LIFETIME ART COLLECTION OF ARTISTS OLIVIA KOOPALETHES & LEONARD ALBERTS

Remember When Antiques and Estate Sales, LLC is proud to present the ENTIRE life works collection of artists Olivia Koopalethes and Leonard Alberts. Over the years, the artist couple designed and completed a beautiful collection of artwork all while living in their original mid-century Alpine, NJ home. 

Sadly the couple has passed away and their entire collection is now available for direct purchase. This is an ongoing sale that will be completed in phases. The 1st phase will be the entire life works of Olivia Koopalethes. Her bio and artwork photos are attached to this advertisement. 

Please call or text Ed at 917-410-7100 for an appointment. 

Olivia Koopalethes was an artist. When you met her, it would take all of
about 30 seconds for her to tell you, “I am an artist”. This was her identity;
and how she wanted to be seen. The older she got, the more important it
became to her. Her artistic endeavors were many, she worked in many
medias, print, colored pencil, collage, acrylic, brush and ink, crayon and
encaustic. Her work was always evolving and she sought out unusual
materials to incorporate into her work; computer parts, pieces of metal,
stencils and whatever else sparked her imagination. For many years she
combed garage, tag and estate sales looking for old worn-down crayons
from way back when, because the wax and the pigment in these crayons
were so much better that anything available today. When old crayons
could no longer be found, she worked with bee’s wax.

She was artistically open and curious, seeking new methods and
techniques to create textures, dimensions and shapes in her work. She
had a flair for the dramatic and her use of color was vibrant and intense.
Her technique of layering and scraping crayon were unique and she would
often look back on her works and say, “I don’t know how I did that!”

Olivia was an active member in numerous art groups, frequently showed
her works and was rewarded with multiple prizes. She can be found in
Who’s Who for women artists, and has been cited in scholarly books as
being a prominent encaustic artist. She exhibited her works with the
National Audubon Artists, Arts Center of Northern NJ, the Bergen and
Morris Museum, the Greek Consulate, the Salmagundi Gallery the National
Arts Club, as well as many other venues.

Olivia was a soul searcher, seeking self-understanding and realization.
Being an artist was her pathway.
Art was not the only means her creative outlets followed. As a young
mother, caught up in the “day to day’ she pursued multiple interests. She
sewed from her childhood. Her mother, trained seamstress passed the
skills on to Olivia, whose artistic eye provided her with the ability to make
couture suits, dresses, coats and ball gowns. She thrived on the last-

minute drama of sewing a hem or buttons as she was running out the door,
late to an event.

Olivia moved with her artist husband, Leonard Alberts to Demarest, New
Jersey to raise her two children in the mid 1950’s. She joined the garden
club, made lifelong friends and competed in the flower arrangement
exhibitions where she won blue ribbons every year. In 1964, the family
built a house and moved to Alpine, New Jersey where her artistic drive
created terraced landscaping and native woodland walkways that were
featured on the garden club tours.

Olivia took up the violin and played regularly in chamber groups as well as
local amateur orchestras. This also translated into her artwork as the violin
was often the subject matter of her art.

The oldest of 4, Olivia was born into a Greek immigrant family in New York
City with little money but an abundance of ingenuity, as evidenced in her
artistic talents. A petite woman, she was tough and always proud to tell
anyone that she was from Hell’s Kitchen!

She showed interests in art and music from an early age. When it came
time to choose a high school, her father insisted that she get herself into
the school” down the street’ because it was close by. This was fortuitous
because that school happened to be Music and Art of which she was a
member of the very first graduating class. As some of the happiest times in
her life, she frequently expressed gratitude for the years spent at Music and
Art under the patronage of Fiorello La Guardia.

After Music and Art came Cooper Union, where she studied with Wallace
Harrison, who was the director of the Art program and probably the most
influential teacher of her life. Cooper was also where she met and then
married Leonard Alberts, a fellow art student.

After Cooper and the end of the World War II, came the Paris years, 1949-
1952, when the couple moved to study with Fernand Léger and Andre
L’hôte and experience life abroad. It was an exciting opportunity to travel
throughout Europe.

They returned to NYC after the birth of their first child with another to follow
shortly after. Children precipitated the move to suburbia where Olivia lived
the majority of her life as a New Jersey artist. The house in Alpine became

a happy and productive place for Olivia. However, she said that she always
felt that she was a New Yorker at heart.

Olivia was an inspiration to others. Many said that they saw her as a
second mother and that she served not only as a teacher to them, but also
as a source of encouragement and support in their lives. They spoke of
her varied interests and her generosity in sharing information, giving art
tours in her home and sharing art supplies and books with young people
just learning about art.

Olivia had a long and productive life filled with art and music, family, friends
and exploration. Her art work is a testament to this life. Oliva died on
December 1, 2019, three weeks before her 98 th birthday.