a l L im a g e s ço ijrtesy
O f
m a x gîn sbor g
Above, th efa in tin g “Foreclosure,” by Max Ginsburg, 4 0 ” x 65* oil, 2011, depicts the anguish and frustration o f people in foreclosure. O f this painting, Ginsburg, shown below, says, “It is
unconscionable that people are being evicted from their homes, especially when banks and corporations are being bailed out. This injustice is not supposed to happen in America.”
Painter Max.
Ginsburg
records the
social condition
a n d his own
political views
withvivid
realism
To see more of Max
Ginsburg’swork,visit
www.maxginsburg.com.
To order copies of h is -
new book, “Max
Ginsburg-
Retrospective,” visit
www.ginsburgretro;çom
:
BY JO A N N E Z U H L
“That wasjthe beginning of m y feelings about
theworld, about the sbciai structure, the ideas that
T n thejL950s and ‘'60s, when the world of a rt
took place,” Ginsburg says of hisenvironment as-a
I wehf headlong into the abstract, artist Max
| youth, “And that’s thé beginning of why I began to
A Ginsburg was bringing his view intojigfiter,
paint more like I did.” ~
focus. Ginsburg’s world wasn’t fuzzy around the
Ginsburg studied at the legendary High School
edges. His was vivid, animated and all. too real.
of Music and'Art and then at Syracuse University,
^’Realism is. truth and1 truth is beauty,” Ginsburg
holding fast as a student of realism even as the
Mas-said, explaining his love of a style, that was not . world went head . over heals for abstract
being taught when he was a student, and shunned
expressionism and assorted, related ’isms. He
when he was a teacher, Even today, the anti-r
became a teacher at the High School of Art and?
realism sentiment?remains strong in a modettf art • Design in 1960, and he did commercial illustrations
world that he says too often celebrates difference
from 1980 to 2004. If realism Wouldn’t sellin the .
for difference's sake. /
gallery, it would on the cover of romance novels,
Ginsburg .was born in 1931 in .Paris, but from
but only to sellunrealistic concepts. “Duringmy
the age of 2 he was raised in Brooklyn, N.Y.; the.
years in illustration, I was trying to make a living.
son of a painter and a pharmacist. From living
Painting these illustrations, required à high degree
room labor meetings to growing up Jewish during
of skill, but unlike my fine art my personal
World War II, Ginsburg was exposed early to social
expression of reality was missing.” «
turmoil, political activisnrand the hardships of
Ginsburg ism realist’s realist, from style to . .
poverty and oppression: To view it all, one had to
subject. His paintings project a simple honesty th a t1
look no further than the streets of New York,
fo\as complex as adyteom ent in time. He paints
where Ginsburg’s eyes linger to this day, most
the social condition, both beautiful and brutal,
recently at th e Occupy Wall Street demonstrations.
incorporating his own political views. His “War
. He grew up with racial prejudice, anti-Semitism
Pieta” scene is rendered through précise Strokes.
and the. fear of being murdered by the Nazis. But
as a bloodied American soldier dying in his,
he was also exposed to left-wing and progressive
mother’s arms on an Iraqi battfofield.' The scene «
thinking .in reaction to the worldaround him.His
expresses Ginsburg’s condemnation of “blood for
father, the painter, encouraged his interest in art.
oil,” „Using the Renaissance Pieta imagery to make
His mother, the pharmacist helped organize a
a point. In homage to Caravaggio’s images of
union in the hospital where she worked and
Christ on the cross, Ginsburg has masterfully, and
nurtured Max’s political wilt
vividly, illustrated an infamous torture scene from
- s t A pf
wfutfr
Realtors seek
state ban on
transfer taxes
Ballot initiative
unpopular with
affordable housing
advcoates.
Page 3
the Abu Ghraib prison* again symbolically "pointing
out the hypocrisy of our leaders who claim to be
religious followers of Jesus C hrist "
In September, Ginsburg came out with a new
book, “Max Ginsburg - Retrospective” of his
decades of work as a fine artist, teacher and ,
illustrator. Itincludes more than 150 of his
paintings, some of Which are now part of a large
retrospective exhibit (1956 to 2011) at the Butler
Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio. •
In a recent conversation with Ginsburg, the
See WHAT'S REAL page 4
The council
incumbent
Another piece of
Am anda Fritz sets
new goals in run
for second term
More than 40 years
on, People's Park
remains an
inspiration.
Page 8
occupied land
Page 12