Jonah Kinigstein (born June 26, 1923) is an American artist known for his

Expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

paintings.

Early life and education

Kinigstein was born on June 26, 1923, in

Brooklyn, New York City 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 ...

. His parents were Jewish immigrants from Russia and Poland. As a teenager, he would use chalk to make sidewalk art. At times he worked with his father, a house painter. After high school, he attended

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 ...

. Before he graduated, he was drafted into the army during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, where he served in a photo

topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the landforms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...

unit.

Art career

After being discharged from the army, he moved to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, where he attended the

Académie de la Grande Chaumière The Académie de la Grande Chaumière () is an art school in the Montparnasse district of Paris, France. History The school was founded in 1904 by the Catalan painter Claudio Castelucho on the rue de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, near the A ...

, and

Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma The Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma is a public tertiary academy of art in Rome, Italy. It was founded in the sixteenth century, but the present institution dates from the time of the unification of Italy and the capture of Rome by the Kingdom ...

. He exhibited at the

Galerie Huit Galerie Huit was an art collective and gallery established by American artists in Paris in 1950. During the mid-twentieth century American artists traveled and lived in Paris to study and make art. Many of the male American artists were able ...

. He later moved back to

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

. The rise of

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 ...

and the loss in popularity in figurative art prevent Kinigstein from being able to paint for a living. He worked in commercial art, where he designed Bloomingdale's first collectible shopping bag in 1961. He also began drawing political cartoons criticizing abstract expressionism and the figures in the art world promoting it. Kinigstein continued to paint for himself. He dubbed his style "figurative expressionism", and his painting frequently depict distorted figures in front of surreal backgrounds. At age 99, he continues to paint for two or three hours a day in his home. Kinigstein's work is in the collection of the

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 ...

, the

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 ...

, and the

Whitney Museum of American Art 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 ...

Personal life

Kinigstein has been married twice and has two children. His second wife is Eileen Muken. He

turned 100 A centenarian is a person who has reached the age of 100. Because life expectancies at birth worldwide are well below 100, the term is invariably associated with longevity. The United Nations estimated that there were 316,600 living centenarian ...

in June 2023.

Awards

He is the recipient of a

Fulbright Fellowship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people o ...

as well as a

Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation was founded in 1918 by Louis Comfort Tiffany to operate his estate, Laurelton Hall, in Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island. It was designed to be a summer retreat for artists and craftspeople. In 1946 the estate ...

award.

Publications

In 2014, a book of his cartoons entitled ''The Emperor's New Clothes: The Tower of Babel in the "Art" World'' was published by Fantagraphics Underground. In 2022, ''Unrepentant Artist: The Paintings of Jonah Kinigstein'' was published.

References

External links

images of Kinigstein's work
on ArtNet
Meet the artist who just turned 100 years old — and is finally having his moment
interview on NPR July 9, 2023 {{DEFAULTSORT:Kinigstein, Jonah 1923 births Living people 20th-century American male artists 21st-century American male artists Artists from New York City American expatriates in France American male painters American men centenarians American people of Polish-Jewish descent American people of Russian-Jewish descent Jewish centenarians Jewish American painters