Leon Berkowitz
Artwork
Exhibitions
Leon Berkowitz
Summer Break, Art Selections, Part I
Sunday, July 8, 2018 - Monday, September 3, 2018
MORE
Leon Berkowitz
Optic Response - Flashbacks: Summer of Love 50 Years On
Friday, August 4, 2017 - Monday, September 4, 2017
MORE
Leon Berkowitz
Color: Stained, Brushed and Poured
Wednesday, August 3, 2016 - Saturday, September 3, 2016
MORE
Leon Berkowitz
Op Infinitum: 'The Responsive Eye' Fifty Years After (Part II)
American Op Art In The 60s
Tuesday, May 26, 2015 - Sunday, July 12, 2015
MORE
Bio
Born in Philadelphia (1911-1987), Leon Berkowitz was best known as a Washington painter, having spent more than forty years in this city. Berkowitz studied at the University of Pennsylvania, the Art Students League in New York, and in Paris, Florence, and Mexico City. During World War II he was in the Army, stationed in Virginia, and in 1945, after completing his military service, he moved to Washington, D.C. He painted and taught art for more than ten years in D.C. high schools and later, in 1969, at The Corcoran Gallery’s School of Art, where he was chairman of the painting department. He continued to teach there for almost twenty years, until his death in 1987.
With his first wife, the poet Ira Fox Berkowitz, Leon Berkowitz established the Washington Workshop Center for the Arts in 1945. 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. The Workshop Center closed in 1956, and Berkowitz and his wife spent much of the next decade traveling and living abroad, primarily in Spain and Wales. It was during this sabbatical from his life in Washington that his painting took a new direction, and it is this late work for which he is best known.
By the 1970s, Berkowitz’s paintings had become completely abstract, suffused with mists of color and light. Though he was often associated with the Color School painters, he vigorously denied that connection, asserting instead that his floating washes of color carried light, and through light, a spiritual presence. And, indeed, the intense white ground used to prime his canvases radiates light, creating a luminous, color-drenched atmospheric effect. In a statement for an exhibition of his work at The Phillips Collection in 1976 he said, “I am endeavoring to find that blush of light over light and the color within the light; the depths through which we see when we look into and not at color.”
CV/BIO
(1911 - 1987)
Education:
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 Second 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 Individual Exhibitions:
1953 Watkins Gallery, Washington, D.C.
1956 Watkins Gallery, Washington, D.C.
1962 Bishop’s Palace, St. David’s, Wales, United Kingdom (with poet Ida Fox)
1963 Scott Rader Commonwealth, Wollaston, England (with poet Ida Fox)
New Art Center Gallery, London, England
1964 Rina Gallery, Jerusalem, Israel (with poet Ida Fox)
1965 Mickelson Gallery, Washington, D.C. (with poet Ida Fox)
1966 Esther Stuttman Gallery, Washington, D.C.
1969 Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
A.M. Sachs Gallery, New York, New York
1970 Guelph University, Ontario, Canada
1972 Pyramid Gallery, Washington, D.C.
1973 Klingpitcher Gallery, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
1974 Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York
1975 Museum of University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
Chapman Kelley Gallery, Dallas, Texas
1976 Corcoran Gallery of Art, “Seven Lights”, Washington, D.C.
1977 The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.
National Academy of Science, Washington, D.C.
Middendorf Gallery, Washington, D.C.
Chicago Arts Club, Chicago, Illinois
Chapman Kelley Gallery, Dallas, Texas
1978 Hodgell Hartman Gallery, Sarasota, Florida
Museum of Fine Art, St. Petersburg, Florida
Virginia Miller Gallery, Miami, Florida
1979 B.R. Kornblatt Gallery, Baltimore, Maryland
1980 Jacksonville Art Museum, Jacksonville, Florida
Middendorf Lane Gallery, Washington, D.C.
1982 Middendorf Lane Gallery, Washington, D.C.
1985 Baumgartner Galleries Inc., “Beyond Color”, Washington, D.C.
1986 Baumgartner Galleries Inc., “Algonquit”, Washington, D.C.
1987 Baumgartner Galleries Inc., “Luminositites”, Washington, D.C.
1988 Baumgartner Galleries Inc., “Unities”, Washington, D.C.
1989 Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, “Recent Acquisitions Show”, Washington,
D.C. Baumgartner Galleries Inc., Washington, D.C.
2003 ACA Galleries, NY
2007 Edison Place Gallery, DC
Hemphill Fine Arts, DC
2009 Gary Snyder Project Space, New York, NY “Cathedral Paintings”
2012 ACA Galleries, NY
Selected Group Exhibitions:
1949 Mexico City College, Mexico City, Mexico
1954 Workshop Center for the Arts Faculty Shows, Washington, D.C.
1954 Barnet Aden Gallery, Washington, D.C. “Abstractions: New York and Washington
Artists”(with Louis, Davis, Pereira and Stamos)
1964 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.
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, Baltimore, Maryland, “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, Baltimore, Maryland
Philadelphia Collectors Show, Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
“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; and 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
2008 Gary Snyder Project Space, New York, NY “New American Abstraction”
2008 Gary Snyder Project Space, New York, NY “Color Field Revisited”
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
Selected Bibliography:
“Abstract Art Goes to the Workshops”, London Guardian, May 9, 1963.
Ahlander, Leslie Judd, “Preface”, Flowing Form, Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida,
1973.
ARTE Americana Contemporanea (catalog), Colecao da Embaixada Amercicana no Brazil,
1973
Baro, Gene, “Forward”, The Unities; One-Man Show, Pyramid Gallery, Washington, D.C, 1972.
Burton, Scott, “Color it Berkowitz”, Art News, March, 1969.
Benbow, Charles, “Optical Gymnastics: ‘Color in Control’ Explored”, St. Petersburg Times,
September 22, 1969.
Berkowitz, Leon, “Statement of the Artist”, Big Bend Series 1976, The Phillips Collection,
Washington, D.C. and the Chicago Arts Club, Chicago, Illinois, 1977.
Berkowitz, Leon, “Leon Berkowitz: Writings,” An Exhibition of Current Painting by Leon
Berkowitz: The Sound of Light, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. and the
Everson Museum of Art Syracuse, New York, 1973, 1974.
Blum, Fred II., “Forward,” Leon Berkowitz, Bishop’s Palace, St. David’s, Wales, United
Kingdom, 1962.
Coe, Marian, “Reaction Range: ‘Wow’ to ‘Whew’”, St. Petersburg Times, September 22, 1969.
Corbino, Marcia, “A Conversation with Leon Berkowitz,” Sarasota Herald-Tribune,
February 19, 1978.
The Corcoran Gallery of Art, The Corcoran and Washington Art, Washington Art, Washington,
D.C., 1976.
Crumlish, Rebecca and Hechler, Timothy, An Afternoon with Leon Berkowitz, (video tape),
Osiris Productions, Washington, D.C. and the Chicago Arts Club, Chicago, Illinois, 1977.
Davis, Douglas, “Introduction”, Leon Berkowitz; Big Bend Series 1976, The Phillips Collection,
Washington, D.C. and the The Chicago Arts Club, Chicago, Illinois, 1977.
Davis, Douglas, “Newsletter,” Arts Magazine, Summer, 1969.
Davis, Gene, “Starting Out in the ‘50’s,” Art in America, July-August, 1978.
Downs, Terry, “The Kinetic Artist of Kalorama Rd., Leon Berkowitz: Teacher, Painter,
Dynamo,” The Washington Post, March 20, 1983.
Drath, Viola, “Introduction,” Leon Berkowitz: Big Bend Series 1976, The Phillips Collection,
Washington D.C. and the Chicago Arts Club, Chicago, Illinois, 1977.
Drath, Viola, “The Master Artist: Leon Berkowitz”, The Washington Dossier, May 1977.
Drath, Viola, “Was ist los in Washingotn?”, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Frankfurt,
Germany, August 9, 1974.
Exhibitions Catalogue, The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield Connecticut,
Fall, 1972.
Forgey, Benjamin, “Berkowitz Earns His Beard”, Washington Evening Star, April, 1972.
Forgey, Benjamin, “Galleries: Challenging Convention”, The Washington Sunday Star,
April 3, 1977.
Forgey, Benjamin, “A Late Bloomers Released Energy,” The Washington Sunday Star,
September, 16, 1963.
Forgey, Benjamin, “Review”, Art News, Summer, 1977
Fox, Ida, “In Spaces of Land, Sea and Sky”, Leon Berkowitz: Big Bend Series 1976,
The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. and The Chicago Arts Club, Chicago,
Illinois, 1977.
Fox, Ida, “Three Poems on a Painting by Leon Berkowitz”, In The Wind, Antiphon Press, 1970.
Frankenstein, Alfred, “Review” San Francisco Examiner and Chronicle, March, 1969.
The Gallery Guide, Cover Story, New York, New York, 1969.
Getlein, Frank, “Review” Washington Evening Star, Washington, D.C., November 1966.
Haacke, Lorraine, “Berkowitz: Exploring the Realm of Light”, Dallas Times-Herald,
April 20 1975.
Hairthas, James, “Forward,” Recent Paintings by Leon Berkowitz, The Corcoran Gallery of Art,
Washington, D.C., 1969.
Harithas, James. “The Washington Painters”, Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida, 1969.
Haritahs, James, “Introduction”, An Exhibition of Current Paintings by Leon Berkowitz: Sound
of Light, The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., and the Everson Museum of Art,
Syracuse, New York, 1973.
Heymann, Ann W.., “Leon Berkowitz at Virginia Miller”, Art Voices/South, September-October
1978.
Kainen, Jacob, Leon Berkowitz, Watkins Gallery, Washington, D.C. 1953.
Martin, Robert, “Artist as Colorful as His Painting”, The Tampa Times, February 24, 1978.
McLaughlin, James, “Forward”, Leon Berkowitz: Big Bend Series 1976, The Phillips Collection,
Washington, D.C. and the Chicago Arts Club, Chicago, Illinois, 1977.
Millet, Donald, “Berkowitz Paintings”, Pittsburgh Gazette, February 10, 1973.
Muck, Gordon, Art Views and News”, Syracuse Post-Standard, March 4, 1974.
Naylor, Colin and Porridge, Genesis (ed.), Contemporary Artists, “Leon Berkowitz”, St. James
Press, London, England, and St. Martin’s Press, New York, New York, 1978.
The New York Times, “Hippies Crash Preview”, February 21, 1969.
Press, Jacques Cottell (ed.), “Leon Berkowitz, Painter” Who’s Who In American Art, R.R.
Bowker, New York, New York, 1976.
Pilgrim, James F., “The Art of Leon Berkowitz”, Recent Paintings by Leon Berkowitz, Corcoran
Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. 1969.
Portner, Leslie Judd, “Art in Washington”, Washington Post, December 9, 1956.
Richards, Paul, “Catalyst for Color Painters” Washington Post, April, 1972.
Ritterbush, Phillip C., The Art of Organic Forms, The Smithsonian Institution Press,
Washington, D.C., 1968.
Ronnen, Meir, “Review”, Jerusalem Post, September 20, 1964.
Ruhe, Benjamin, “Visual Arts: When You’re Hot”, The Washingtonian, Washington, D.C.
December, 1978.
Schaff, David, “Notes on Leon Berkowitz,” Art International, February, 1978.
Schjeldahl, Peter, “New York Letter”, Art International, September, 1969.
Seagrave, Wendy, “77 People to Watch in ‘77”, The Washingtonian, Washington, D.C.
December, 1976.
Secrest, Merle, “Attentive Introspection,” Washington Post, June, 1969.
Secrest, Merle, “Light in Painting”, Washington Post, November 27, 1969.
Slade, Roy, “Preface”, An Exhibition of Current Painting by Leon Berkowitz: The Sound of
Light, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. and Everson Museum of Art, New
York, 1973.
Smith, Kenneth Coutts, “Review”, Arts Review, London, England, November-December, 1963.
Tannous, David, “Art: Mysterious and Perspectives,” Woodwind, Washington, D.C.
November 14, 1973.
Tannous, David, “Leon Berkowitz at The Phillips Collection and at Middendorf”, Art in America,
July-August, 1977.
Tannous, David, “Those Who Stay, Interviews by David Taanous: Leon Berkowitz”, Art in
America, July-August, 1978.
Welzenbach, Michael, “Guiding Light”, Washington Post, December 21, 1984.
Washington Theatre Guide, “Berkowitz”, Leon Berkowitz, Excerpts, Spring/Winter 1986.
Lewis, Jo Ann, “Berkowitz: A Career in Color,” The Washington Post, May 4, 1985.
Welzenbach, Michael, “Leon Berkowitz at Baumgartner,” The Washington Times, May 9, 1985.
Rand, Harry, “Leon Berkowitz”, Arts Magazine, Summer, 1985.
Power, Mark, “Berkowitz at Baumgartner’s” The Washington Post, May 16, 1986.
Mahoney, J.W., “Leon Berkowitz: Baumgartner Galleries”, The New Art Examiner, September,
1986.
Berkowitz, Leon, “Speakeasy”, The New Art Examiner, November, 1986.
“Algonquit”, invitation, Baumgartner Galleries, May, 1986.
Rose, Robin, “Electric Light”, Museum & Arts Washington, May/June, 1989.
News
