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Sidney Goodman

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Sidney Goodman
Born(1936-01-19)January 19, 1936
South Philadelphia, United States
DiedApril 11, 2013(2013-04-11) (aged 77)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
NationalityAmerican
EducationPhiladelphia College of Art, 1958
Known forPainting, Drawing
MovementAmerican realism
Spouses
  • Eileen T. Goodman
  • Pamela McCabe

Sidney Goodman (January 19, 1936 – April 11, 2013) was an American figurative painter and draftsman from Philadelphia, PA who explored the human form.[1] Goodman received public notice in the early 1960s for his oil paintings, leading to his inclusion in the 1973 Whitney Biennial.[2][3] In 1996, the Philadelphia Museum of Art presented a retrospective show of Goodman's paintings and drawings.[2]

Biography

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Sidney Goodman was born in South Philadelphia in 1936,[1] the son of Russian Jewish immigrant parents[4] who came to America in the 1920s. His father was a furrier and his mother was an actress in the Yiddish theatre.

In 1954, Goodman enrolled in the Philadelphia College of Art, (now University of the Arts) graduating in 1958.[5] Goodman entered the Army, serving from 1958-59.[6]

In 1961, his debut exhibition in New York City at the Terry Dintenfass Gallery received high praise.[7] At the age of 27, Time magazine described Goodman as "one of the most respected and sought-after of the new figure painters."[1] He received critical attention for his New York debut exhibition and was awarded the Whitney Museum of American Art Neysa McMein Purchase Award.[3][8]

He began teaching at the Philadelphia College of Art starting in 1960. He would teach there until the spring of 1978, when he joined the faculty of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.[5] Goodman taught at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts until 2011, when he retired.[1]

Goodman received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1964.[8] He was selected to be part of the 1973 Whitney Biennial.[8] The Museum of Art at the Pennsylvania State University organized a major show that traveled in 1980-81. From 1978 to 2011, Goodman taught at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.[9] Goodman had nineteen one-person shows at the Terry Dintenfass Gallery between 1961 and 1996.[10] In 1996, the Philadelphia Museum of Art presented a retrospective of Goodman's paintings and drawings.[2] From 1960 to 1978, he was married to the artist Eileen Goodman, with whom he had one child, Amanda, in 1965. In 1980 Goodman married the artist and lifelong model/muse, Pamela McCabe.[2] They had two children, Luke in 1986 and Maia in 1989.

In 1986, Goodman received the Hazlette Memorial Award for Excellence in the Arts (Painting). In 2006, he received an honorary doctorate from Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts.[1]

Artistic practice

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Goodman, using oil paint, pastel, charcoal, pencil, pen and ink, forged a style through direct observation, creative imagination, and prolonged study of European and American masters, employing a figurative and allegorical approach lodged in modern urban and suburban subject matter.[2] He often renders his subjects with moody or ominous lighting. Goodman said of light:

Light has its own power and mystery. Things that I am attracted to come by light - the way things are formed by the use of light.[11]

Goodman's work is noted as exemplary of a renewal of figurative realism in 1960s.[2] In the New York Times, Brian O'Doherty reviews his show, describing his imagery as "a modern apocalypse influenced by Freud and Gray's Anatomy."[12] Critics noted Goodman's examination of "expressive distortions of the human form, and connected him to the work of postwar figurative artists such as Francis Bacon.[2]

Art historian and curator Anne d'Harnoncourt describes Goodman's work as encompassing "both his fascination with capturing the characteristic shapes, features, and gestures of humanity (whether drawn from his family and friends or from newspaper snapshots) and his drive to incorporate them into disturbing compositions that convey complex, even contradictory meanings."[2] From 1963 on, Goodman used a polaroid camera as a visual sketchbook, his studio full of photos he took and other references that inspired him.[11]

From the mid 1960s until the late 1970s he was particularly concerned with what he calls "the violated landscape'—inanimate structures (water tanks, gas tanks, dumpsters, stadiums, incinerators, out of scale buildings) that threaten the harmony of nature."[5] Goodman noted: "I sometimes paint a realistic picture in order to justify logically something unreal."[2]

Goodman featured his family and himself as the primary subject of his many portraits.[2] He found inspiration in the work of Goya and Velázquez.

In 1996, he said that shows and reviews always were secondary to what was happening daily in his studio.[4]

If the painting is going well, that's the main thing. If it's not going well, then all the other stuff isn't going to help. I felt that way back in the '60s, and I feel that way today.

Awards and appointments

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Selected exhibition history

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[8]

Permanent collections

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Selected Permanent Collections[8]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "Sidney Goodman, 77, acclaimed Philadelphia artist". Philly.com.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Ravenal, John B. (1996). Sidney Goodman : paintings and drawings, 1959-95. United States: Philadelphia Museum of Art. ISBN 978-0876330999.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Sidney Goodman - 1936-2013 - Whitney Museum of American Art". whitney.org. Retrieved 2019-02-05.
  4. ^ a b Sozanski, Edward J. (April 14, 2013). "Sidney Goodman, 77, acclaimed Philadelphia artist". Philadelphia Inquirer.
  5. ^ a b c d e "Sidney Goodman". Smithsonian American Art Museum.
  6. ^ Fine, Ruth E.; Hernandez-Duran, Raymond; Pascale, Mark (2007). Contemporary American Realist Drawings: The Jalane and Richard Davidson Collection at the Art Institute of Chicago. U.S.: Hudson Hills Press Inc. ISBN 978-0865591806.
  7. ^ "Goodman, Sidney". woodmereartmuseum.org. Woodmere Art Museum.
  8. ^ a b c d e "Sidney Goodman - Seraphin Gallery". seraphin.squarespace.com.
  9. ^ a b c "Sidney Goodman: Man in the Mirror | PAFA - Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts". www.pafa.org. Retrieved 2019-02-05.
  10. ^ "A Finding Aid to the Terry Dintenfass, Inc. records, 1947-1987, bulk 1961-1983". www.aaa.si.edu.
  11. ^ a b Robson, Julien (2009). Sidney Goodman: Man in the Mirror. Pennsylvania Academy of the Arts.
  12. ^ O'Doherty, Brian (December 23, 1961). "Art: Sidney Goodman". The New York Times. p. 2.
  13. ^ "Sidney Goodman -Once Upon an Era -1960". whitney.org. Retrieved 2019-02-05.
  14. ^ Goodman, Sidney; Porter, Richard; Queens Museum; Columbus Museum of Art; Pennsylvania State University; College of Arts and Architecture; Museum of Art (1980). Sidney Goodman: paintings, drawings, and graphics, 1959-1979 : [exhibition] Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania State University, July 5-October 12, 1980. University Park, Pa.: The Museum. OCLC 123154613.
  15. ^ Spencer, Howard DaLee; Goodman, Sidney; Wichita Art Museum (1984). Sidney Goodman: recent paintings : Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, Kansas, October 21-November 25, 1984 : essay and catalogue. Wichita, Kan.: The Museum. ISBN 9780939324163. OCLC 11842616.
  16. ^ a b "The Rose featuring Alexis Rockman, artists of the post-Jewish generation and Odili Donald Odita". BrandeisNOW. Retrieved 2019-02-05.
  17. ^ "Sidney Goodman". The Art Institute of Chicago. Retrieved 2019-02-05.
  18. ^ "Brooklyn Museum". www.brooklynmuseum.org. Retrieved 2019-02-05.
  19. ^ a b Castagno, John (2010-08-16). Jewish Artists: Signatures and Monograms. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9780810874213.
  20. ^ "Sidney Goodman | MoMA". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 2019-02-05.
  21. ^ Goodman, Sidney; Porter, Richard; Pennsylvania State University; Museum of Art (1980). Sidney Goodman, paintings, drawings, and graphics, 1959-1979. University Park, Pa.: Museum of Art, Pennsylvania State University. OCLC 12721558.
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