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Morris Hirshfield

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Morris Hirshfield
Born1872
Died1946
New York City, New York, USA
NationalityJewish-American
Known forPainting
MovementContemporary Art

Morris Hirshfield (1872–1946) was a Polish-American painter. He "is considered one of the most critically acclaimed self-taught artists of the 20th century" according to the J. Paul Getty Museum.[1]

Life

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Hirshfield was born in Poland, but emigrated to the United States at the age of eighteen. He found employment at a women's coat factory; later, he founded a business with his brother, first manufacturing women's coats, then women's slippers. He retired in 1935 due to failing health.[2]

Hirshfield began to paint in 1937. He was soon championed by gallerist Sidney Janis, who had a great interest in self-taught artists. Janis included some of Hirshfield's works in a 1939 exhibition, Contemporary Unknown American Painters, and a 1942 book, They Taught Themselves: American Primitive Painters of the 20th Century.[3] His painting found favor in surrealist circles; he was lauded by André Breton,[4] and was a participant in the first American surrealist exhibition, First Papers of Surrealism, in 1942.[3]

He received a one-man show at the Museum of Modern Art in 1943.[2] The show occasioned some negative criticism; Art Digest referred to Hirshfield as "The Master of Two Left Feet",[5] and the bad press the show received figured into the demotion of MoMA's director, Alfred H. Barr Jr.[3]

Hirshfield died in New York City in 1946.[1]

Work

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Morris Hirshfield, ''Girl with Pigeons'', 1942

Only 77 works were created by Hirschfield during his career.[4] His heavily patterned work, featuring women or animals, is often reminiscent of textiles, perhaps as a legacy of his first career.[3]

Exhibitions[6]

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References

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  1. ^ a b "ULAN Full Record Display (Getty Research)". www.getty.edu. Retrieved 2020-12-19.
  2. ^ a b Borum, Jenifer P. "Morris Hirshfield". Outsider Art Fair. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d Nykolak, Jenevive. "Morris Hirshfield". National Gallery of Art. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  4. ^ a b "Morris Hirshfield". Oxford Reference. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  5. ^ "Morris Hirshfield". The Great Cat. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  6. ^ Zander, Susanne (2023). 26 Artists. Works from the Zander Collection. Cologne: Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther und Franz König. pp. 158–160. ISBN 978-3-7533-0380-2.
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