer Schapiro at Columbia University. Following graduation, he studied painting at the National Academy of Design in New York, and also at the American Artist's School. From 1936-1941, he was employed by Works Progress Administration's Federal Arts Project. He worked as an artist and illustrator during the 1930s and 1940s, also teaching art history at Brooklyn College in the late 1940s. He taught art at Yale University in the early 1950s. Reinhardt's flattened, simplified compositions, often in completely monochromatic variations of one color, were considered a precursor to Minimalism. He died in New York on August 30, 1967.

(Source: Grove Dictionary of Art Online)