Max Spivak Explained

Max Spivak (1906 in Bregnun, Poland - 1981 in New York City) was an American visual artist known primarily as a ceramic muralist.

Initially Spivak pursued a career as an accountant, then he travelled to Paris where he met the painter Arshile Gorky who was a big influence on him.

Spivak was among the many artists who created murals for the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) during the American Great Depression.^[1] During this time, one of his assistants was the future abstract expressionist icon Lee Krasner.^[2]

Spivak is especially noted for his mosaic mural in the vestibule entryway of 111 West 40th street in midtown Manhattan (today re-addressed as 5 Bryant Park), a work which through abstract forms pays tribute to some of the tools of the garment industry which once flourished in the location's Lower Manhattan district.^{[3] [4] [5]}

Spivak's work was included in two exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New Horizons in American Art in 1935 and Painting and Sculpture in Architecture in 1949.^[6]

Notes and References

1. News: 1936-10-22 . Art Notes . en-US . The New York Times . 2023-09-01 . 0362-4331.
2. Web site: Lee Krasner. Spellman Gallery.
3. Web site: Oral history interview with Max Spivak, circa 1965 Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution . 2023-09-01 . www.aaa.si.edu . en.
4. Web site: Max Spivak Smithsonian American Art Museum . 2023-09-01 . americanart.si.edu . en.
5. News: 1981-12-14 . MAX SPIVAK . en-US . The New York Times . 2023-09-01 . 0362-4331.
6. Web site: Max Spivak MoMA . 2023-09-01 . The Museum of Modern Art . en.