Simon Dinnerstein Explained

Simon Dinnerstein
Birth Date:1943 2, mf=y
Birth Place:Brooklyn, New York
Nationality:American
Field:Painting, drawing, printmaking
Training:City College of New York, Brooklyn Museum Art School, Hochschule fur Bildende Künste, Kassel, Germany
Movement:Figurative art
Works:The Fulbright Triptych, In Sleep, Passage of the Moon
Awards:Fulbright Fellowship, Germany;
Rome Prize, American Academy in Rome
Website:simondinnerstein.com

Simon Dinnerstein (born February 16, 1943) is an American artist, best known for the painted work, The Fulbright Triptych (1971).

Early life

Dinnerstein was born in Brownsville, Brooklyn, New York, in 1943 to pharmacist Louis and homemaker Sarah Dinnerstein. One of two children, his older brother Harvey Dinnerstein was also an artist.[1]

Education and career

Dinnerstein holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from the City College of New York. He studied painting and drawing at the Brooklyn Museum Art School with Louis Grebenak, David Levine, and Richard Mayhew.[2] [3] He was a member of the faculty at the New School for Social Research, Parsons School of Design, and New York City Technical College. He lectures widely and has lectured at Pennsylvania State University.[4]

Style and influences

Dinnerstein's art is mostly in the figurative style,[5] with folk, expressionistic, and surrealistic influences,[6] [7] [8] possessing a "narrative" and "psychological edge".[9] He uses a variety of media, pencils, charcoal, and oil paints. Dinnerstein renders still-lifes, but most of his work involves portraiture or human figures. He often "paints the figure in unexpected juxtaposition with landscape or interior elements", of which Dinnerstein says,

What interests me is the ability of Degas, Balthus, Lucian Freud and Antonio López García ... to deal with the figure ... to create art ... rich in scale, yet abstract adventurous, experimental ... deeply human ... a combination of modernism and tradition of skill medium and ... a fresh, personal response to the human form in art ... Hopefully my work speaks to these issues.

Often the human figures are portrayed against a background of hyperreality, or in dreamy surreal landscapes.[10] Light plays an important role in Dinnerstein's work achieving "an inwardness ... in the play of light that radiates from the object and renders it mysterious"[11] or makes "Brooklyn sunlight on an ordinary floor seem supernatural."[12] The use of light contributes to Dinnerstein's paintings being described as "magical realism".[13] In early Dinnerstein works, strong left-right symmetry prevails, although later works are noted for their asymmetry. Dinnerstein draws on diverse sources for inspiration: Northern European art (Albrecht Dürer, Hieronymus Bosch[14]), Mexican art (Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera[15]), as well as literature (D. H. Lawrence, August Strindberg[16])and film (Ingmar Bergman, Alfred Hitchcock[11]).

The Fulbright Triptych

Dinnerstein's most notable painting, The Fulbright Triptych, was started in Germany in 1971 while he served as a Fulbright Scholar in Graphics. It was completed in 1974.[14] A largely autobiographical work,[17] it combines stark realism with American figurative tradition to produce a secular rendering of the usually religious form, the triptych.

Writer Jonathan Lethem commented: "Simon Dinnerstein's The Fulbright Triptych is one of those singular and astonishing works of art which seem to imply a description of the whole world merely by insisting on a scrupulous gaze at one perfect instant."[10] The oil-on-wood painting consists of three panels approximately 14 feet wide, depicting a graphic artist's studio.[18] Three figures, representing the Dinnerstein family, occupy the outer panels. The central panel consists of the artist's desk, engraving tools, a copper disk of the commissioned Fulbright engraving project, and an outward view in perspective of Hessisch Lichtenau (near to Kassel).[19] Plants, photographs, old master's paintings, children's grade school writing, and an exit visa from Russia, appear tacked to the wall of the studio.[17] [20] The Triptych is noted for its symmetry, meticulous detail, mixture of textures, and sense of space.

Widely praised, with each viewer bringing a different sensibility and interpretation of the work, the painting is the subject of numerous essays, articles, and books, including The Suspension of Time: Reflections of Simon Dinnerstein's 'The Fulbright Triptych edited by Daniel Slager, published 2011. Among the many who have commented on the painting are art critic John Russell, Guggenheim Foundation director Thomas M. Messer, art historian Albert Boime, artist George Tooker, writer Anthony Doerr, composer George Crumb, poet Dan Beachy-Quick, actor John Turturro, and Pulitzer Prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri.

Personal life

In 1965, Dinnerstein married Renée Sudler, a noted educational consultant. Renée Dinnerstein is the author of the book Choice Time: How to Deepen Learning Through Inquiry and Play, PreK-2 published in August 2016.[21] She runs the popular blog, Investigating Choice Time: Inquiry, Exploration and Play.[22] They have a daughter, Simone Dinnerstein, a concert pianist. Both wife and daughter (as an infant) figure prominently in The Fulbright Triptych as well as other works.

Dinnerstein resides in Brooklyn, where, in addition to practicing his art, he teaches classes on art history and appreciation.

Videos and podcasts

Articles and reviews

Books

External links

The Fulbright Triptych articles and reviews

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Simon and Simone Dinnerstein in Conversation: An Interview with Robin Quivers at the German Consulate of New York. 20 February 2012 .
  2. Book: Dantzic, Cynthia Maris. 100 New York Painters. November 2006. Schiffer Publishing. 978-0764325434. 85.
  3. Web site: Micchelli. Thomas. 2019-05-11. Encountering "The Fulbright Triptych". 2020-11-09. Hyperallergic. en-US.
  4. Web site: Chronology of Simon Dinnerstein. 17 May 2014.
  5. News: Mertens. Richard. Essential Realities: Simon Dinnerstein Draws the Essence of Art from the Commonplace. The Concord Monitor. October 25, 1991.
  6. Book: Messer, Thomas M.. The Art of Simon Dinnerstein. November 1990. The University of Arkansas Press. Foreword. 978-1557281425.
  7. News: Smith. Roberta. Rediscovered at the Altar of Art. 17 May 2014. The New York Times. August 11, 2011.
  8. Web site: Hagler. Elana. Pursuing Humanity: An Interview with Simon Dinnerstein. 21 April 2013 . Painting Perceptions. 18 May 2014.
  9. News: Proctor. Roy. Exploring the Edge: No Slave to Fashion, Artist Draws Us Into Other States of Mind. Richmond Times-Dispatch. August 20, 2000.
  10. Book: Slager. Daniel. The Suspension of Time: Reflections on Simon Dinnerstein and The Fulbright Triptych. June 14, 2011. Milkweed Editions. 978-1571313263.
  11. Book: Abramovitch, Ilana. Jews of Brooklyn. 2002. Brandeis University Press. 978-1584650034. 169.
  12. Book: Davenport, Guy, essayist. The Art of Simon Dinnerstein, Simon Dinnerstein: Paintings and Drawings. 2000. Hudson Hills Press. 0965048543.
  13. Book: Arnheim, Rudolph, essayist. Simon Dinnerstein: Painting and Drawing. 2000. Hudson Hills Press.
  14. Web site: Triptych: An Evening of Painting and Music: Simon Dinnerstein & Robert Sirota. 25 April 2014 . 17 May 2014.
  15. News: McLeod. Deborah. Bodies of Work: From Visceral Portraits to Romanticized Nymphs, Simon Dinnerstein's Retrospective at the Marsh Gallery Shows a Stylistic Niche through Every Turn of the Artist's Evolution . 17 May 2014. Richmond Style Weekly. September 1, 2000.
  16. Dinnerstein. Simon. Looking At One's Own Artwork. American Artist. April 1986.
  17. Book: Boime, Albert. The Art of Simon Dinnerstein. November 1990. The University of Arkansas Press. 978-1557281425.
  18. Web site: Dinnerstein. Simon. The Fulbright Triptych. 17 May 2014.
  19. News: Russell. John. In Dinnerstein's Painting, An Echo Chamber. The New York Times. February 8, 1975.
  20. André. Michael. Simon Dinnerstein (Staempfli). Art News. March 1975.
  21. Web site: Author Bio: Renee Dinnerstein. Heinemann Publishing, of Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt. 10 September 2016.
  22. Web site: About Renée Dinnerstein. September 2010 . Investigating Choice Time: Inquiry, Exploration, and Play. 17 May 2014.
  23. Web site: • Simone Dinnerstein • Simon Dinnerstein • In Conversation on Vimeo. 20 February 2012 . 30 October 2016.
  24. Web site: Triptych: An Evening of Painting and Music: Simon Dinnerstein & Robert Sirota. 25 April 2014 . 30 October 2016.
  25. Web site: Simon Dinnerstein. 30 October 2016.
  26. Web site: Simone Dinnerstein and Simon Dinnerstein: A Conversation on the Mysteries of Art and Family. Vimeo . 31 August 2018 . 5 November 2018.
  27. http://simondinnerstein.com/email/cpm1412_02.pdf simondinnerstein.com/email/cpm1412_02.pdf "Simon Dinnerstain"

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Simon Dinnerstein".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.