Irving Norman was born in Vilna, Russian Empire in the year 1906. After World War 2 this area became the country of Poland. Norman was a Surrealist painter and was adept and painting large groupings of people. His family came to the United States in 1923. The family lived in New York City and he became a barber.
For his artistic education Norman attended the California School of Fine Arts. Norman studied at the Art Students League of New York City where he mentored under Robert Beverly Hale, a master at painting and drawing the figure.
Norman was influenced by Pablo Picasso and the great Mexican muralist painters including Diego Rivera and more so Jose Orozco. Norman worked in watercolors, oils, and was an excellent draftsman.
Norman was under surveillance by the F.B.I. for his political beliefs.
Norman has been part of the shows at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and the San Francisco Museum of Art.
Price range information: Sorry none available.
If you enjoy this type of Surrealism be sure and check out painter Hillary Harkness, already profiled here. Harkness paints in great detail large groups of women at sea and on boats. A true woman’s world. Below is an example of Hilary Harkness, she enjoys painting large groups of women on boats much of the time:
In this clip we view a show by Irving Norman:
In this clip curators speak about the art of Irving Norman:
The artist is best known for painting the female figure set among submarines or other large vessels. Most of her paintings make a social commentary on the current and past women of the world and where they are headed into the next century.
The artist was born in the year 1971 in Detroit, Michigan. The artist attended the University of California at Berkeley for her bachelors of art degree. For her M.F.A. Harkness attended Yale University.
Short interview with Hilary Harkness and another artist, Andra Ursata.
Artist and art critic James Kalm visits the Mary Boone Gallery in New York city to view a show given about Hilary Harkness.
For a short period in her life the artist lived in San Francisco. Here she talks about her experiences of living on both coasts, and how each helped to develop her as an artist and as a person. She loved San Francisco but had to move back to the east coast as she couldn’t find a gallery that would take her. She definitely had the last laugh!
The thing I like about this artist is her ability to overcome obstacles in order to achieve her artistic goals. After leaving the east coast and moving west she thought she would stop painting, but living in the Bay area she continued to paint. Although she tried without success to find gallery representation in San Francisco, she was able to achieve her style. No more mimicking other artists or themes she wasn’t that interested in.
She is now my definition for a modern day Surrealist painter. She has created her own universe void of men and their destructive ways. Her paintings of submarines showing the entire crew to be women are full of detail and bring a new definition to Rosie the riveter! The new century has seen women move into the workplace faster than ever, in her universe women can be called upon to do anything a man can, only successfully. The more I look at her art, the more it makes me smile. Her vision is somewhat true, as men are shrinking from the workforce at an alarming rate, but this is due to the fact more women are attending college and the industrial jobs that men used to have exclusively go to machines or have disappeared altogether.
The artist seems to make a point of women being seen as sex objects but the paintings are funny in that the women in each painting are trying to be sexy and controlling over each other rather than any man. Is the artist trying to state that even if you remove men from the picture entirely, the women might try to be more controlling or act sexier towards each other? As I look through her well painted ships its seems I can always find myself another question to ask about a particular painting.
Low price range: Graphite drawings starting around $3,000. Original oils at $20,000. The artist paints very slowly and with a great amount of detail only finishing around five paintings per year.
High price range: Oil painting for $66,000.
I hope this artist inspires you to never give up no matter how many people don’t have confidence in your abilities. Always believe in YOU!
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