David Aronson (October 28, 1923 – July 2, 2015) was a painter and Professor of Art at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

Biography

Aronson was born in

Šiluva Šiluva is a small town of less than 700 inhabitants in Lithuania. It is located in the Regions of Lithuania, region of Samogitia. It is List of Catholic pilgrimage sites in Lithuania, a major site of Catholic pilgrimage in Lithuania. History � ...

, Lithuania in 1923 to an

Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is a collective term for the traditionalist branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as literally revealed by God on Mount Sinai and faithfully tra ...

family. His father was a

rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

. He taught at Boston University from 1955 to his death in 2015, where he formed the Fine Art Department. As an artist, he exhibited in Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Paris, Rome, Berlin and Copenhagen, among others. His work is represented in over forty museums. Aronson's work is associated with the school of

Boston Expressionism Boston Expressionism is an art movement marked by emotional directness, dark humor, social and spiritual themes, and a tendency toward figuration strong enough that Boston Figurative Expressionism is sometimes used as an alternate term to distin ...

. Aronson died at the age of 91 on July 2, 2015, from pneumonia and chronic heart failure.Roberts, Sam (July 15, 2015
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Collections

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

* DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, Mass. *

Israel Museum The Israel Museum (, ''Muze'on Yisrael'', ) is an Art museum, art and archaeology museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world's leading Encyclopedic museum, encyclopa ...

, Jerusalem *

Keene State College Keene State College is a Public college, public Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Keene, New Hampshire. It is part of the University System of New Hampshire. Founded in 1909 as a teacher's college (originally, Ke ...

, Keene, N.H. *

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

, New York *

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the list of largest art museums, 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 painting ...

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

, New York * New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut *

National Academy Museum and School The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Frederick Styles Agate, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, an ...

, New York *

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's lar ...

, Washington, D.C. * University of New Hampshire Museum of Art, Durham

Awards

* Guggenheim Fellowship - List of Guggenheim Fellowships awarded in 1960 * Election as Academician at the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Frederick Styles Agate, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, an ...

, New York in 1967 * Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Hebrew College, Newton, Massachusetts.

Exhibitions

David Aronson: The Paradox - Danforth Museum of Art

References

Images

Silkscreen in MoMA Collection

"Edmund Burke" bronze relief in the Smithsonian American Art Museum

"Blind Samson" in the Smithsonian American Art Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aronson, David 1923 births 2015 deaths 20th-century American painters American male painters 21st-century American painters American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent Painters from Boston School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts alumni Boston University faculty Jewish American painters Soviet emigrants to the United States National Academy of Design members Deaths from pneumonia in Massachusetts Boston expressionism 21st-century American Jews 20th-century American male artists