Jerome Witkin (born September 13, 1939) is an American

figurative art Figurative art, sometimes written as figurativism, describes artwork (particularly paintings and sculptures) that is clearly derived from real object sources and so is, by definition, representational. The term is often in contrast to abstract a ...

ist whose

paintings Painting is a visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or " support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush. Other implements, ...

deal with political, social and cultural themes, along with serious portraiture that melds the sitter's social position with a speaking likeness that reveals inner character. Witkin has been succinctly characterized as "a virtuoso figurative painter whose work mixes elements of the old masters, social realism and Abstract Expressionism ..."

Biography

Witkin was born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, the twin brother of

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who uses a camera to make photographs. Duties and types of photograp ...

Joel Peter Witkin. Recognized as a prodigious talent, at fourteen he entered

The High School of Music & Art The High School of Music & Art, informally known as Music & Art (or M&A), was a public specialized high school located at 443-465 West 135th Street in the borough of Manhattan, New York, from 1936 until 1984. In 1961, Music & Art and the High Sc ...

in New York, and subsequently studied at the

Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture is an artists residency located in Madison, Maine, just outside of Skowhegan. Every year, the program accepts online applications from emerging artists from November through January, and selects 65 ...

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 ...

, the Berlin Academy, and the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

. A Pulitzer Traveling Fellowship enabled him to travel, study and further develop in Europe. After his return to the United States, Witkin received a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

, began exhibiting at galleries in New York and joined the faculty of the

Maryland Institute College of Art The Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) is a Private university, private art school, art and design college in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1826 as the Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, it is regarded as one of ...

. He later taught at the

Manchester College of Art Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

in England, and then the

Moore College of Art Moore College of Art & Design is a Private college, private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1848 by Sarah Peter, Sarah Worthington Peter as the Philadelphia School of Design for Women, and was renamed the Moore Colleg ...

. In 1971, he became a professor of art at

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

Artwork

Witkin's work can be thought of as an interrelationship of three bold explorations: # The creation of realistic pictorial form with painterly gestures strongly influenced by his desire to absorb and surmount abstract expressionism. As such, his brush strokes and constructed forms are highly original and worthy of study in themselves. # The deep implications of the death of his father, which induced Witkin to explore mortality and the underlying reality of personal and social relationships, which is evident in his portraits and the characterizations in his narrative work. # Visually complex "realist" denunciations of major human rights issues as embodied in themes of torture, assassination,

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

, and the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

. While significant elements of the global contemporary art scene seems fascinated with the relationship between art and fashion, Witkin worked on his Holocaust series for twenty three years, never rushing this serious exploration of the characters perpetrating and victimized by this horror. While his paintings reference the work of the

old master In art history, "Old Master" (or "old master")Old Masters De ...

social realism Social realism is work produced by painters, printmakers, photographers, writers, filmmakers and some musicians that aims to draw attention to the real socio-political conditions of the working class as a means to critique the power structures ...

, and

abstract expressionism Abstract expressionism in the United States emerged as a distinct art movement in the aftermath of World War II and gained mainstream acceptance in the 1950s, a shift from the American social realism of the 1930s influenced by the Great Depressi ...

, Witkin, in a self-deprecating manner, refers to himself as a "cornball humanist". In a fuller explanation of his motivation, Witkin has emphasized, "If this society continues to the next two thousand years, people will be looking at the twentieth century and saying, 'What did artists do about the strange goings-on?'" Witkin's work is included in the permanent collections of the

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 ...

, the

Uffizi The Uffizi Gallery ( ; , ) is a prominent art museum adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums and the most visited, it is also one of th ...

, the

Cleveland Museum of Art The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Located in the Wade Park District of University Circle, the museum is internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian art, Asian and Art of anc ...

, and the

Hirshhorn Museum The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was designed ...

Personal life

Witkin is the father of

Christian Witkin Christian Witkin (born 1966) is an American fashion and portrait photographer, living in New York City. He is known for capturing revealing moments of celebrities, —as well as for his campaigns for Gap Inc., Vanity Fair, and People. His work is ...

Notes

External links

Jerome Witkin official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Witkin, Jerome 1939 births Living people Jewish American artists Moore College of Art and Design faculty Cooper Union alumni University of Pennsylvania alumni Maryland Institute College of Art faculty Painters from Brooklyn Syracuse University faculty 20th-century American painters American male painters American political artists Prussian Academy of Arts alumni The High School of Music & Art alumni Identical twins Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture alumni