Leon Berkowitz: The Cathedral Paintings

Leon Berkowitz

THE CATHEDRAL PAINTINGS AUGUST 5 - SEPTEMBER 6, 2022

Leon Berkowitz (1911-1987)was born on 14 September 1911 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to parents Yettie (née Pries) and Bernard Berkowitz, Hasidic immigrants from Hungary.

He attended the University of Pennsylvania, the Art Students League of New York, the Corcoran College of Art and Design (where he later taught), and the Académie de la Grande Chaumière.

During World War II between 1943 to 1945, Berkowitz served in the United States Army and was stationed in Virginia, where he served as an art therapist to psychiatric patients and became familiar with the psychological methodologies of Gestalt and Rorschach. In an interview with the Smithsonian Institute, Berkowitz recalled that “What I learned from the Rorschach was that it wasn’t the symbols that people saw, it was the abstract qualities that they saw, that were diagnostic, you know, a couple of colors, a concern with edges or the hole….all of these things supported the development of my own aesthetic.”

With his first wife, the poet Ida Fox Berkowitz, and artist Helmut Kern, Leon Berkowitz established the Washington Workshop Center for the Arts in 1945 (also known as the Workshop Art Center or Washington Workshop Center for the Arts). This Center became a cultural catalyst in the city, bringing together leaders in both the performing and visual arts, including painters such as Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland, and Gene Davis, who would later become well-known founders of the Washington Color School group.

He was often associated with the Color School painters, though he adamantly denied this connection, publicly noting his commitment to the poetics of color and the influence of poetry, music, and physics in his work over the more formalistic concerns of the group.

The Workshop Center closed in 1956, and Berkowitz and his wife spent much of the next decade traveling and living abroad, using that time to further his artistic and spiritual explorations. He painted and exhibited in England, Spain, Greece, Wales, and Jerusalem.

Recalling his time in Spain, Berkowitz told the Smithsonian, "I think there is where I really found myself. ..There in Spain, I discovered my own isolation....

I’d absorbed a great deal. The great question in my mind was whether I had found my own voice. In Spain I came to realize that I had.”

Returning permanently to Washington in 1964, he joined the faculty of the Corcora

By the end of 1966, he embarked on the Cathedrals series. As art critic Sarah E. Fen

In these works he “essentialized” the vertical, painting vertical bands of glowing color either side of a thin, cake-sliver-like white triangle. This slender wedge, wrote James F. from this core, creating changes in color intensity,” but he added parenthetically that “ Berkowitz’s real light source was the canvas itself.

“I try to explore it in all its possibilities, the vertical as a cause and result of the colo Berkowitz said.

Much of Berkowitz's work is a reaction to the work of the Abstract Expressionist Sc expressionist painters' dependence on internal psychological states. Berkowitz felt exclusively internal one. In Berkowitz's own words, "I wanted to work in direct res

Berkowitz's later paintings marry form and structure with color and light. As light emerge.

As Fensom explains:

In Berkowitz’s work, there is no spraying or seeping of pigment—and later, hardly any large brushes to sweep on a mixture of 10 percent oil paint and 90 percent turpentine. applying another. He usually applied some 30 to 40 edgeless layers. In the 1970s Berko fragments of pigment both in extension and depth, resulting in an additive mixture of day moves into night.” This creates what he calls a “dynamic form”—something that d

Berkowitz restores to color a “depth of vision” in his best work, and in those depth

In a statement for an exhibition of his work at The Phillips Collection in 1976 he sa light; the depths through which we see when we look into and not at color.”

Berkowitz’s paintings are included in numerous private and public collections aro Museum, Phoenix, Arizona; Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, Arizona; High Museu D.C.; James Michener Collection, Houston, Texas; Museum of Modern Art, New Yo Washington, D.C; North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, North Carolina; Corcor

an School of Art. He was promoted to head of the Painting Department in 1969.

nsom writes,

that seem to surge off the canvas.... In Cathedrals, the bands of color are painted on . Pilgrim,... acts as a symbolic light source. Pilgrim wrote, “Light seems to move laterally “the changes actually result from light reflecting through various densities of pigment.”

or, the shape of the canvas a cause and result of its ascent and inner verticality,”

chool in New York. Berkowitz was never comfortable with the abstract t he needed to take inspiration from some external authority, rather than an sponse to nature".

t penetrates through the layers of thinly applied paint, crystalline structures

y use of shape. Instead the artist developed a method in the late 1960s in which he used He allowed each layer to dry thoroughly—sometimes using rags or blow dryers—before owitz said, “I have continued to develop this method to a point where I can distribute the colored light. The color is therefore seen in space and changes with the solar spectrum as doesn’t exist in Color School pictures.

hs the viewer discovers the natural forms in the universe - sea, sky, and earth.

aid, “I am endeavoring to find that blush of light over light and the color within the

ound the world, including the Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Phoenix Art um of Art, Atlanta, Georgia; Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden, Washington, York, New York; National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, ran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Golda Meir Collection, Jerusalem.

Cathedral # 11 1967 Oil on canvas 90 x 72 inches

Cathedral # 12 1967 Oil on canvas 90 x 72 inches

“I don’t have the typical, you know, ways of organizing the colors as the color school uses.

But I have form.

It’s a dynamic form, you know.

That whole notion of that I orchestrate the light within a painting so that it changes with the change of light of the day, is the idea of the continuousness of space and light and form --it’s a time involvement. And it doesn’t exist in any of the so-called color school people.

I want to make my painting as close to the condition kind of fixed aesthetic. I’m constantly looking for th And Nature makes form to exist in time, and the fo there is no fixed reality.

So this is my response to those relationships and to

Leon Berkowitz with sculpture, ca. 1950. Leon Berkowitz and Ida Fox Berkowitz papers, circa 1900-1986. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution

n of life that I can. And so I deal not with any he principles by which nature makes its form. orm is always changing, it isn’t a fixed --

my work.”

Black Light, 1966 1966 Oil on canvas 70 x 82 inches

Cathedral # 13 1968 Oil on canvas 90 x 72 inches

Cathedral #14 1966 Oil on canvas 90 x 72 inches

FURTHER QUOTES

“I try to explore it in all its possibilities, the ver shape of the canvas a cause and result of its as

“I am endeavoring to find that blush of light o depths through which we see when we look in

“I used to feel that the surface of a painting is l that give life to my skin is the river of blood un the surface of a painting is something which h has. … It’s very tactile. You daren’t touch it -- w

“…to find light within light, or to find darknes And I’m much more sure of myself as a painte have a different meaning for me. “

rtical as a cause and result of the color, the scent and inner verticality.”

over light and the color within the light; the nto and not at color.”

like the surface of my skin. Because things nder it, the life under it. And it’s true. So that has that quality of tactility that a living person with your hands.”

ss within light; and light within darkness. … er of light no matter what. And color tends to

Cathedral # 23 1968 Oil on canvas 90 x 72 inches

Cathedral # 5 circa 1966/1967 Oil on canvas 90 x 72 inches

Cathedral #28 1968 Oil on canvas 90 x 72 inches

LEON BERKOWITZ BORN: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania September 14, 1919 STUDIED: Pennsylvania Museum School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Art Students League, New York, New York Academie, Grand Chaumjere, Paris, France Academie de Pelles Artes, Florence, Italy Mexico City College, Mexico City, Mexico TEACHING: Workshop Center for the Arts: Teacher, Program Director American University, Washington, D.C.: Lecturer Catholic University, Washington, D.C.: Lecturer Western High School, Washington, D.C.: Art Teacher Academie de Pelles Artes, Barcelona, Spain: Honorary Professor Art League of Alexandria, Alexandria, Virginia: Painting Seminar Corcoran School of Art, Washington, D.C.: Professor of Art HONORS: Winner of Purchase Prize in the 2nd Flint Invitational, 1970, Flint, Michigan Among 20 American artists receiving $7,500 grant from the National Foundation for Arts and Humanities, 1970-1971 Paintings in the collection of the National Collection Fine Arts, Washington, D.C., loaned to the White House Executive Wing, 1979-1971 Awarded chair in painting, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., 1982

SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS Des Moines Museum, Des Moines, Iowa Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York Federal Museum Bank, Richmond, Virginia Flint Institute of Art, Flint, Michigan Four Murals-Sequences, Harris Bank, Chicago, Illinois Golda Meir Collection, Jerusalem, Israel Harris National Trust, Chicago, Illinois High Museum of Art, Atlanta Georgia Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C. James Michener Collection, Austin, Texas Jones and Laughlin Steel Inc., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, Michigan Megatrends, Limited, Washington, D.C. Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York Museum of University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Oklahoma Art Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona Ringling Museum, Sarasota, Florida St. Petersburg Museum of Art, Raleigh, North Carolina Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, North Carolina Steelcase Inc., Grand Rapids, Michigan

Winged II 1965 Oil on canvas 53.5 x 76 inches

SELECTED INDIVIDUAL EXHIBITIONS 1953 1956 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1969 1970 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977

1978 1979 1980 1982 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989

Watkins Gallery, Washington, D.C. Watkins Gallery, Washington, D.C. Bishop’s Palace, St. David’s, Wales, United Kingdom (with poet Ida Fox) Scott Rader Commonwealth, Wollaston, England (with poet Ida Fox); New A Rina Gallery, Jerusalem, Israel (with poet Ida Fox) Mickelson Gallery, Washington, D.C. (with poet Ida Fox) Esther Stuttman Gallery, Washington, D.C. Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; A.M. Sachs Gallery, New York, N Guelph University, Ontario, Canada Pyramid Gallery, Washington, D.C. Klingpitcher Gallery, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Wa Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York Museum of University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa; Chapman Kelley Gallery, D Corcoran Gallery of Art, “Seven Lights”, Washington, D.C. The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; National Academy of Science, Wa Middendorf Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Chicago Arts Club, Chicago, Illinoi Chapman Kelley Gallery, Dallas, Texas Hodgell Hartman Gallery, Sarasota, Florida; Museum of Fine Art, St. Petersb Virginia Miller Gallery, Miami, Florida B.R. Kornblatt Gallery, Baltimore, Maryland Jacksonville Art Museum, Jacksonville, Florida; Middendorf Lane Gallery, W Middendorf Lane Gallery, Washington, D.C. Baumgartner Galleries Inc., “Beyond Color”, Washington, D.C. Baumgartner Galleries Inc., “Algonquit”, Washington, D.C. Baumgartner Galleries Inc., “Luminositites”, Washington, D.C. Baumgartner Galleries Inc., “Unities”, Washington, D.C. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, “Recent Acquisitions Show”, Wa D.C. ; Baumgartner Galleries Inc., Washington, D.C.

Art Center Gallery, London, England

New York

Washington, D.C.

Dallas, Texas

Washington, D.C.; is;

burg, Florida

Washington, D.C.

Washington,

Duality No. 2 (Feathers of an Aztec Bird) 1969 Oil on canvas 30 x 22 inches

Duality No. 14 1970 Oil on canvas 70 x 30.375 inches

Untitled 1983 Pastel on paper 22 x 30 inches Signed and dated lower right

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 1949

Mexico City College, Mexico City, Mexico

1950 1954 Workshop Center for the Arts Faculty Shows, Washington, D.C. 1954

1955 1964

Barnet Aden Gallery, Washington, D.C. “Abstractions: New York and Washington Artists” (with Louis, Davis, Pereira and Stamos)

Mykonos Art Gallery, Greece

1957

National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland

1958

Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

1960

Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C

1966

Jewish Community Center, Washington, D.C. “Washington Collects Washingtonians”

1967

Corcoran Biennial, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

1968 1970

American Federation of Arts, Traveling Exhibition

1968

Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., “Organic Forms in Painting”

1969

Museum of Fine Art, St. Petersburg, Florida and Loch Haven Art Center, Orlando Florida, “Color in Control” (with Albers, Bolotowsky, Davis, Ferren, Hehring, Morris Sander); A.M. Sachs Gallery, New York, New York; Ringling Museum, Sarasota, Florida; Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, Connecticut, “Highlights 1968-69, New York Art Season” (with Alechinsky, Christensen, Flavin, Hesse, Ohlson, Sander and Serra); Jacksonville Art Museum, Jacksonville, Florida

1970 A.M. Sachs Gallery, New York, New York; Baltimore Museum of Art, “Washington: 20 Years”, (with Louis, Noland, Davis, and Kainen); Second Flint Invitational, Flint, Michigan

1972

New York State Fair, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York and New York Cultural Center, New York, New York, “Envio-Vision”, (Design for mural for multiple outdoor locations in New York State); Annual Trustee Selection Show, Baltimore Museum; Philadelphia Collectors Show, Institute of Contemporary Art, “Inside Philadelphia”, (with Albers, Botero, Christo, Cornell, de Kooning, Dine, Gorky, Hofman, Indiana, Johns, Kline, Lichtenstein, Miro, Morris, Mothewell, Nevelson, Oldenburg, Rauschenburg, Reinhardt, Smith and Tobey)

1973

St. Petersburg Museum of Fine Art, St. Petersburg, Florida; Loch Haven Art Center, Orlando, Florida; Lemoyne Art Foundation, Tallahassee, Florida, “Flowing Form”, (with Louis, Francis, Frankenthaler, Jenkins, Brooks, Dzubas)

1974

Pratt Institute, New York, New York, “Recent Abstract Painting”; Adams Davidson Galleries, Inc., Washington D.C., “Washington Invitational”; Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida, “Contemporary Religious Imagery in American Art”, (with Botero, Dove, Gottlieb, Graves, Lipton, Nevelson, Newman, Pereira, Tobey, and Weber)

1978

Art Sources, Inc., Jacksonville, Florida, “Six Contemporary Painters”, (with Anuszkiewicz, Jenkins Natkin, Solomon)

1979

Hodgell-Hartman Gallery, Sarasota, Florida; B.R. Kornblatt Gallery, Baltimore, Maryland; McKissick Museum, Columbia, South Carolina; Middendorf/Lane Gallery, Washington, D.C.

1984

The Art Barn, Washington, D.C., “Color As Light”

1985

WPA, Washington, D.C., “Art in Washington, Afro-American Presence 1940-1970”; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., “Washington Show”; Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., Permanent Washington Color School

CV/colllections /exhibition history: Hollis Taggart Quotes: Phillps Collection statement, 1976; Interview, July 17, 1979 by Julie Haifley, for the Archives of American Art.