Tom Goldenberg (born 1948) is an American artist, best known for landscape and abstract paintings.Kimball, Roger. "Tom Goldenberg, Art without Apology." In ''Art's Prospect: The Challenge of Tradition in an Age of Celebrity'', New York: Cybereditions, 2002, p. 204–8.Kelder, Diane, Catalogue Essay, ''Tom Goldenberg: Recent Paintings and Works on Paper'', New York: MODA Licensing, 2012. He has shown throughout the United States and internationally, and his work has been covered by ''

The 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 ...

'',Johnson, Ken, Review, ''The New York Times'' December 28, 2001, p. E46. ''

The New Criterion ''The New Criterion'' is a New York–based monthly literary magazine and journal of artistic and cultural criticism, edited by Roger Kimball (editor and publisher) and James Panero (executive editor). It has sections for criticism of poetry ...

'',Kimball, Roger
"Tom Goldenberg at Salander-O'Reilly,"
''The New Criterion'', March 18, 2004. Retrieved February 7, 2019. '' Art in America'',Towle, Tony. "Tom Goldenberg," ''Art in America'', October 1980. ''

Arts Magazine ''Arts Magazine'' was a prominent American monthly magazine devoted to fine art. It was established in 1926 and last published in 1992. History Founding Launched in 1926 and originally titled ''The Art Digest,'' it was printed semi-monthly from ...

'',Klein, Ellen Lee. ''Arts Magazine'', December 1983. ''

Art & Antiques ''Art & Antiques'' is an American arts magazine. History 1984 launch ''Art & Antiques'' launched its premier issue in March 1984. While the magazine disclaimed any connection to a previous publication of the same name, the company had in fact ...

'',Kramer, Hilton. "Critic's Notebook: Pictoral Dialogue," ''Art and Antiques'', December 2001, p. 86–7. and ''

The New York Observer ''The New York Observer'' was a weekly newspaper established in 1987. In 2016, it ceased print publication and became the online-only newspaper ''Observer''. The media site focuses on culture, real estate, media, politics and the entertainment ...

'',Kramer, Hilton
"Goldenberg's Landscapes Look at Earth, Not Sky,"
''New York Observer'', December 10, 2001. Retrieved February 7, 2019. among other publications.Podro, Michael, Review, Roger Kimball's ''Art's Prospect'', ''The Times Literary Supplement'', January 30, 2004.Art in Embassies Program. ''Art from the American Heartland'', Berlin: United States Department of State, 2002, p. 20. Critics often note his landscape works for their contemporary interplay of stylization and observation and concern for form over verisimilitude, pointing to his beginnings in

abstraction Abstraction is a process where general rules and concepts are derived from the use and classifying of specific examples, literal (reality, real or Abstract and concrete, concrete) signifiers, first principles, or other methods. "An abstraction" ...

as a foundation that underlies his ordered pictorial structures.Messenger, Robert. "Gallery-Going," ''The New York Sun'', March 18, 2004.Panero, James. "Tom Goldenberg," Exhibition essay, New York: Salander–O'Reilly Galleries, 2004. In the later 2010s, Goldenberg has returned to abstraction that sometimes suggests interior or "fictive" landscapes.Panero, James
"Gallery-chronicle,"
''The New Criterion'', January 2015. Retrieved February 7, 2019.Gates, Emily
"Sharon Painter Shines in Group Show,"
''The Lakeville Journal'' February 14, 2019, p. A10. Retrieved February 14, 2019. ''The New Criterion'' editor and writer

Roger Kimball Roger Kimball (born 1953) is an American art critic and Conservatism, conservative social commentator. He is the editor and publisher of ''The New Criterion'' and the publisher of Encounter Books. Kimball first gained notice in the early 1990s w ...

described his paintings as leading "double lives, as memorable evocations of rural landscape and tightly organized arrangements of abstract planes of color."

Hilton Kramer Hilton Kramer (March 25, 1928 – March 27, 2012) was an American art critic and essayist. Biography Early life Kramer was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts into a Jewish immigrant family, and was educated at Syracuse University, receiving a b ...

characterized his work as "deeply mediated by aesthetic reflection" and classical rather than romantic in feeling. Goldenberg and his wife, Michelle Alfandari, have lived in

Sharon, Connecticut Sharon is a New England town, town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States, in the northwest corner of the state. At the time of the United States 2020 Census, 2020 census, the town had a total population ...

since 2016, after being based in New York City since the 1970s.Epworth, Marsden
"Inspired by A Millerton Landscape,"
''TriCorner News'', May 17, 2017. Retrieved February 7, 2019.

Life and career

Goldenberg was born in 1948 in Evergreen Park, Illinois, a suburb just south of Chicago.''Artspace''
Tom Goldenberg
Artists. ''Artspace''. Retrieved February 7, 2019. He attended the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...

(BFA, 1970) and moved to New York City in 1973, taking a loft in Soho.Goldenberg, Tom. ''Tom Goldenberg: Recent Paintings and Works on Paper'', New York: MODA Licensing, 2012. His first solo exhibition there was at the Sarah Y. Rentschler Gallery in 1978; he has since then shown throughout the United States, at the George Billis Gallery,George Billis Gallery
Tom Goldenberg
Abstract: New York Artists. Retrieved February 7, 2019. Danese, Salander-O'Reilly Galleries (1983–2004) and City University (CUNY) in New York, Hokin Gallery (Chicago), Watson de Nagy & Co. (Houston), and Swope Gallery (Venice, CA), among others.Kimball, Roger. "A Commercial Art Gallery That Feels Like a Museum," ''Wall Street Journal'', September 27, 2005.The Re Institute
"Jason Rohlf, Tom Goldenberg,"
Shows. Retrieved February 7, 2019. He has also been featured in group exhibitions at the

Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum is located in Ridgefield, Connecticut. The Aldrich has no permanent collection and is the only museum in Connecticut that is dedicated solely to the exhibition of contemporary art. The museum presents the first ...

and the

Krannert Art Museum The Krannert Art Museum (KAM) is a fine art museum located at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in Champaign, Illinois, United States. It has of space devoted to all periods of art, dating from ancient Egypt to contemporary photography ...

. His work belongs to numerous corporate collections and those of CUNY,

Bucknell University Bucknell University is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal-arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1846 as the University at Lewisburg, it now consists of the College of Arts a ...

and the

Ringling Museum The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art is the official state art museum of Florida, located in Sarasota, Florida. It was established in 1927 as the legacy of Mable Burton Ringling and John Ringling for the people of Florida. Florida State Un ...

. In addition to his exhibited work, he created the art for the cover of poet

Tony Towle Tony Towle (born 1939) is an American poet. He began writing poetry in 1960. John Ashbery has referred to him as "one of the New York School's best-kept secrets." Personal life Towle currently lives in New York City with actress Diane Tyler. He h ...

's 2018 collection, ''Noir'', and drawings for poems by

David Yezzi David Dalton Yezzi (born 1966) is an American poet, editor, actor, and professor. He currently teaches poetry in the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University. Life Yezzi was born in Albany, New YorkTowle, Tony. (Cover)
''Noir''
Brooklyn: Hanging Loose Press, 2017. Retrieved February 7, 2019. Goldenberg is a Professional Fellow at the

Morgan Library The Morgan Library & Museum (originally known as the Pierpont Morgan Library and colloquially known the Morgan) is a museum and research library in New York City, New York, U.S. Completed in 1906 as the private library of the banker J. P. Morg ...

and has taught 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 f ...

The New School The New School is a Private university, private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for p ...

and the

New York Studio School The New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture at 8 West 8th Street, in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City, New York State is an art school formed in 1963 by a group of students and their teacher, Mercedes Matter, all of ...

. In 2001, he designed a course about seeing and appreciating Master Drawings through The New School, called "Drawing on Collections," which he taught independently and through various institutions until 2014 (see below).Panero, James
An exercise course for the eye,"
James Panero, Writing, November 4, 2009. Retrieved February 7, 2019. In 2019 and 2020, he has been recognized by the Visiting Artist and Scholar Program at the

American Academy in Rome The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo in Rome, Italy. The academy is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers. History 19th century In 1893, a group of American architect ...

Artwork and reception

Critics characterize Goldenberg's command of color, light and structure and his economy of expression as keys to his art; several suggest that they derive, in part, from an idiosyncratic process that combines old-world painting techniques with modern technology. Goldenberg paints exclusively with handmade, natural pigments that he grinds himself on roughened glass in order to insure desired levels of viscosity and high color saturation.Naves, Mario
"Tom Goldenberg: Bone, Grit and Muscle,"
''The Painters Table'', April 19, 2012. Retrieved February 7, 2019. He began using digital photography as a stimulus to his imagination and preparatory studies in 1998, dividing the photos into grids from which he sketched discrete sections of paintings later worked up as layers of abstract shapes and tones, and finally, as more recognizable landscape elements.O'Reilly, William, "Some Notes on Tom Goldenberg Painting and Works on Paper," ''Tom Goldenberg: Recent Paintings and Works on Paper'', New York: MODA Licensing, 2012. Critic Robert Messenger notes a resulting "

Cubist Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement which began in Paris. It revolutionized painting and the visual arts, and sparked artistic innovations in music, ballet, literature, and architecture. Cubist subjects are analyzed, broke ...

sensibility that shines through in places," while ''New Criterion'' editor

James Panero James S. Panero (born December 15, 1975) is an American cultural critic and the executive editor of ''The New Criterion,'' a conservative culture journal. Early life Panero was born in New York City, and grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhatta ...

described the combination of observation and stylization as "abstraction and empathy at work, landscape like fireworks."

Early work (1974–1998)

Goldenberg began his career in the 1970s as a figurative sculptor of detailed, epoxy-resin works. He turning to abstract painting—between roughly 1974–1983Tom Goldenberg
Works, Archives
Retrieved February 7, 2019.—influenced by artists such as

Clyfford Still Clyfford Still (November 30, 1904 – June 23, 1980) was an American Painting, painter, and one of the leading figures in the first generation of Abstract Expressionists, who developed a new, powerful approach to painting in the years immediat ...

and

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 ...

, which largely consisted of painterly fields and architecturally ordered, rectangular areas of color. In 1980, ''Art in America'' noted this work for its lush surfaces, delicate coloration, and emotion checked by a "cool intelligence" reminiscent of

Jasper Johns Jasper Johns (born May 15, 1930) is an American painter, sculptor, draftsman, and printmaker. Considered a central figure in the development of American postwar art, he has been variously associated with abstract expressionism, Neo-Dada, and ...

. After first-hand encounters in Europe in the early 1980s with masters such as

Titian Tiziano Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), Latinized as Titianus, hence known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian Renaissance painter, the most important artist of Renaissance Venetian painting. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno. Ti ...

and Breughel, Goldenberg deemed abstraction a limitation. He responded with the expressive "Vines" series (1983–6), followed by several still life series depicting glasses, bowls and table tops (1986–7; 1997–8) and the "Grids" series (1990–6), which combined largely square grid patterns with floating, stylized representational imagery (foliage, bottles, glasses) and abstract passages of color (e.g., ''Yellow Racer'', 1990).Tom Goldenberg
''Yellow Racer''
1990. Retrieved February 7, 2019.

Contemporary landscapes (1998–2012)

In the late 1990s, Goldenberg turned to landscapes derived from the woodlands, rolling hills and farms of

Dutchess County, New York Dutchess County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 295,911. The county seat is the city of Poughkeepsie. The county was created in 1683, one of New York's first twelve counties, and later o ...

, which culminated in a 1999 show that critic Hilton Kramer wrote, put him on the map as "one of the leading landscape painters of his generation."Molesworth, Charles. "Caught in the Mind's Eye: Serviceable Art and Art in the Service of Ideas," ''Salmagundi'', Summer 2004, p. 30-42.Athineos, Doris. "Drawing Room," ''Traditional Home'', June/July 2002, p.151–5. Kramer particularly admired as "virtuosic" the pictorial dialogue between the depicted, richly variegated terrain and its distorted reflection in water landscapes such as ''Pond'' and ''Brook'' (both 2000). Others noted, in works such as the large-scale ''Grandview'' (2004), the patchwork compositional play, evocative multi-chromatic palettes, dramatic brushwork, and sense of light.de Palenzuela, Baron Corso. "Tom Goldenberg's 'Bucolic Enchantments,'" ''The Country and Abroad'', August/September 2009, p. 74.

Mario Naves Mario Naves-- (b. 1961, Salt Lake City, Utah) is an American artist, art critic, professor and blogger. Mario Naves studied painting and drawing at the University of Utah, receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1984. He subsequently studie ...

described that painting's "deceptively straightforward depiction of farmland sin reality, a fairly intricate not to say abstract orchestration of space, rhythm and incident."Naves, Mario, "Endless Landscapes," ''The New York Observer'', March 29, 2004. In 2002, Goldenberg traveled to

Porto Santo Stefano Porto Santo Stefano () is a seaport town on the west coast of Italy, in the municipality of Monte Argentario, in the Province of Grosseto, Tuscany. It is the municipal seat of Monte Argentario and one of the two major towns that form the township ...

on the

Tyrrhenian Sea The Tyrrhenian Sea (, ; or ) , , , , is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenians, Tyrrhenian people identified with the Etruscans of Italy. Geography The sea is bounded by the islands of C ...

, to paint a new environment. Critics considered the dark nocturnes, tightly cropped, tangled foliage and wild-running gardens of these works (which some compared to

Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher ('' philosophe''), writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects ...

and Bonnard) a departure, but nonetheless, highlighted works such as ''Cactus'' (2004) for their unexpected perspectives and diverse textural depictions.Tom Goldenberg
''Cactus''
2004. Retrieved February 7, 2019. In 2010, Goldenberg created his "Central Park Cherry" series of compressed charcoal, walnut ink and pastel drawings.Hartwick College
"Into the Woods Exhibit Displayed at Hartwick College,"
January 7, 2014. Retrieved February 7, 2019. It was also a departure from his more reflective landscapes in its limited palette, expressive Japanese-brush-like line, and imagery extracted from the natural context and set against the stark white of the paper. Mario Naves wrote that the scrabbled surfaces of the drawings and paintings such as ''Gallatin'' (2010) achieve a synthesis of art and nature "that is simultaneously hard-won and effortless, long sought after and utterly organic"; he compared what he called their complex, unruly world "dense with bone, grit and muscle" to that of New York School artists such as

Jackson Pollock Paul Jackson Pollock (; January 28, 1912August 11, 1956) was an American painter. A major figure in the abstract expressionist movement, Pollock was widely noticed for his "Drip painting, drip technique" of pouring or splashing liquid household ...

Later work and abstraction

Goldenberg's later drawings and paintings display an increasing level of abstraction, with mark-making that often disintegrates at the point of recognition, creating what some writers have called "fictive landscapes." Critic James Panero described his 2014 landscapes as "drawn canvases, with layered sketches on a pulpy painted ground" that bordered on unfinished, but in works such as ''Sandro's Hill'' (2014), creates a layering of impressions that conveys "both an image and the sense of an image." In 2017, Goldenberg worked on-site at the Re Institute for several months, with the neighboring Taconic Range landscape serving as his subject.''The Litchfield County Times''
"Goldenberg exhibits at The Re Institute, Millerton, N.Y.,"
''The Litchfield County Times'', May 11, 2017. Retrieved February 7, 2019. The final exhibited drawings and tonal paintings echoed the landscape's scope and drastic foreshortening with its contrasting foreground marks and linear furrow lines receding into the horizon. Goldenberg has subsequently returned to complete abstraction in late works derived from landscape and architectural space, which reference

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 ...

's " Homage to the Square" series formally, and explore the passing of time, the orchestration of daily life, and the transitory nature of existence.Tom Goldenberg
Artist Statement
Retrieved February 7, 2019. Writers have observed in these new paintings, such as ''Journal'' (2019), suggestions of "interior landscapes" reminiscent of ancient ritual sites (an influence that Goldenberg has acknowledged, based on travels to Israel, Greece and Macedonia) or architectural schematics.

"Drawing on Collections" course (2001–14)

In 2001, Goldenberg designed a course about seeing and appreciating Master Drawings through

, called "Drawing on Collections", which he taught independently and at the Drawing Study Centers of the

, 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 ...

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 ...

Hispanic Society of America The term Hispanic () are people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an ethnic or meta-ethnic term. The term commonly appl ...

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 500,000 objects. Located near the Prospect Heig ...

and private collections in New York City. The course conducted close study—sometimes under magnifying glass—and discussions of hand-selected drawings brought out from behind glass from different museum or private collections.

References

External links

Tom Goldenberg official website
George Billis Gallery {{DEFAULTSORT:Goldenberg, Tom Painters from Chicago American male painters 20th-century American painters 21st-century American painters American landscape painters University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni 1948 births Living people 20th-century American male artists