04 / Project Director
Orde Levinson
Initiator of the Hope and Optimism Portfolio. Writer, publisher, and advocate for the visual arts. Born in Namibia; divides his time between Provence and Oxford.
Orde Levinson
Biography
Orde Levinson, initiator of the Hope and Optimism Portfolio, was born in Namibia and currently divides his time between Provence and Oxford, where he is completing books on Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, Cubism, and Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler.
He has worked extensively in the arts, publishing the 80th anniversary portfolios of both Henry Moore and John Piper. His poem Ndilapa Nkosi was described by Samuel Beckett as a "moving feat". His musical drama Forcible Love was performed for the independence celebrations at the National Theatre, Namibia, in March 1991.
Levinson's monograph I Was Lonelyness — the catalogue raisonné on the Namibian linocut artist John Muafangejo — was published by Struik in 1992. His companion volume, The African Dream: Visions of Love and Sorrow, was published by Thames and Hudson in September 1992. In association with the Museum of Modern Art Oxford, he co-organised a touring retrospective of works by Muafangejo.
His catalogue raisonné Quality and Experiment: The Prints of John Piper (1903–1992) was published by Lund Humphries in 1996.
Currently he prefers to write and paint.
Selected Publications
I Was Lonelyness
Struik
Catalogue raisonné on the Namibian linocut artist John Muafangejo. The essential scholarly reference on one of Africa's most significant printmakers.
The African Dream: Visions of Love and Sorrow
Thames and Hudson
Monograph on John Muafangejo, combining biography, critical analysis, and a comprehensive survey of his printed work.
Quality and Experiment: The Prints of John Piper (1903–1992)
Lund Humphries
Catalogue raisonné on John Piper, one of England's foremost printmakers and a contributor to the Hope and Optimism Portfolio.
Further Work
Beyond his published books, Levinson has worked across poetry, drama, and cultural organisation. He currently prefers to write and paint.
www.orde.info →- 01
Ndilapa Nkosi — a poem described by Samuel Beckett as a "moving feat"
- 02
Forcible Love (NTN Version, March 1991) — a musical drama performed for the independence celebrations at the National Theatre, Namibia
- 03
80th anniversary portfolio of Henry Moore
- 04
80th anniversary portfolio of John Piper
- 05
Co-organisation of a Muafangejo touring retrospective with the Museum of Modern Art Oxford