Al Gury is an artist, educator, and writer.
He is a Professor of Painting and Drawing at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) in
Philadelphia, America’s oldest and first Art School and Art Museum.
As a painter, Al explores the tension between representation and the formal possibilities of
color, composition and content. Harmony and visual poetry are a focus of his
interpretations of nature.
Deeply committed to art education, he teaches many courses on painting, drawing and art
history, as well as teaching art education methods to undergraduate and graduate
students. He is the founder and instructor of a large, free, after school art education
program at PAFA for underserved inner city high school students. National and
international workshops are also a regular part of his engagement in art education. He is
also a lecturer at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia.
As a writer, Al Gury has written three books for Penguin-Random House on art methods and
art history: Alla Prima, Color for Painters and Foundations of Drawing. In addition, he has
authored dozens of articles on art and art history for museums and art publications in the
US and Europe such as the Victoria and Albert Museum, Artists and Craftsman Magazine
and numerous other venues. Al’s specialties include the traditions and use of color in
painting, old master and contemporary painting methods, the history of drawing methods,
and the traditions and practices in portrait and landscape painting.
Al Gury shows his paintings regularly in one person exhibitions at the F.A.N. Gallery in
Philadelphia, as well as galleries and museums in other states.
He has involved himself over the years in many community and social justice activities, including with
homeless persons, inner city youth and the Mural Arts Project in Philadelphia, Al is a cat
foster parent and advocate for animal rescue and nursing care via the Philadelphia Animal
Welfare Society.