Irving Petlin (December 17, 1934 – September 1, 2018) was an American artist and painter renowned for his mastery of the

pastel A pastel () is an art medium that consists of powdered pigment and a binder (material), binder. It can exist in a variety of forms, including a stick, a square, a pebble, and a pan of color, among other forms. The pigments used in pastels are ...

medium and collaborations with other artists (including Mark di Suvero and

Leon Golub Leon Golub (January 23, 1922 – August 8, 2004) was an American painter. He was born in Chicago, Illinois, where he also studied, receiving his BA at the University of Chicago in 1942, and his BFA and MFA at the School of the Art Institute ...

) and for his work in the "series form" in which he employed the raw materials of pastel, oil paint and unprimed linen, and found inspiration in the work of writers and poets including

Primo Levi Primo Michele Levi (; 31 July 1919 – 11 April 1987) was a Jewish Italian chemist, partisan, Holocaust survivor and writer. He was the author of several books, collections of short stories, essays, poems and one novel. His best-known works i ...

Bruno Schulz Bruno Schulz (12 July 1892 – 19 November 1942) was a History of the Jews in Poland, Polish Jewish writer, fine artist, Literary criticism, literary critic and Art education, art teacher. He is regarded as one of the great Polish (language), Po ...

Paul Celan Paul Celan (; ; born Paul Antschel; 23 November 1920 – c. 20 April 1970) was a German-speaking Romanian poet, Holocaust survivor, and literary translation, literary translator. He adopted his pen name (an anagram of the Romanian spelling Ancel ...

, Michael Palmer and

Edmond Jabès Edmond Jabès (; ; Cairo, April 14, 1912Edmond Jabès, ''From the Book to the Book: An Edmond Jabès Reader'' (Wesleyan University Press, 1991) p xxi – Paris, January 2, 1991) was a French writer and poet of Egyptian origin, and one of t ...

. Petlin attended the

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 ...

from 1953 to 1956, where he received his BFA during the height of the Chicago Imagist movement. Petlin was awarded a

fellowship A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned or professional societies, the term refers ...

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

, where he studied under

Josef Albers Josef Albers ( , , ; March 19, 1888March 25, 1976) was a German-born American artist and Visual arts education, educator who is considered one of the most influential 20th-century art teachers in the United States. Born in 1888 in Bottrop, Westp ...

and earned his MFA in 1960. In 1964, his work was shown at the

Hanover Gallery The Hanover Gallery was an art gallery in London. It was opened in June 1948 by the German art expert Erica Brausen and financier and art collector Arthur Jeffress at 32A St. George's Street, W1, and closed on 31 March 1973. It was named after ...

in London and Galerie du Dragon in Paris, where he influenced the movement. That same year, Petlin was invited to teach at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

as a visiting artist, along with artists

Richard Diebenkorn Richard Diebenkorn (April 22, 1922 – March 30, 1993) was an American painter and printmaker. His early work is associated with abstract expressionism and the Bay Area Figurative Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. In the late 1960s he began ...

and

Llyn Foulkes Llyn Foulkes (born 17 November 1934, in Yakima, Washington) is an American artist living and working in Los Angeles. As a student at Chouinard Art Institute (now CalArts), Foulkes began exhibiting with the Ferus Gallery, Los Angeles in 1959. He ...

. While in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, he was a principal organizer of the "Artist’s Protest movement against the war in Vietnam." In open meetings held at the Dwan Gallery, of which John Weber was the director, he founded the Artists' Protest Committee. In 1966, Petlin planned the

Peace Tower The Peace Tower () is a focal bell and clock tower sitting on the central axis of the Centre Block of the Canadian parliament buildings in Ottawa, Ontario. The present incarnation replaced the Victoria Tower, after the latter burned down in ...

with help of Mark di Suvero, as well as Philip Lieder,

Craig Kauffman Craig Kauffman (March 31, 1932 – May 9, 2010) was an artist who has exhibited since 1951. Kauffman's primarily abstract paintings and wall relief sculptures are included in over 20 museum collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Whi ...

, Larry Bell,

Walter Hopps Walter "Chico" Hopps (May 3, 1932 – March 20, 2005) was an American museum director, gallerist, and curator of contemporary art. Hopps helped bring Los Angeles post-war artists to prominence during the 1960s, and later went on to redefine pract ...

, Rolf Nelson,

Judy Chicago Judy Chicago (born Judith Sylvia Cohen; July 20, 1939) is an American feminist artist, art educator, and writer known for her large collaborative art installation pieces about birth and creation images, which examine the role of women in history ...

, Lloyd Hamrol, Hardy Hanson,

Eric Orr Eric Orr (1939–1998) was an American artist who lived and worked in Venice, California from 1965 to 1998. Before moving to Los Angeles in 1965, Orr was a civil rights worker in Mississippi. A key figure of the Light and Space movement, Orr dev ...

, Tanya Nuefeld, and others. "The Artists’ Call" for the tower is published in four languages, and works arrive from all over the world to be attached to it. The finished tower, was dedicated by

Susan Sontag Susan Lee Sontag (; January 16, 1933 – December 28, 2004) was an American writer, critic, and public intellectual. She mostly wrote essays, but also published novels; she published her first major work, the essay "Notes on "Camp", Notes on 'Ca ...

and ultimately attacked overnight. The following year, in 1965, Petlin had his first major one-man exhibition held at the

Palais des Beaux Arts The Centre for Fine Arts (, ; , ) is a multi-purpose cultural venue in the Royal Quarter of Brussels, Belgium. It is often referred to as BOZAR (a homophone of ''Beaux-arts'') in French or by its initials PSK in Dutch. This multidisciplinary s ...

in Brussels. Shortly thereafter, he returned to New York City with his family and moved into an apartment on West 11th Street. At this time, his growing commitment to the American milieu resulted in the completion of the painting ''The Burning of Los Angeles''. During this period, Petlin Was a founder and a participant in Artists and Writers Against the War in Vietnam. He also toom part in the Art Workers Coalition, the Art Strike, the Moratorium and the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

. The Burning of Los Angeles (1965–1967) (Collection of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco) From the 1960s, when he became one of the founding members of "Artists and Writers Against the War in Vietnam," Petlin was a leader in

political activism Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

by visual artists. He created the iconic anti-Vietnam War poster '' And babies'' in 1969. Petlin continued his

militant The English word ''militant'' is both an adjective and a noun, and it is generally used to mean vigorously active, combative and/or aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in "militant reformers". It comes from the 15th century Lat ...

interventions after the 1960s through such activities as his participation in the "Artists' Call Against the U.S. Intervention in Central America". Petlin taught at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

, the

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, commonly known as Cooper Union, is a private college on Cooper Square in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-s ...

in New York, as well as the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1805, it is the longest continuously operating art museum and art school in the United States. The academy's museum ...

in Philadelphia. He lived in Paris, New York and Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. Petlin died of

liver cancer Liver cancer, also known as hepatic cancer, primary hepatic cancer, or primary hepatic malignancy, is cancer that starts in the liver. Liver cancer can be primary in which the cancer starts in the liver, or it can be liver metastasis, or secondar ...

Martha's Vineyard Martha's Vineyard, often simply called the Vineyard, is an island in the U.S. state of Massachusetts, lying just south of Cape Cod. It is known for being a popular, affluent summer colony, and includes the smaller peninsula Chappaquiddick Isla ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

on September 1, 2018, at the age of 83.

Selected exhibitions

* 2014 "The Still Open Case of Irving Petlin".

Kent Fine Art Kent Fine Art is an Contemporary art gallery, art gallery in New York City founded in 1985 by Douglas Walla. About Founded in 1985, Kent Fine Art opened at the corner of Madison & 57th Street in the Fuller Building, New York. Since 57th Street, ...

, New York * 2014 "Paris Show": Galerie Jacques Leegenhoek * 2012 ''Irving Petlin: Storms: After Redon''.

, New York * 2010 ''Irving Petlin: Major Paintings, 1979-2009''. Kent Gallery, New York * 2007 ''Orpheus'', Pastels. Galerie Ditesheim, FIAC, Paris * 2006 ''Este Mundo''. Kent Gallery, New York * 2002 ''Irving Petlin''. Galerie Krugier-Ditesheim Art Contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland * 2001 ''Out of the Shadows''. School of the Museum of Fine Art, Boston * 1998 ''A Tribute to

Meyer Schapiro Meyer Schapiro (23 September 1904 – 3 March 1996) was a Lithuanian-born American art historian who developed new art historical methodologies that incorporated an interdisciplinary approach to the study of works. An expert on early Christian, ...

''. Jan Krugier Gallery, New York * 1997 ''Le Monde D’Edmond Jabes'', Pastels. Krugier-Ditesheim Art Contemporain, Geneva * 1996 ''Paris is White''. Kent Gallery, New York * 1995 ''Irving Petlin: 1955-1995, Disegni nacosti''. Studio d’ Arte Recalcati, Turin, Italy * 1993 ''Swiat Brunona Shulza''. Galerie Kordegarda, Varsovie, Poland * 1992 '' Memories Drawn from Bruno Schulz and Others''. Kent Gallery, New York * 1990 ''Israel in Egypt''.

, New York * 1990 ''The Periodic Table''. Gallery 400,

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

, IL * 1990 ''Chagall to Kitaj: Jewish Experience in 20th Century Art''.

Barbican Art Gallery The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London, England, and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and ...

London, England * 1989 ''A Different War: Vietnam in Art''.

Whatcom Museum The Whatcom Museum is a natural history and art museum located in Bellingham, Washington. Accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, the Whatcom Museum has a three building campus that includes Old City Hall, Old Fire Station No.1, and The L ...

, Bellingham, WA. Curated by

Lucy Lippard Lucy Rowland Lippard (born April 14, 1937) is an American writer, art critic, activist, and curator. Lippard was among the first writers to argue for the " dematerialization" at work in conceptual art and was an early champion of feminist art. ...

. * 1988 ''Pastels 1961-1987''.

, New York, NY * 1987 ''Weisswald''.

, New York * 1982 ''Irving Petlin: Recent Paintings and Pastels''. Marlborough Fine Art, London, UK * 1982 ''The Venice Biennale'', Italian Pavilion, Venice, Italy * 1981 ''Drawings from the Studio, 1972-1981''.

University of California at Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California system. Located in Monterey Bay, ...

* 1980 ''Irving Petlin, Pastels''. Galerie Nina Dausset, Paris * 1978 ''Rubbings (Large Paintings, Small Pastels)''. Neuberger Museum-SUNY, Purchase, NY &

Arts Club of Chicago Arts Club of Chicago is a private club and public exhibition space located in the Near North Side community area of Chicago, a block east of the Magnificent Mile, that exhibits international contemporary art. It was founded in 1916, inspired ...

, Chicago, Il * 1977 Galleria Bergamini, Milan, Italy * 1974

Documenta Documenta (often stylized documenta) is an Art exhibition, exhibition of contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany. Documenta was founded by artist, teacher and curator Arnold Bode in 1955 as part of the Bundesgarte ...

, Torino, Italy * 1973 ''Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary American Art'',

Whitney Museum The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

New York, NY * 1972 Galleria Bergamini, Milan, Italy * 1968 ''Irving Petlin: Opere recent''. Galleria Il Fante Di Spade, Rome, Italy * 1967 Odyssia Gallery, New York * 1966 Rolf Nelson Gallery, Los Angeles * 1965 ''Petlin Palais des Beaux-Arts'', Brussels, Belgium * 1964 ''American Show'', Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL * 1963 ''Petlin: Peintures 1962-1963''. Galerie du Dragon, Paris, France * 1961 Paris Biennal, American Section. Paris, France * 1960 ''Petlin'', Galerie du Dragon, Paris, France * 1958 Dilexi Gallery, San Francisco, CA * 1956 Cliffdweller Gallery, Chicago, IL * 1954 Exhibition Momentum. Chicago, IL * 1953-56 Art Institute, Chicago, IL

References

External links

NY Times obituary
;Petlin sites and artist page *https://irvingpetlin.com
Irving Petlin Artist Page
Artist Page at ''Jan Krugier Gallery'' website
Irving Petlin on artnet
;Others on Petlin, including reviews & perspectives
Petlin: The Committed Brushstroke by Peter Selz.Irving Petlin, Este Mundo
by Carrie Moyer at

The Brooklyn Rail ''The Brooklyn Rail'' is an American publication and platform for the arts, culture, humanities, and politics, based in Brooklyn, New York. It features in-depth critical essays, fiction, poetry, as well as interviews with artists, critics, and ...

''from'' Nomadics Blog: 3 Irving Petlin Shows in New York
poet

Pierre Joris Pierre Joris (July 14, 1946 – February 26, 2025) was a Luxembourgish- American poet, essayist, translator, and anthologist. He moved between Europe, North Africa, and the United States for fifty-five years, publishing over eighty books of poet ...

provides links and commentary on his blog to the 3 major Petlin shows that occurred in New York City in early 2010
Press: Three essays on Petlin
link provides access to free

PDF Portable document format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe Inc., Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, computer hardware, ...

online versions of seminal Petlin retrospectives by Edward Fry (from the ''Wiesswald'' exhibition catalogue), Paul Cummings ("The Precincts of Light"), and Michael Palmer ("A Bonfire in the Starry Night")
The Unbearable Yet Obligatory, And other shows of modern and contemporary works
by Maureen Mullarkey ;Petlin in his own words * ttp://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/66408988/PUBLICATIONS/petlin_onine%20publication.pdf Kent Gallery Exhibition Catalogue of ''Major Paintings, 1979-2009'' Click here for free PDF online publication of 90 pages that documented in full those works included in the Kent Gallery exhibition from 2010, including Petlin's own commentaries and complete biographical information on the artist
1000 words: Peace Tower; Irving Petlin, Mark di Suvero, and Rirkrit Tiravanija revisit The Artists' Tower of Protest, 1966
includes extensive transcript of Petlin in his own words * Petlin discusses some of his work as he walks around the Kent Gallery in 2010
In Conversation: Irving Petlin with John Yau
renowned poet/art critic & Art Editor for ''The Brooklyn Rail''

John Yau John Yau (born June 5, 1950) is an American poet and critic who lives in New York City. He received his B.A. from Bard College in 1972 and his M.F.A. from Brooklyn College in 1978. He has published over 50 books of poetry, artists' books, ficti ...

interviews Petlin in 2006 {{DEFAULTSORT:Petlin, Irving 1934 births 2018 deaths 20th-century American painters American male painters 21st-century American painters 21st-century American male artists Painters from Chicago Yale University alumni Painters from Paris People from Martha's Vineyard School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni Academic staff of the University of Haifa Dartmouth College faculty Painters from New York City 20th-century American male artists