Nathan Wasserberger (1928-2013) was a

Jewish Polish The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the long period o ...

painter, known for his portrait paintings, including in particular nudes and depictions of women in

kimono The is a traditional Japanese garment and the national dress of Japan. The kimono is a wrapped-front garment with square sleeves and a rectangular body, and is worn Garment collars in hanfu#Youren (right lapel), left side wrapped over ri ...

. Originally from

Chrzanów Chrzanów () is a town in southern Poland with 35,651 inhabitants as of December 2021. It is situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship (since 1999) and is the seat of Chrzanów County. History History to 1809 It is impossible to establish ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, he survived 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 ...

and emigrated to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in 1946 or 1947. Seven photographs of Wasserberger and 67 photographs of his paintings, are held in the Archives and Special Collections of 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 ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Born June 24, 1928, in Chrzanów, Poland, Wasserberger survived the

Buchenwald Buchenwald (; 'beech forest') was a German Nazi concentration camp established on Ettersberg hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within the Altreich (Old Reich) territori ...

concentration camp A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...

and settled in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 1946 or 1947. He studied art at the

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York. It has an additional campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The institute was founded in 18 ...

and under Ivan Olinsky and

Byron Brown Byron William Brown II (born September 24, 1958) is an American politician who served as the 62nd mayor of Buffalo, New York from 2006 until his resignation in 2024. He was the city's first African-American mayor and the longest-serving mayo ...

at the

Art Students' League The Art Students League of New York is an art school in the American Fine Arts Society in Manhattan, New York City. The Arts Students League is known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may study fu ...

in New York, as well as at the

Académie Julian The () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907). The school was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number and qual ...

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 ...

in the late 1940s, and won awards for his paintings while still a student. Many of the paintings he produced during his first years in the United States were directly influenced by, or addressed themes of, his experience in the Holocaust; though Wasserberger indicated in interviews that "these early works meant a great deal to him at the time," he also said that he considered them amateur, and destroyed them all. Wasserberger reportedly said that he "realized," at some point in the 1950s, that "by dwelling on the past I was in effect continuing the imprisonment I was so happy to escape." He then made a conscious effort to shift his painting style, to one which has been described as "luminous," "spirit-lifting," and possessing of "buoyancy." Wasserberger sold many of his works through the Park South Gallery located in the

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57t ...

building. In 1967,

SoHo SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...

gallery owner Louis K. Meisel published a book about the artist, entitled simply ''Nathan Wasserberger''. In 1969, Wasserberger produced a number of paintings for use in the film ''

Me, Natalie ''Me, Natalie'' is a 1969 American comedy-drama film directed by Fred Coe about a young woman from Brooklyn who moves to Greenwich Village and finds romance with an aspiring artistic painter. The screenplay by A. Martin Zweiback is based on an o ...

''. While a majority of his works are portraits of beautiful women of various ethnicities, either clothed or nude, they also include self-portraits, and images of

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

musicians,

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 ...

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

Toshiro Mifune was a Japanese actor and producer. The recipient of numerous awards and accolades over a lengthy career, he is widely considered one of the greatest actors of all time. He often played hypermasculine characters and was noted for his commandin ...

as he appeared in the film ''

Yojimbo is a 1961 Japanese samurai film directed by Akira Kurosawa, who also co-wrote the screenplay and was one of the producers. The film stars Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Yoko Tsukasa, Isuzu Yamada, Daisuke Katō, Takashi Shimura, Kamat ...

'', and other men of various ages and appearances, as well as some group scenes, and at least one portrait of a dog. Wasserberger married twice. His first wife was named Marleen Nienhuis, and his second, to whom he was still married when he died, was Keiko Miura Wasserberger. He died in New York on April 23, 2012, and is buried in Mount Hebron Cemetery in

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

, New York.

References

Sources

Nathan Wasserberger Obituary
" ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', 7 April 2013. *Louis K. Meisel, ''Nathan Wasserberger'', New York: Eminent Publications, 1967. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wasserberger, Nathan Painters from New York (state) Buchenwald concentration camp survivors 20th-century American painters 20th-century Polish painters 20th-century American male artists Jewish painters Polish portrait painters American portrait painters 1928 births 2012 deaths 20th-century Polish Jews People from Chrzanów Polish male painters Burials at Mount Hebron Cemetery (New York City)