George Nama: Fleeting Images: A Survey @ Shepherd W&K Galleries in NY

I know, this is a Pittsburgh art blog mostly but as usual on my last NY trip I came across several shows of local artists or people with strong ties to the city.

George Nama was my favorite teacher at Pratt Institute; I knew he was from Pittsburgh and attended Carnegie Tech. As great as he was as a teacher, the truth is he rarely showed us much of his own personal work, preferring that we find our own paths.

I had to pop in when I saw his name on an uptown, NY gallery not far from The Met. The show turned out to be a mini retrospective tilted towards very early works from his Homestead youth in the 1950's. Even the smallest and earliest works shown seen to have a quiet poetic power and often strangeness. He is very sensitive to nuance, texture and line.

Check out the catalog and if you are in NYC, check out the show which includes several large drawings and watercolors picturing Homestead in the late 1950's.

George Nama: Fleeting Images: A Survey
June 4th
through July 26th, 2013

Shepherd  W & K  Galleries
58 East 79th Street
New York, New York 10075 USA
Tel: (212) 861-4050

Tuesday through Saturday 10 am until 6 pm or by appointment.

Closing Reception for A Painters Legacy: The Students of Samuel Rosenberg @ Pittsburgh JCC April 30, 6-8

Seima Horvitz, Seima’s Family Seder, undated, oil on canvas, 32 1/2 x 42 inches, private collection

A last chance to see this truly amazing show at the JCC on Saturday. I know it's a full day but you will be sorry if you miss this. Also, the opening proved to be a great gathering of Pittsburgh's older generation of artists, many of whom studied under Rosenberg.

"A Painter’s Legacy is an expansive exhibit comprised of the rich and diverse work of individual artists taught and influenced by Samuel Rosenberg. A professor at Carnegie Mellon University (formerly Carnegie Institute of Technology) for 40 years and at the Young Men & Women’s Hebrew Association for 39 years, Rosenberg is credited with directly influencing four successive generations of artists. The exhibit underscores his students’ artistic achievements that, combined, span more than half a century and reflect the major art movements of the latter half of the 20th century."

Some press from the show

Post Gazette

Pop City

Pittsburgh Tribune Review

The Jewish Chronicle

Pitt News

CMU : The Tartan

From the Tartan,

"Although his famous pupils are impressive, equally impressive is the sheer number of his students and how loyal they still remain to Rosenberg. “The kind of person he was, as well as the kind of professor he was, in addition to the number of artists not only in Pittsburgh but really all throughout the United States, and their continual loyalty to him made [creating the exhibit] a pretty easy process for me to take up,” Hiller said. “People who studied with Samuel Rosenberg completely understand and are honored by the historical approaches and curatorial projects that people like me have, so all I really had to do was introduce myself and discuss the [exhibit] ... people were so generous because they still have such a love for Rosenberg.”

The exhibit is made up of 76 works of art from over 50 of his students, with only one of Rosenberg’s paintings. “The concept [of the exhibit] is to show his teaching style and what he taught the students who were in his class, so it’s an exhibition that’s a balance of showing him as a teacher, but showing the artwork by the students, both from Carnegie Mellon University as well as [the YM&WHA],” Hiller explained."

Exhibition Website

Sadly, this exhibit failed to get any of the national attention it deserved.

5738 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15217
p 412-521-8010

A Painter's Legacy: The Students Of Samuel Rosenberg @JCC

Samuel Rosenberg was a great Pittsburgh artist, who in spite of being widely shown here, still is under appreciated. This show at the Pittsburgh JCC looks into his other, perhaps greater legacy as a teacher and influence on hundreds of artists.

As a student at Pratt in NY, I was taught basic drawing and printmaking by Rosenberg student, George Nama.

My one gripe about this show, which includes so much great work, is that it still barely scratches the surface. This was a show for The Miller Gallery; The Pittsburgh Center for the Arts or even better The Warhol, since Andy also was a student. I mean--you need the whole Warhol.

“I could spend the rest of my curatorial career grouping these works together,” said Hiller, the AJM’s director. “I could do that for the next 30 years.”

The number of possible artists who could have been tapped for the exhibition is seemingly endless: “A Painter’s Legacy” taps only a fraction of Rosenberg’s students, whether they painted with him at the Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie Mellon University), the Irene Kaufmann Settlement in the Hill District or the Y in Oakland."

A few highlights of the show, which included lots of loans from museums, artists and artist estates included works by Abe Weiner, Jane Haskell, George Nama, Philip Pearlstein, Aaronel deRoy Gruber, Marie Kelly and Milton Weiss. A nice addition are informative labels and quotes from artists.

Again from The Jewish Chronicle,

Though Rosenberg was an active painter from 1915 to 1972 and taught countless students, there was no resulting “Rosenbergian school,” in terms of style, said Hiller. “That would’ve been antithetical to Rosenberg, or to any good professor who wants to teach students how to have confidence in their own style.”

A Painter’s Legacy: The Students of
Samuel Rosenberg

Open through April 30

Opening reception, March 13, 1 to 3 p.m.

Fine Perlow Weis Gallery and Berger Gallery

American Jewish Museum, Jewish

Community Center

Read more

POP City

The Jewish Chronicle