Irving Petlin

"Irving Petlin" (born December 17, 1934 in Chicago, Illinois) Petlin didn’t read children’s books, but rather the daily newspaper his father brought home. Steeped in current events, and maps of Europe, he became engaged as a child in the unfolding events in his family’s homeland. Petlin’s obsession with drawing made him appear antisocial, but his artwork reflected an awareness of the news during the war-torn times of his youth. Panoramic battle scenes enchanted the imaginative child. The Petlin families had immigrated from Poland to the Wicker Park neighborhood of Chicago (called Little Poland), and it was from there that he was awarded a scholarship to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago at age 17, followed by further post graduate studies at Yale University. Following an engagement of military duty at the Presidio in San Francisco along with a studio in the infamous “Monkey Block” with {Elmer Bischoff}, Petlin then settled for several years in Paris with the assistance of a Ryerson Fellowship. Petlin achieved a great and enthusiastic following in Paris which culminated in a mid career survey of his work at the Palais de Beaux Arts in Brussels (1965) which was completed prior to his return to the United States, partially in response to the United States’ intervention into Vietnam as well as the Race Riots in the South.

Along with activism, including organizing the construction of The Peace Tower (1966) in Los Angeles with Mark di Suvero, as well as the activities of the Artists and Writers Against the War in Vietnam with {Hans Haacke}, {Jon Hendricks} and many others over the next decade, Petlin began to view the Old Testament as a “prefiguration” of contemporary history. While Petlin believes himself to be essentially non-religious, he admits that he can never shed the historical struggles of being a Jew. With works that strive for poetry rather than journalism, Petlin places himself as a distant observer. Memory, not simply as the resurrection of one’s past, but also the past of others is present in his mind simultaneously, each element reflecting light of all the others. For Petlin, there has always been a hunger to see everything at once, with a startling and enduring relevance. Known also for his mastery of the pastel medium, Petlin found inspiration in the work of writers and poets including Primo Levi, Bruno Schulz, Paul Celan, Michael Palmer and Edmond Jabès.

Now nearing his 80th birthday, Petlin has shared with his contemporaries the aspiration to “investigate the truth’ and its underlying ideological, philosophical and moral assumptions, as well as the ambiguities involved in refusing to view ‘reality’ in isolation from the social, economic and political contingencies and historical contradictions. His early subjects, drawn from the experience of immigration and diaspora, reflect his anarchist, socialist, internationalist and republican leanings. In totality, Petlin and {Leon Golub}, as well as {Francis Bacon}, {Lucien Freud} and {R.B. Kitaj} would all connect in the realm of psychological narrative.

Petlin has taught at the University of California, Los Angeles, the Cooper Union in New York, as well as the Pennsylvania Academy of Art in Philadelphia. He currently resides in Paris, New York and Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.

Selected exhibitions

• 2014 "The Still Open Case of Irving Petlin". Kent Fine Art, New York
• 2014 "Paris Show": Galerie Jacques Leegenhoek
• 2012 Irving Petlin: Storms: After Redon. Kent Fine Art, New York
• 2010 Irving Petlin: Major Paintings, 1979-2009. Kent Gallery, New York
• 2007 Orpheus, Pastels. Galerie Ditesheim, FIAC, Paris
• 2006 Este Mundo. Kent Gallery, New York
• 2002 Irving Petlin. Galerie Krugier-Ditesheim Art Contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland
• 2001 Out of the Shadows. School of the Museum of Fine Art, Boston
• 1998 A Tribute to Meyer Schapiro. Jan Krugier Gallery, New York
• 1997 Le Monde D’Edmond Jabes, Pastels. Krugier-Ditesheim Art Contemporain, Geneva
• 1996 Paris is White. Kent Gallery, New York
• 1995 Irving Petlin: 1955-1995, Disegni nacosti. Studio d’ Arte Recalcati, Turin, Italy
• 1993 Swiat Brunona Shulza. Galerie Kordegarda, Varsovie, Poland
• 1992 Memories Drawn from Bruno Schulz and Others. Kent Gallery, New York
• 1990 Israel in Egypt. Kent Fine Art, New York
• 1990 The Periodic Table. Gallery 400, University of Chicago, IL
• 1990 Chagall to Kitaj: Jewish Experience in 20th Century Art. Barbican Art Gallery London, England
• 1989 A Different War: Vietnam in Art. Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, WA. Curated by Lucy Lippard.
• 1988 Pastels 1961-1987. Kent Fine Art, New York, NY

• 1987 Weisswald. Kent Fine Art, New York
• 1982 Irving Petlin: Recent Paintings and Pastels. Marlborough Fine Art, London, UK
• 1982 The Venice Biennale, Italian Pavilion, Venice, Italy
• 1981 Drawings from the Studio, 1972-1981. University of California at Santa Cruz
• 1980 Irving Petlin, Pastels. Galerie Nina Dausset, Paris
• 1978 Rubbings (Large Paintings, Small Pastels). Neuberger Museum-SUNY, Purchase, NY & Arts Club of Chicago, Chicago, Il
• 1977 Galleria Bergamini, Milan, Italy
• 1974 Documenta, Torino, Italy
• 1973 Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary American Art, Whitney Museum New York, NY
• 1972 Galleria Bergamini, Milan, Italy
• 1968 Irving Petlin: Opere recent. Galleria Il Fante Di Spade, Rome, Italy
• 1967 Odyssia Gallery, New York
• 1966 Rolf Nelson Gallery, Los Angeles
• 1965 Petlin Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium
• 1964 American Show, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
• 1963 Petlin: Peintures 1962-1963. Galerie du Dragon, Paris, France
• 1961 Paris Biennal, American Section. Paris, France
• 1960 Petlin, Galerie du Dragon, Paris, France
• 1958 Dilexi Gallery, San Francisco, CA
• 1956 Cliffdweller Gallery, Chicago, IL
• 1954 Exhibition Momentum. Chicago, IL
• 1953-56 Art Institute, Chicago, IL

External links

Petlin sites and artist pages

• Kent Fine Art Artist Page
• Irving Petlin: A Retrospective Artist Page at Jan Krugier Gallery website
• Irving Petlin on artnet

Others on Petlin, including reviews & perspectives

• http://news.artnet.com/art-world/irving-petlin-looks-back-on-five-decades-of-painting-and-drawing-159863
• [http://artinamerica.com/2010/"Irving Petlin: The Committed Brushstroke by Peter Selz.
• Irving Petlin, Este Mundo by Carrie Moyer at The Brooklyn Rail
• from Nomadics Blog: 3 Irving Petlin Shows in New York poet Pierre Joris provides links and commentary on his blog to the 3 major Petlin shows that occurred in New York City in early 2010
• Press: Three essays on Petlin link provides access to free PDF online versions of seminal Petlin retrospectives by Edward Fry (from the Wiesswald exhibition catalogue), Paul Cummings ("The Precincts of Light"), and Michael Palmer ("A Bonfire in the Starry Night")
• The Unbearable Yet Obligatory, And other shows of modern and contemporary works
• Studio Matters, Arts & Commentary: Irving Petlin’s paintings; Bernardo Siciliano’s girlie pix; a Leonardo da Vinci for Times Square by Maureen Mullarkey

Petlin in his own words

• Kent Gallery Exhibition Catalogue of Major Paintings, 1979-2009 Click here for free PDF online publication of 90 pages that documented in full those works included in the Kent Gallery exhibition from 2010, including Petlin's own commentaries and complete biographical information on the artist
• 1000 words: Peace Tower; Irving Petlin, Mark di Suvero, and Rirkrit Tiravanija revisit The Artists' Tower of Protest, 1966 includes extensive transcript of Petlin in his own words
• Irving Petlin at Kent 2010 on YouTube Petlin discusses some of his work as he walks around the Kent Gallery in 2010
• In Conversation: Irving Petlin with John Yau renowned poet/art critic & Art Editor for The Brooklyn Rail John Yau interviews Petlin in 2006