Jerome Witkin : Revelations in Drawing ~ a Major Exhibition at Jack Rutberg Fine Arts

Written by Fionna Barber Wednesday, 29 September 2010 23:35

Los Angeles, CA - Regarded to be amongst the pre-imminent contemporary figurative artists today, Jerome Witkin is the subject of a major exhibition at Jack Rutberg Fine Arts, in Los Angeles. “Jerome Witkin: Revelations in Drawing” opens with the artist in attendance,  Saturday, May 17, 2008, from 6 to 9 PM. at Jack Rutberg Fine Arts, located at 357 N. La Brea Avenue. The exhibition extends through July 31. Jerome Witkin (b. 1939 in Brooklyn) has been at it for quite some time. There is nothing neutral or objective in his work. He is, in fact, one of the American artists who resuscitated narrative painting after the heyday of abstraction.

Known for his large scale paintings, which critics have described as being among the great narrative paintings of our time, “Jerome Witkin: Revelations in Drawing,” will be dedicated to Witkin’s equally remarkable drawings, offering an expansive view of the artist’s work.  Included will be large scale drawings with remarkable power and poignancy, such as “Vincent and Death,” a dramatic six-foot work where Witkin masterfully envisions Van Gogh - simultaneously defiant and resigned -  in encountering death as it peers through a confessional-like window. 

Witkin’s full range of subjects can be seen in this exhibition which includes revealing, intimate figure studies and portraits, and the palpable atmosphere in his urban landscapes; be they of gritty New York scenes or his recent drawings of Jerusalem. Witkin’s psychologically charged portraits are exampled by his prophetically empathetic 2004 portrait of the artist R.B. Kitaj, whose recent death shocked the art world. Kitaj cited Witkin as “the greatest figurative painter in America.”

Jerome Witkin was born in 1939 in Brooklyn, the identical twin brother of renowned photographer, Joel Peter Witkin.  Jerome’s artistic talents were realized early.  Even before graduating high school, he won prizes and art scholarships, and found himself in the company of Ben Shahn, Isabel Bishop, George Grosz, Jack Levine, Mark Rothko, Willem deKooning, and other important artists of the period. Since 1971, Jerome Witkin has been a distinguished Professor of Painting at Syracuse University’s College of Art and Design. During which he has exhibited widely, receiving national critical acclaim and has been likened to Lucien Freud, Manet, Ingres, and Goya for both his technical mastery and psychological insight. Witkin’s previous exhibitions have drawn rave reviews. The Los Angeles Times  hailed Witkin’s “indelible, pungent force,” and cited his work as “. . . a breakthrough in post-Cold-War art.” Art in America declared: “Jerome Witkin charges the realism of his paintings with Action-Painting technique, tour-de-force draftsmanship and emotionally loaded narration.” Art historian Donald Kuspit, called Witkin’s works “dreams in the grand visionary manner of the Old Masters” . . . painted with the rhapsodic abandon of pure sensation . . . unequivocal masterpieces.” Indeed, art critic Kenneth Baker has declared that “Witkin’s only peer is Lucien Freud.”

Increasingly recognized as one of the most formidable contemporary figurative painters, Witkin’s works are found in the permanent collection of prominent museums around the world that include the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., and the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy.

The 68-year-old painter, based in Syracuse, N.Y., is widely regarded as a virtuoso realist, but some of his most powerful images are hallucinatory reveries. Bravura brushwork and florid lines characterize the rigorous and dazzling craftsmanship evident in each of the portraits, cityscapes and elaborate figure compositions that are on view. Witkin, however, never lets his technical facility upstage the keenly observed or imagined scenes, which are invariably full of acerbic wit, humor and considerable charm.

In addition to this major exhibition “Revelations in Drawing,” the Rutberg Gallery will also present a selection of works by important modern and contemporary artists.

Jack Rutberg Fine Arts has been located at its current La Brea location for over 27 years and continuously presents solo exhibitions by gallery represented artists including Hans Burkhardt, Oskar Fischinger, Patrick Graham, Ruth Weisberg, Francisco Zuniga and Jerome Witkin. The gallery has presented a wide range of solo exhibitions of major international artists  including Alexander Calder, Sam Francis, Arshile Gorky,  Käthe Kollwitz, Pablo Picasso, Georges Rouault, Ed Ruscha, Antoni Tapies, Max Weber, and other significant 20th century artists.  Thematic exhibitions presented by the gallery have included major surveys of German Expressionism, California Modern Art, Los Angeles Contemporary Art, as well as numerous group exhibitions.

Particularly noteworthy for its emphasis on education, Jack Rutberg has presented numerous lectures and panel discussions. Through that endeavor, the gallery has been an important resource for established and beginning collectors, art historians, and museums internationally.

“Jerome Witkin: Revelations in Drawing” opens May 17th , with a reception honoring the artist from 6 till 9 PM.  The exhibition extends through July 31st.  Jack Rutberg Fine Arts is located at 357 North La Brea Avenue, Los Angeles, California. For more information, please phone (323) 938-5222 or email the gallery at jrutberg-at-jackrutbergfinearts.com / Website : www.jackrutbergfinearts.com