Max Ginsburg is a powerful painter whose depictions of street scenes and city life resonate with humanity and the drama of daily life, as well as evoking the texture and vibrancy of the visual elements that make up the cityscape in which his subjects live and move.
Though he had formal instruction, Ginsburg learned much from his father, portrait painter Abraham Ginsburg, including his love of the representation of the visual world. Unfortunately, Max Ginsburg began his career at a time when the modernist establishment was actively devaluing the place of representational art.
Ginsburg turned his brush to illustration, working in the field for 24 years, and earning accolades as well as a prestigious roster of clients. All the while he continued to paint the city as he saw it.
Unlike many artists who have gone from a career as an illustrator into one as a gallery painter and seem to feel the need to distance themselves from their sordid past as a commercial artist, Ginsburg is perfectly comfortable with both aspects of his artistic career; he maintains two websites, one for his gallery art and another showcasing his history as an illustrator.
On his website as a painter you will find his work over time arranged by period, as well as some wonderful life studies and beautiful still life paintings.
On his illustration site, you will find his work arranged by genre, including delightfully characteristic romance novel illustrations and covers for young adult fiction. There is also a bio on the illustration site.
There is a Max Ginsburg Retrospective at the Salmagundi Club in New York on view from today until August 5, 2011. There is also a new book, Max Ginsburg Retrospective, showcasing his paintings from 1956 to 2010 that will be published in September but can be pre-ordered now.
[NOTE: The work on Ginsburg’s painting site includes paintings depicting the tragedy of war, and the abuse or a prisoner at Abu Ghraib that some may find disturbing and are NSFW.]
[Via Gurney Journey]
