Harvey Dinnerstein: Reflections on Life and Work

This exhibition celebrates the life and work of League artist Harvey Dinnerstein, featuring nearly two dozen never-before-seen works from his estate and archive, gifted to the League upon his passing.

The exhibition comprises five sections. The first is a look at Harvey himself, showcasing self-portraits and portraits with loved ones. The second explores his perspectives on care, parenthood, and family. The third is grounded in his epic genre scene Past and Present in which his fascination with music and musicians abounds. The next section is a concentrated look at his nudes, many of which were studies made during instruction at the League and other art schools. The penultimate section encompasses various looks at New York, Harvey’s hometown. It includes studies for his famous series Seasons, The Crossing, and Underground Together. It also includes a number of works of the subject Mr. Metzler in whichHarvey explores his Jewish identity. Finally, the exhibition concludes with a meditation on civil rights and the fight for equality in the United States in the 1950s, ‘60s, and ‘70s. The exhibition will be complemented by archival materials, including original photographs, letters, diaries, and related ephemera.

‍

Harvey Dinnerstein graduated from the High School of Music and Art and attended the Art Students League before enrolling in 1947 at Temple University's Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. Returning to New York in the early 1950s, he was one of a group of recent Tyler graduates who rebelled against the prevalent modernist and Abstract Expressionist styles by painting realistic pictures of still lifes and interiors that seemed deliberately unfashionable.

Throughout his long career, Dinnerstein's pastels, paintings, and drawings have documented what he calls "the powerful visual language of this cultural legacy" in images that "combine aspects of naturalism, or incidental observation, with classical elements of form and structure."

Dinnerstein was on the faculty of the School of Visual Arts in New York from 1965 to 1980, while also teaching at the National Academy of Design from 1975 to 1992. In 1980 he moved to the Art Students League.

Credit:  National Museum of American Art (CD-ROM) (New York and Washington D.C.: MacMillan Digital in cooperation with the National Museum of American Art, 1996)

‍

‍

Programs:

An Evening with Burton Silverman

Tuesday, June 11, 6pm

Join League artist Burton Silverman, a contemporary and friend of the late Harvey Dinnerstein, in a discussion of Dinnerstein’s work, their friendship, and realist art.

Curatorial Walkthrough

Tuesday, June 25, 6pm                                      

Join the League's Gallery Director and Curator Ksenia Nouril,  PhD, and visiting Harvey Dinnerstein expert Heather Coyle, PhD, for a behind the scenes look at the exhibition Harvey Dinnerstein: Reflections on Life and Work.

‍

‍

‍