Sigmund Abeles

Sigmund Abeles
Born	1934 Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Artist, art educator
Years active	1950s–present
Known for	Figurative art specializing in expressive and psychological dimensions of the human figure, art education

Sigmund Abeles (born 1934) is a distinguished American artist specializing in figurative art and a dedicated art educator. His artistic focus delves into the "expressive and psychological dimensions of the human figure," emphasizing themes related to the human life cycle. Over a teaching career spanning 27 years, he has held positions at notable institutions such as Swain School of Design, Wellesley College, Boston University, the National Academy, and the Art Students League of New York. Currently honored as Professor Emeritus at the University of New Hampshire, Abeles continues to produce art full-time from his studios located in New York City and upstate New York. His achievements have been recognized through numerous grants and awards across printmaking, drawing, painting, and sculpture disciplines. Among these honors are his induction into the Pastel Society of America Hall of Fame in 2004 and receiving the Benjamin West Clinedinst Medal from Artists' Fellowship in 2017. His artworks are included in the collections of prestigious museums such as the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Art Institute of Chicago, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Abeles was also one of three featured artists in Manfred Kirchheimer's 2012 documentary Art Is... The Permanent Revolution, which explores protest art through prints.

Early life and education

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Abeles was raised in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. He is the sole offspring of Samuel and Henrietta Abeles and was named after his grandfather, an influential Orthodox rabbi who immigrated from Hungary in 1901. His father, a Hungarian Jewish World War I veteran, utilized his military pension to establish a retail enterprise in Sheepshead Bay. His mother, originally Polish-Jewish, worked as a librarian prior to marriage. Following their separation, Abeles relocated with his mother to Myrtle Beach where she operated Paul's Guest House along US Highway 17. Spending considerable time alone during this period nurtured his fascination with a wide range of human subjects that later influenced his artistic work. Although formal art instruction was unavailable in Myrtle Beach schools at that time, he found creative inspiration at Brookgreen Gardens’ outdoor sculpture park. Subsequently, his bronze piece "Kaethe, age 9" (created 1968; cast 2006) was acquired by Brookgreen’s collection. In 2015, he presented a significant solo exhibition there entitled "Carolina Roots."

After completing high school, Abeles was drafted into military service in 1957 and assigned to Heidelberg, Germany. There he served as a technical illustrator working on classified nuclear war plans for US Army Headquarters. Living near a sculptor’s residence reignited his passion for sculpture. Upon completing two years in the army, he traveled through Italy, Greece, and Israel with his first wife Gina Godwin before returning to the United States to raise their two children.

During his high school years, wood sculptor Truman Moore Sr. mentored him and introduced him to Boston-based artist Gerard Francis Tempest, under whom Abeles apprenticed. Initially enrolling at the University of South Carolina for pre-med studies, he shifted focus to art where he encountered Jasper Johns. Both studied under professors Edmund Yaghijian and Catharine Rembert. In 1952 he briefly attended Pratt Institute studying commercial art per his mother’s preference. During summer 1954 he pursued fine arts training at the Art Students League of New York with instructors Reginald Marsh, Morris Kantor, and Harry Sternberg. In 1955 he earned a scholarship to attend the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, studying alongside Edwin Dickinson and Isabel Bishop with contemporaries Sidney Hurwitz, Philip Grausman, Jerome Witkin, and Ashley Bryan. By 1957 he completed an MFA at Columbia University within a single year.

Returning to Columbia, SC in 1960 without immediate job opportunities, Abeles briefly taught adult classes before obtaining a three-year faculty role at Swain School of Design in New Bedford, MA. His career breakthrough occurred in 1965 when his prints and sculptures were featured in the Whitney Annual; that same year MoMA acquired his etching “Self Portrait with Cats.” The National Institute of Arts and Letters awarded him a grant recognizing his anti-war drypoint work introduced by Lewis Mumford.

Between 1964 and 1969 he served as artist-in-residence at Wellesley College where he taught despite no formal studio art major being available. In 1967 he received a sabbatical grant from what is now the National Endowment for the Arts to create large-scale anti-Vietnam War color prints alongside terra cotta figure sculptures. For approximately twenty years Abeles concentrated on black-and-white etchings, drawings, and sculpture before reintroducing color through pastel starting in 1979.

Publications

• Ronald L. Ruble, A Print Renaissance in America: A Revolutionary Movement (2015)
• Frye Art Museum, Appearance and Perception: Ten Years of Contemporary American Figure Drawing (2002)
• Smithsonian Institution, National Portrait Gallery, Portrait Drawings in America (1980)
• Matthew Baigell, An Introduction to Jewish Art in America (2007). Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc.
• James A. Haught, An Illustrated Tribute to the Art of Love Making (1992). Prometheus Books.
• David Acton, North American Prints: Six Decades 1947–2007 (2007). The Boston Printmakers.
• Dan Gheno, Master Class in Figure Drawing (2015). North Light Books.
• Face to Face: Self-Portraits from the Jackye and Curtis Finch, Jr. Collection, Catalog 2013, Arkansas Arts Center
• Yellow Silk: Erotic Arts and Letters, edited by Lily Pond and Richard Russo (1991). Harmony Books.
• Mirrors & Masks: Reflections and Constructions of Identity (2017). Bryn Mawr College
• Jack A. Morris, Jr. (author)/Robert Smeltzer (photographer), Contemporary Artists of South Carolina (1970)

Solo exhibitions

• "Century Master: Sigmund Abeles," The Century Association, New York City, 2019. Retrospective showcasing 90 pieces.
• Carolina Roots: Sigmund Abeles, Brookgreen Gardens, Murrells Inlet, South Carolina, 2015
• From Whence I've Come, Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, 2007
• Sigmund Abeles: Things to Come, Burroughs/Chapin Art Museum, Myrtle Beach, SC, 1999
• ABELES: Recent Pastels, Drawings & Prints Survey, Thomas Williams Fine Arts, London, United Kingdom, 2000
• Print Retrospective, Bates College Museum of Art, Lewiston, Maine, 1999; accompanied by a catalog featuring a comprehensive print inventory
• The Observant Hand: Four Decades of Drawing by Sigmund Abeles, Pollock Gallery, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, 1998
• A Thirty-Year Retrospective of Drawings and Prints from the Boston Public Library Collection, 1993
• Sigmund Abeles, The Old Print Shop, New York City, 2008

External links

• Official Website of Sigmund Abeles
• Instructor Profile at Art Students League
• Permanent Collection at Asheville Art Museum
• Artist Page at Art of the Print
• Featured Artist at Johnson Collection
• National Academy Event: Century Masters – Sigmund Abeles