Home  ›  20th century Art  ›  21st Century Art  ›  American Art  ›  Awarded Artist
Textual description of firstImageUrl

Max Ginsburg, 1931

By Art periods and styles , , ,
Born in Paris, France, Max Ginsburg, is an realist artist and teacher.
His paintings explore the range of daily human life, concerned as much with life's ironies and social injustices, as with its many joys.
Issues of war and peace, racism and the inhumanity of man have been a major focus in his art.
The son of a painter, Ginsburg studied art at New York City's famed High School of Music and Art and then at Syracuse University.



He earned his living as a commercial artist from 1955-1960, and then acquired a full-time teaching job at New York City's High School of Art and Design from 1960-1981.
Ginsburg worked as an illustrator from 1980-2004, achieving particular success painting covers for novels.
Growing up during the Depression in the Jewish neighborhood of Boro Park, Ginsburg witnessed racism against Jews, blacks and other non-whites.

His youth also was shaped by the unfolding horrors of World War II, and both anti-war and civil-rights themes show up repeatedly in his work.
Every pedestrian's face wears a telling expression, and every action commands scrutiny as a mini drama unfolds across the canvas.
These are the endeavors of a deft and prolific painter whose career spans more than 55 years and whose works are praised as political and social commentaries recognizing the struggles of everyday citizens.


"I have lived and worked in New York all my life.
As a New Yorker, I feel a personal and deep connection to this rich, energetic, and beautiful city with its amazingly diverse population.
My objective is to paint about the people of New York, realistically and with compassion.
I have expressed my strongly held feelings about peace and justice; deep outrage to war, injustice, and torture are conveyed in some of my paintings.

With regard to these themes, I have been inspired by Old Masters such as Caravaggio, Goya, Kollwitz, and Picasso.
I choose to paint realistically because I believe realism is truth and truth is beauty.
I derive an aesthetic pleasure in skillfully done realistic drawings and paintings.
I believe that realism can communicate ideas strongly and it is this communication that is extremely important to me".


His true to life New York City sidewalk scenes have received numerous awards including, Christopher Award, Pauline Law Award, The Edith Lehman Prize, and honorable mentions from both Audubon and Salamagundi.

Ginsburg is an active member of the Allied Artists and the Society of Illustrators and his work has been commissioned by New York Times Magazine, Fortune Magazine, Harper Collins Publications, Dial Books/Penguin Publications and many others.
His paintings also hang in many prominent collections, such as New Britain Museum of American Art, Connecticut, Martin Luther King Labor Center, H. J. Heinz Company and those of Jules Bernstein, Dom DeLuise, Edgar Bronfman, Harvey Fierstein, and David Brenner.








Nato a Parigi, Max Ginsburg è un artista newyorkese i cui dipinti sono estremamente realistici nella forma e nel contenuto.
I suoi dipinti esplorano la gamma della vita umana quotidiana, preoccupandosi tanto delle ironie della vita e delle ingiustizie sociali, quanto delle sue numerose gioie.
Le questioni relative alla guerra ed alla pace, al razzismo e alla disumanità dell'uomo sono state al centro della sua arte.
Figlio di un pittore, Ginsburg ha studiato arte alla famosa High School of Music and Art di New York e poi alla Syracuse University.


Si guadagnò da vivere come artista pubblicitario dal 1955 al 1960, e poi ottenne un lavoro di insegnante a tempo pieno presso la High School of Art and Design di New York dal 1960 al 1981.
Ginsburg ha lavorato come illustratore dal 1980 al 2004, ottenendo particolare successo dipingendo copertine di romanzi.
È stato anche uno dei più importanti illustratori americani e ha insegnato per quarant'anni alla School of Visual Arts, all'Art Students League e alla High School of Art and Design.
Ginsburg tiene ancora seminari e lezioni nel tempo libero.


Ha esposto ampiamente e vinto numerosi premi.
Oltre alle mostre personali, tra cui una retrospettiva del 2011 al Butler Institute of American Art ed al Salmagundi Club, il suo lavoro è stato incluso nelle mostre di metà anno del Butler Institute, nella Biennale della National Academy of Design e nell'Accademia di arti e lettere (Concorso Hassam), nel Museo della Città di New York (Mostra di dipinti su New York), i Christophers, l'Art Renewal Center, la Society of Illustrators e la New York Historical Society.
Il suo lavoro è anche nelle collezioni di musei come il New Britain Museum, l'Art Renewal Center, la Fairleigh Dickinson University e la Society of Illustrators.