Sigmund Abeles

Sigmund Abeles in NYC studio

Sigmund Abeles (born 1934) is an American figurative artist and art educator.[1] His work embodies the "expressive and psychological aspects of the human figure; an art focused on the life cycle."[2] He taught art for 27 years at various institutions including Swain School of Design, Wellesley College, Boston University, the National Academy, and the Art Students League of New York. Currently Professor Emeritus at the University of New Hampshire, Abeles works full-time in his NYC and upstate NY studios.[3] He is the recipient of numerous grants and awards for printmaking, drawing, painting, and sculpture, including Pastel Society of America Hall of Fame honoree in 2004 and most recently the Artists' Fellowship 2017 Benjamin West Clinedinst Medal. His work can be found in many public institutions including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Art Institute of Chicago, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.[4] Abeles was one of three artists featured in Manfred Kirchheimer's 2012 feature-length independent film Art Is... The Permanent Revolution, on the history of the art of protest in prints.[5]

Early life

Born in Brooklyn, New York City, Abeles grew up in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.[6] The only child of Samuel and Henrietta Abeles, he was named after his grandfather, a renowned Orthodox rabbi who immigrated to the United States from Hungary in 1901.[1] His father, a Hungarian Jew, was a decorated World War I veteran who used his pension to open up a retail business in Sheeps Head Bay.[1][7] His mother was of Polish-Jewish descent and worked as a librarian before her marriage.[1] After his parents divorced early on in his life, he moved to Myrtle Beach with his mother where she started a new life by opening up a rooming house called Paul's Guest House on US Highway 17.[7] Spending a great deal of time alone in the rooming house, Sigmund grew a fascination for how many types of people occupy the same domain which had a huge impact and direction on his artwork took.[7] Sigmund Abeles received no formal art training in the public schools at Myrtle Beach. Searching for inspiration, Abeles found Brookgreen Gardens, an outdoor sculpture park, which provided him with a multitude of beautiful bronze and marble figures to sketch; years later, as an established artist, he had his life-sized bronze sculpture, “ Kaethe, age 9” (modeled in 1968 and later cast in Bronze in 2006), placed in Brookgreen’s permanent collection. Abeles was invited later to hold a major solo exhibition there in 2015.[8] During his high school years, Sigmund was mentored by Truman Moore Sr., a wood sculptor, who pointed him towards the Boston artist Gerard Tempest whom he later apprenticed with.[9]

Publications

  • Ronald L. Ruble, The Print Renaissance in America—A Revolution (2015) ISBN 978-0-9861109-1-7
  • Frye Art Museum, The Perception of Appearance. A Decade of Contemporary American Figure Drawing (2002) ISBN 0-295-98282-9
  • Smithsonian Institution, National Portrait Gallery, American Portrait Drawings (1980)
  • Matthew Baigell, Jewish Art in America—An Introduction (2007). Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc.
  • James A. Haught, The Art of Love Making, An Illustrated Tribute (1992). Prometheus Books. ISBN 0-87975-740-X
  • David Acton, 60 Years of North American Prints 1947–2007 (2007). The Boston Printmakers. ISBN 0-615-31236-5
  • Dan Gheno, Figure Drawing Master Class (2015). Dan Gheno published by North Light Books.
  • Face to Face: Artists' Self Portraits from the Collection of Jackye and Curtis Finch, Jr. Catalog 2013, Arkansas Arts Center
  • Yellow Silk: Erotic Arts and Letters, ed. Lily Pond and Richard Russo (1991). Harmony Books. ISBN 0-517-57752-6
  • Mirrors & Masks: Reflections and Constructions of the Self (2017). Bryn Mawr College
  • Jack A. Morris, Jr (text)/Robert Smeltzer (photography) "Contemporary Artists of South Carolina" (1970) ISBN 978-0910326070
Self Portrait with Cats
Mireille the Actress

Solo exhibitions

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Abeles, Sigmund; McLean, Genetta; Drake, Marian E; Bates College (Lewiston, Me.); Museum of Art (1999). Sigmund Abeles: the artist and his prints, 1954–1999. Lewiston, Me.: Bates College Museum of Art.
  2. ↑ Butler, Thomas (September 2012). The Figure in Contemporary Art. Cypress College Art Gallery. p. 6. |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  3. ↑ "Sigmund Abeles, Artist, New York". Sigmund Abeles, Artist, New York. Retrieved 2017-09-29.
  4. ↑ Doty, Robert M. (1992). Sigmund Abeles. Henniker, NH: New England College Gallery. p. 61. |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  5. ↑ Kirchheimer, Manfred. "Art Is... The Permanent Revolution". First Run Features/Permanent Revolution. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  6. ↑ Hardee, Lesta Sue (2014). Legendary Locals of Myrtle Beach. Legendary Locals. p. 23. ISBN 978-1-4671-0143-1.
  7. 1 2 3 Abeles, Sigmund; Paul Creative Arts Center (1988). Sigmund Abeles: a retrospective. Durham, N.H.: Paul Creative Arts Center, University of New Hampshire.
  8. ↑ Johnson, Thomas (April 14, 2007). "Sigmund Abeles: From Whence I've Come" (First): 20.
  9. ↑ Morris, Jr, Jack A. (1970). Contemporary Artists of South Carolina. The Greenville County Museum of Art. pp. 2–7. ISBN 978-0910326070.
  10. ↑ Abeles, Sigmund. "Exhibitions". Sigmund Abeles. Retrieved June 21, 2018.
  11. ↑ Johnson, Thomas (2007). "Sigmund Abeles". From Whence I've Come.
  12. ↑ Abeles, Sigmund (Aug 13 – Sep 19, 1999). "The Artist And His Prints". Bates College Museum of Art.
  13. ↑ Abeles, Sigmund (8–24 November 2000). "Pastels, Drawings and Prints". Thomas Williams Fine Arts.
  14. ↑ Abeles, Sigmund. "Sigmund Abeles: The Artist and His Prints Opens". Bates College Museum of Art. Bates News. Retrieved June 21, 2018.
  15. ↑ Abeles, Sigmund (Jan 12 – Feb 8, 1998). "Forty Years of Drawings". The Observant Hand (Meadow School of the Arts).
  16. ↑ Abeles, Sigmund (Jan 21 – Mar 6, 1988). "A Retrospective". UNH.
  17. ↑ Abeles, Sigmund (May 2008). "Prints, Drawings, Pastels, Paintings, and Sculpture". The Old Print Shop Portfolio. LXVII (7).
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