Obituary of Harold M Stevenson

Harold Moncreau Stevenson, Jr., passed away on October 21, 2018 in Idabel Oklahoma. He was 89 years of age. Stevenson was born at home on March 11, 1929, in Idabel Oklahoma.
Noted for his portraitures, Stevenson was primarily self-taught and painted prolifically throughout his life. He maintained a downtown Idabel art studio when he was ten years old. While attending Idabel high school, he served as president of the art club, president of the student council, and art editor of the Tushka, yearbook. He graduated from Idabel High School in 1947. He studied art at the University of Oklahoma and in 1949, was awarded one of ten national scholarships to attend the New York Art Students League, where he was under the tutelage of Yasuo Kuniyoshi. One notable cohort was Robert Rauschenberg, the artist that replaced Stevenson in the 1963 Guggenheim exhibition, Six Painters and the Object. 
Stevenson befriended Peggy Guggenheim in Venice and exhibited in the 1962 Piccola Biennale where his piece, Finger of God, was purchased and later donated to the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. While living in Paris, Stevenson exhibited Le Sensuel Fantastique, the portrait of his partner, Lord Timothy Willoughby de Eresby, of London. The exhibition was featured in LIFE magazine. Stevenson is credited with starring in Andy Warhol’s first films, Harold (1963) and KISS (1963-64), as well as appearing as himself in Paul Morrissey’s HEAT (1971). 
In 1962, Stevenson exhibited The Eye of Lightening Billy in the Sidney Janis gallery exhibition, New Realists. Stevenson exhibited in the 1980 La Famille des Portraits at the Louvre Museum in Paris France.
In addition to the Guggenheim, Stevenson’s collections of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Yale University Art Gallery; Blanton Gallery at the University of Texas, Austin; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and private collections. 
Danny Williams filmed Harold Stevenson #1 and #2, which is currently being shown at the Vienna International Film Festival through November 8, 2018.
Preceding Stevenson in death was his partner, Lloyd Tugwell; his siblings, an infant sister, Mary Sue Stevenson and his brother and sister-in-law, Donald and Janice Stevenson; his parents, Harold Sr. and Mary Stevenson; grandparents, Dr. and Mrs. Dove Stevenson, and Mr. and Mrs. W.M. Stroud; aunts, Martha Stroud, Elizabeth Stroud and Josephine Stevenson; and uncles, McRee Stroud and Wingfield Stroud. 
Stevenson is survived by one nephew, Kurt Stevenson and wife, Janine of Idabel OK; three nieces, Stephanie Coldiron and husband Clay of Edmond OK; Rebecca Stevenson of Tulsa OK, and Caccie Stevenson Leonard of Idabel, OK. Stevenson is also survived by his great nieces and nephews: Kyle Coldiron, Austin Coldiron, Alex Leonard, Suzanne Stevenson, Caroline Oliver and River Stevenson; and his cousins David, and wife Rebecca Stroud and Mac, and wife Cindy Stroud all of Little Rock AR; and Cindy Gilliam Samples, and husband Ron, of Dallas TX.
Funeral services will be held on Saturday, October 27, 2018 at 2:00 P.M. at White Family Funeral Home in Idabel Oklahoma.  The family will receive visitors at the Lyric Theatre immediately following the service.
 In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Idabel High School art department. An account has been set up at Idabel National Bank.