Gino Hollander

Gino Hollander was born in New Jersey in 1924 and attended Rutgers University and Hobart and William Smith College. Before discovering his calling as a painter, he served in the U.S. Army’s Mountain Division Ski Troop and later became an award-winning director and documentary filmmaker. In 1960, he demonstrated his artistic versatility by taking up painting, and from 1960 to 1962, he ran his first Hollander Gallery on Bleeker Street in Greenwich Village, New York.
Hollander’s powerfully abstract paintings reflect a life filled with extraordinary experiences. At thirteen, he embarked on a 1,000 mile bicycle trip, and he ran with the bulls annually in Pamplona. During World War II, he fought in Italy, where part of his knee was shot off. He mingled with Jackson Pollock, raced Steve McQueen in his ’57 Chevy, and was requested by Norman Rockwell to paint for a presidential commission. He even rescued Jacqueline Kennedy from paparazzi in Pamplona on horseback and later hosted her, along with author James Michener and opera star Luciano Pavarotti, in his studio.
In 1962, Hollander moved his family to Spain, initially bartering his canvases to survive before achieving international success. In 1982, he and his wife opened Museo Hollander in Spain, which welcomed more than 50,000 visitors before they donated it to the Spanish government in 1990. His collectors include Jacqueline Kennedy, Steve McQueen, Queen Sophia of Spain, and Calvin Klein. With more than 11,000 original paintings worldwide, his work appears in over forty museum and public collections, including the Museo de Belles Artes in Spain, Andrew D. White Museum in Ithaca, Greenville County Museum of Art, Churchill College in Cambridge, Aspen Art Museum, Vincent Price Art Museum, and Carnegie Hall. Gino Hollander is represented by Park West Gallery.