George Cup

George Cup is born in 1930 in Heßlingen (today Wolfsburg) under the name of Georg Anton Kupsch. In 1936 his family emigrates to New York. From 1950 to 1953 he studies at the Cooper Union School of Art and Architecture, from 1954 to 1955 at the Art Students League in New York. There he meets Steve Elliott and in 1954 moves with him into a shared apartment. From 1953 to 1956 the first packed objects and paintings are created. In 1957 the Period Gallery in New York presents the first individual exhibition of George Cup & Steve Elliott as an artist-couple. In 1959 the first experimental films are realized. In 1960 George Cup ends his involvement with architecture. From 1961 to 1963 the first sculptures and light-objects are created. From 1963 Cup and Elliott develop Minimalist sculptures, artists’ books, and their first animated films. From 1975 to 1977 Cup works in a studio in East Hampton, New York. There are extended stays in Paris from 1978 to 1985. In 1986 Steve Elliott separates from George Cup. In the same year Elliott dies, and Cup is convicted and imprisoned for supposedly murdering Steve Elliott. His works are removed from art collections, and his sculptures disappear from public spaces. In 2007 new legal proceedings prove George Cup’s innocence in the death of Steve Elliott, whereupon Cup is released from the New York prison in the summer of 2007. Shortly thereafter, the George Cup Research Center takes up contact to the artist and together with him plans the first exhibitions since his imprisonment in 1986, to be held in Cup’s and Elliott’s respective birthplaces. George Cup dies of heart failure in July 2008 in New York. 

Steve Elliott

Steve Elliott is born in 1933 in Nordhorn under the name Stefan Berliott. In 1936 his family settles in New Jersey. From 1954 to 1958 he studies at the Art Students League in New York, attaining a Master of Arts degree. In 1954 he meets George Cup. From 1955 the two work as an artist-couple. In 1959 he is commissioned  to create a wall painting for the Social Security Building in Washington, D.C.; the work no longer exists. From 1967 to 1972 he teaches at Hunter College, New York, from 1972 to 1974 at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. From 1974 to 1976 the 26-part animation cycle The connection between form and sound is created. In the spring of 1986 he separates from George Cup. In June 1986 Steve Elliott is found dead in his New York apartment.