Edward Melcarth, “Excavation”, Unknown Date, Oil on Canvas, Forbes Collection, New York

Edward Melcarth, born Edward Epstein in Kentucky, went to Harvard University and studied art in London and Paris. Melcarth joined the Merchant Marine in the 1930s and spent time in the Middle East. He then lived in New York for many years with Thomas Painter, a gay man who corresponded for decades with sex researcher Alfred Kinsey. During the period between 1949 and 1950, they also had another roommate: Lexington artist Henry Faulkner.

Melcarth’s works resembles both those of Renaissance masters and 20th-century figurative painters like Thomas Hart Benton. Many pieces feature muscular young men in scenes that mix mythology, religion, sexuality, labor struggles and drug use. His paintings often have unusual compositions and perspectives.

Time magazine named Melcarth in 1950 as one of the young artists in America to watch. He won a major award from the Art Institute of Chicago in 1951: his work is in the Smithsonian American Art Museum. His murals are the centerpiece of one of New York’s hotels, the Pierre on Fifth Avenue across from Central Park. After he died of cancer while living in Venice in 1973, Melcarth was largely forgotten until a revival of interest began worldwide in recent years.