Levine, Jack, 1915-2010

Painter; New York, N.Y.

Artist.

Painter; Boston, Mass. and New York, N.Y.

Exponent of Social Realism during the 1930s. He resided in Boston until 1942. Married to painter Ruth Gikow. Graduated from Colby College, in 1946; taught at the Art Institute of Chicago, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and at the American Art School in New York. Levine served as President of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Jack Levine (1915- ) is a painter from Boston, Mass. and New York, N.Y.

Exponent of Social Realism during the 1930s. He resided in Boston until 1942. Married to painter Ruth Gikow. Graduated from Colby College, in 1946; taught at the Art Institute of Chicago, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and at the American Art School in New York. Levine served as President of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Jack Levine was born on January 3, 1915 in Boston, Massachusetts and worked as painter and printmaker primarily in New York City. Levine was one of the leading painters and advocates of the Social Realism School of the late 1930s.

Jack Levine was the youngest of the eight children of Lithuanian Jewish parents, Mary Grinker and Samuel Levine. After the family moved from the South End of Boston to Roxbury in 1923, Levine began to study drawing under Harold Zimmerman at the School of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. By 1929, Levine was studying painting under Denman Ross of the Fogg Art Museum.

From 1935-1940, Levine received U.S. government support from the federal Works Progress Administration. His first exhibition of paintings in New York City was at the Museum of Modern Art. In 1937, he painted The Feast of Pure Reason, a satire of Boston political power. Together with Ben Shahn, Levine became a leading exponent of the Social Realism School of the late 1930s. His first one-man show was held at the Downtown Gallery in New York City in 1938.

After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, Levine was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1945, and a grant from the American Academy of Arts and Letters the following year. Also in 1946, Levine married painter Ruth Gikow and moved to New York City. Between 1950 and 1951, he was a Fulbright Fellow working in Rome where he was inspired by Old Master paintings. In the 1960s Levine's interest in printmaking intensified and he was instructed in creating intaglio prints by Emiliano Sorini and was introduced to Abe Lublin who was associated with the New York Graphic Society.

Levine has taught at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the American Art School in New York, and at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. His work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and at the Fogg Art Museum. He has also been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 1956.

Jack Levine is currently represented by the D.C. Moore Gallery in New York City.