Sidney Goodman: Man in the Mirror Elizabeth Osborne: The Color of ...

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From the Desk of
the Dean
The Figurative Tradition
at PAFA
By Jeffrey Carr, Senior Vice President of
Academic Affairs, Dean of the School of Fine Arts
The School of Fine Arts at PAFA is well known for its
distinguished tradition of figurative art. Specifically, it is
a tradition of painting people large-scale, at or near life
size, in a representational or naturalistic manner. It is a
style characterized by the use of light and shade to model
form, more or less “realistic” drawing with an emphasis
on depicting people in a specific and believable space.
The style is representational, but this does not mean it is
always realistic. PAFA’s figurative tradition has often used
the figure to depict emotional, dramatic, or even fantasybased
subject matters.
Thomas Eakins is, of course, our resident old master of
realistic figurative painting. His Gross Clinic was, and still
is, a powerful and highly dramatic realist masterpiece. It is
revolutionary in its dramatic realism, but it traces its tradition
clearly to Rembrandt, Velasquez, and the great realist
masters of Europe. In PAFA’s more recent history, faculty
members Ben Kamihira and Arthur DeCosta carried on
this realist, figurative tradition. In the Academy of today,
the distinguished faculty members Sidney Goodman
and Vincent Desiderio are contemporary grand masters
of this dramatic and evocative tradition. PAFA artists Bo
Bartlett, Barkley Hendricks, Wade Schuman, Brett Bigbee
and many other large-scale figure painters are prominent
participants in the national art scene.
But traditions do not maintain themselves. As anybody
who has ever tried to paint a nose can tell you, to paint
and draw the figure skillfully, meaningfully, and with style
requires an enormous amount of effort, practice, and
expert guidance. PAFA is blessed with a large faculty of
master artists representative of many different traditions
of art making. But the Academy’s figurative tradition is
especially strong, and is maintained by a faculty of skilled
and imaginative figurative painters. Al Gury, Scott Noel,
Patricia Traub, Doug Martenson, Alex Kanevsky, Renee
Foulks, Bruce Samuelson, Peter van Dyck and others are
masters of realist figure painting, and actively teach this
tradition to a current generation. The results are apparent
to anyone who has attended the Annual Student Exhibition,
and who visits area galleries. Our students continue
to excel in this demanding artform, and go on to establish
careers as successful practicing artists. It is a PAFA tradition
that dates back to Eakins, and it is alive and well in
the Academy of today.
Class of 1933
Graduate Visits
PAFA
Alumnus Leo Weisz still paints at
98 years old.
On February 11, artist Leo
Weisz, PAFA Class of 1933,
visited the Academy to view
student work in Gallery 128
and see George Tooker: A
Retrospective. As a student,
Weisz studied with Thorton
Oakley as an illustration
major and recently donated
a book illustrated by Oakley
to the PAFA library. Weisz
celebrated his 98th birthday
on February 12th and still
paints daily. The Woodmere
Museum recently acquired
4 of Weisz’s drawings from
1932-1933.
Summer FUNdamentals Art Camp
2009 Celebrating 22 years!
Are you looking for a fun, exciting and creative way for
your child to spend some time this summer? Summer FUNdamentals
Art Camps offer enriching experiences for campers
in PAFA’s beautiful galleries and art studios. Art-making
experiences such as these provide excellent opportunities for
children to explore and develop their creative and artistic spirit.
There are 24 different week-long sessions, which begin July
6 and run through August 14. A broad variety of sessions are
available to choose from each week, including Painting, Drawing,
Sculpture, Cartooning, Animation, Wearable Art, Bookmaking,
Decorative Furniture, Circus Arts, and much more.
Sessions are designed to appeal to all levels and interests of
young artists (ages 6-15 years). Campers need only bring
their imaginations!
Each camp session runs for one week, Monday through
Friday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. A FREE pre-camp session is
available for your convenience each morning from 9 – 10 a.m.
An after-camp session is also available from 3 – 5 p.m. daily
for an additional charge. On Fridays at 2 p.m., families and
friends are invited to a special reception and exhibition of the
art and projects created that week.
To register or for more information, call 215-972-2061 or visit www.pafa.org/camp
Admissions: Another First
By Stan Greidus, Vice President of Admissions and Financial Aid
Anyone who knows PAFA knows that we are proud
of many things, especially that we are America’s first
school of fine arts and museum. PAFA was at the
forefront of several American art movements over the
years, as well as being home to some of America’s first
women and African American artists.
In early January of this year, PAFA scored another
“first,” in signing a transfer agreement with a community
college. Previously, because we were not able
to accept most liberal arts credits into our Certificate
Program, community college students were at a
significant disadvantage in transferring to PAFA. The
creation of the Academy BFA changed all that. Thus,
the first-ever transfer agreement was signed between
PAFA and Camden County College (CCC).
PAFA’s leadership team, including President Dr.
Edward Lewis, joined CCC’s president, Dr. Raymond
Yannuzzi, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr.
Margaret Hamilton, Professor Kay Klotzbach, and
several others to celebrate this historic occasion with
a luncheon and signing ceremony held in the Sculpture Study
Center. The signing was covered in the local press including
The Philadelphia Inquirer and KYW Radio.
This event was historic for two reasons: it is another PAFA
first, and it will lead to a strong partnership between the two
institutions by permitting CCC students to transfer to PAFA
with significantly more credits on their record. Additionally,
Dr. Lewis took the opportunity to announce a new scholarship
initiative entitled “The Camden Connection” which will be offered
exclusively to CCC students based on the merit of their
academic and artistic portfolios. Yet another first!
Sidney Goodman: Man in the Mirror
(continued from page 1)
observation as the cornerstones of a practice that articulates
the struggle for existence. Exploring the full range of human
emotions, Goodman’s drawings describe an arc of experience
that leads from violence and trauma, through sexual passion
and the eroticism of dreams, to the warm and tender portrayal
of his wife, his children, and his dying mother. And at the
fulcrum of this arc, the artist depicts himself as a man questioning
the authority of the image, realizing representation’s
ambiguities as he gazes upon his own obscured reflection in
the mirror.
Born in Philadelphia, Sidney Goodman studied at the
Philadelphia College of Art (now University of the Arts) from
1954-58, and taught there from 1960 to 1978. In 1962 he
was included in his first major museum show, Recent Paintings
USA: The Figure, at the Museum of Modern Art, New
York, and subsequently has been exhibited widely, including a
major overview of his work at the Philadelphia Museum of Art
in 1995. Goodman has been a member of the faculty at PAFA
Left to right: Stan Greidus, Vice President of Admissions and Financial Aid, PAFA;
Dr. Margaret Hamilton, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Camden County College;
Dr. Raymond Yanuzzi, President, Camden County College; Dr. Robert Kaczorowski,
Dean, Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, Camden County College; and
Edward T. Lewis, President & Chief Executive Officer, PAFA.
We are currently working on other transfer agreements.
Within the year, we hope to sign agreements with the Community
College of Philadelphia, Northampton Community College,
Montgomery County Community College, as well as Montgomery
College (MD). All of these agreements will encourage
transfer students to consider PAFA for their BFA degrees.
These students will bring a wealth of cultural and artistic diversity
to our school of fine arts and make us a major player in the
world of talented transfer students. As community colleges
see dramatic increases in enrollments due to the current fiscal
crisis, we will all benefit from these historic agreements.
since 1979 and lives and works in Philadelphia. Including
documentation from the studio and the artist’s sketchbooks,
the exhibition will be an opportunity to experience the power of
Goodman’s art and understand the processes that inform his
ideas.
Elizabeth Osborne: The Color of Light
(continued from page 1)
associations of light and color. Clearly and impeccably
designed, Osborne’s compositions integrate the intensely
observed world with a thorough study of minimalist and color
field painting. The result is a body of work that elides abstraction
into realism and challenges the viewer to rethink distinctions
between these ways of seeing and depicting the world.
A catalogue written by Robert Cozzolino and published by
Bunker Hill Press will accompany the exhibition. This richly
illustrated book will be a comprehensive stand-alone in-depth
study of Osborne’s career and promises to be the standard
work on her for years to come.
Photo: Linda Johnson