David Sawin was part of the post-war movement of American artists known as the New York School. His paintings merged abstract principles with traditional motifs of landscape, figure, and still life, in a unique synergy of European modernism and Abstract Expressionism.
David Sawin was part of the post-war movement of American artists known as the New York School. His paintings merged abstract principles with traditional motifs of landscape, figure, and still life, in a unique synergy of European modernism and Abstract Expressionism.
Sawin was born in New York City in 1922. He attended Brown University and earned a B.A. from Columbia University, where he studied with the great art historian Meyer Schapiro. Perceiving Sawin’s passion and unique sensibility, Schapiro became a lifelong friend and mentor.
With Schapiro’s encouragement, Sawin studied under the G.I. Bill at the Atelier Fernand Leger in Paris. He continued graduate work at the State University of Iowa and later returned to Columbia, to study further with Schapiro and eventually assume a teaching position. (Sawin’s correspondence with Schapiro is archived at Columbia University.)
In 1959, Sawin joined the faculty at Brooklyn College, where he taught until 1984. The art department included many notable artists and scholars; among them were Philip Pearlstein, Walter Rosenblum, Lois Dodd, Jack Flam, Ad Reinhart, Gabriel Laderman, and Lennart Anderson. Sawin’s lectures were often a first encounter with fine arts for many City College students; his empathy, sensitivity and deeply felt interpretations inspired many.
Sawin’s work gained early recognition. He was included in the 1955 Annual of the Whitney Museum of American Art and in “Artists of the New York School – Second Generation” at the Jewish Museum in 1958, alongside such notable contemporaries as Jasper Johns, Joan Mitchell, Helen Frankenthaler, Robert Rauschenberg, Robert DeNiro Sr., Grace Hartigan, Wolf Kahn, and Elaine de Kooning.
Sawin was born in New York City in 1922. He attended Brown University and earned a B.A. from Columbia University, where he studied with the great art historian Meyer Schapiro. Perceiving Sawin’s passion and unique sensibility, Schapiro became a lifelong friend and mentor.
With Schapiro’s encouragement, Sawin studied under the G.I. Bill at the Atelier Fernand Leger in Paris. He continued graduate work at the State University of Iowa and later returned to Columbia, to study further with Schapiro and eventually assume a teaching position. (Sawin’s correspondence with Schapiro is archived at Columbia University.)
In 1959, Sawin joined the faculty at Brooklyn College, where he taught until 1984. The art department included many notable artists and scholars; among them were Philip Pearlstein, Walter Rosenblum, Lois Dodd, Jack Flam, Ad Reinhart, Gabriel Laderman, and Lennart Anderson. Sawin’s lectures were often a first encounter with fine arts for many City College students; his empathy, sensitivity and deeply felt interpretations inspired many.
Sawin’s work gained early recognition. He was included in the 1955 Annual of the Whitney Museum of American Art and in “Artists of the New York School – Second Generation” at the Jewish Museum in 1958, alongside such notable contemporaries as Jasper Johns, Joan Mitchell, Helen Frankenthaler, Robert Rauschenberg, Robert DeNiro Sr., Grace Hartigan, Wolf Kahn, and Elaine de Kooning.
He was represented by the Zabriskie Gallery in the 1950’s and 60’s. His work is also part of the now famous Dorothy and Herbert Vogel collection, which was the subject of a show at the National Gallery of Art in 2001.
As large-scale abstract work began to dominate the art world of the 60’s, followed by the shift to pop art and minimalism in the 70’s, figurative expressionist painters were pushed toward the margins of the New York scene. Yet contemporary masters such as Sawin, along with Leland Bell, Robert DeNiro Sr., Louisa Mathiasdottir, Al Kresch, Nell Blaine, Wolf Kahn, and others, continued to follow their own idealist paths. In Sawin’s case, his work became more deeply intuitive: it was action painting in that he had an intensely interactive painting practice. As Arthur Danto wrote, there “were theories abroad when Sawin began as an artist that paintings were just paint, or that they were the tangible expression of the act of painting them. These theories penetrated everything being done in New York at that time, as they penetrated his work then and ever since. But whether because he remained within the boundaries of representation…or for reasons that will forever escape our comprehension, his work transcended the formulae that defined New York painting of that era much, I suppose, as the personality of some marvelous individual transcends his or her own physiological reality.”
Sawin spent his last years in Rhode Island. During this time, he produced a number of small landscape-inspired paintings that came to characterize the final, highly productive phase of his career. He had successful shows at the Virginia Lynch Gallery in Tiverton and, in 1986, a comprehensive retrospective at the Newport Museum of Art.
He was represented by the Zabriskie Gallery in the 1950’s and 60’s. His work is also part of the now famous Dorothy and Herbert Vogel collection, which was the subject of a show at the National Gallery of Art in 2001.
As large-scale abstract work began to dominate the art world of the 60’s, followed by the shift to pop art and minimalism in the 70’s, figurative expressionist painters were pushed toward the margins of the New York scene. Yet contemporary masters such as Sawin, along with Leland Bell, Robert DeNiro Sr., Louisa Mathiasdottir, Al Kresch, Nell Blaine, Wolf Kahn, and others, continued to follow their own idealist paths. In Sawin’s case, his work became more deeply intuitive: it was action painting in that he had an intensely interactive painting practice. As Arthur Danto wrote, there “were theories abroad when Sawin began as an artist that paintings were just paint, or that they were the tangible expression of the act of painting them. These theories penetrated everything being done in New York at that time, as they penetrated his work then and ever since. But whether because he remained within the boundaries of representation…or for reasons that will forever escape our comprehension, his work transcended the formulae that defined New York painting of that era much, I suppose, as the personality of some marvelous individual transcends his or her own physiological reality.”
Sawin spent his last years in Rhode Island. During this time, he produced a number of small landscape-inspired paintings that came to characterize the final, highly productive phase of his career. He had successful shows at the Virginia Lynch Gallery in Tiverton and, in 1986, a comprehensive retrospective at the Newport Museum of Art.
Born: New York City, 1922
Died: Saunderstown, Rhode Island, 1992
Education:
Brown University
Columbia University, B.A., 1948
Graduate studies: University of Iowa, Columbia University
Teaching:
Williams College, 1954-55
Columbia University, 1957
Sarah Lawrence College, 1958-59
Brooklyn College, 1959-84
Selected One-Person Exhibitions:
1988 – Newport Art Museum, Newport, Rhode Island
1987 – Virginia Lynch Gallery, Rhode Island
1986 – Waverly Gallery, New York
1977 – Gurevitch Gallery, New York
1967, 1962, 1958, 1956 – Zabriskie Gallery
Selected Group Exhibitions:
2001 – National Gallery of Art: Vogel 50/50 Fifty Works for 50 States
2000 – Janos Gat Gallery, New York
1984 – Colby College, “American Landscape”
1969 – Bard College “Varieties of Figurative Art”
1958 – Jewish Museum, New York “New York School, Second Generation”
1955 – Whitney Annual, New York
1940’s, 50’s – Hansa, Tanager, and Poindexter Galleries, NYC
Born: New York City, 1922
Died: Saunderstown, Rhode Island, 1992
Education:
Brown University
Columbia University, B.A., 1948
Graduate studies: University of Iowa, Columbia University
Teaching:
Williams College, 1954-55
Columbia University, 1957
Sarah Lawrence College, 1958-59
Brooklyn College, 1959-84
Selected One-Person Exhibitions:
1988 – Newport Art Museum, Newport, Rhode Island
1987 – Virginia Lynch Gallery, Rhode Island
1986 – Waverly Gallery, New York
1977 – Gurevitch Gallery, New York
1967, 1962, 1958, 1956 – Zabriskie Gallery
Selected Group Exhibitions:
2001 – National Gallery of Art: Vogel 50/50 Fifty Works for 50 States
2000 – Janos Gat Gallery, New York
1984 – Colby College, “American Landscape”
1969 – Bard College “Varieties of Figurative Art”
1958 – Jewish Museum, New York “New York School, Second Generation”
1955 – Whitney Annual, New York
1940’s, 50’s – Hansa, Tanager, and Poindexter Galleries, NYC
Sawin’s work was collected by the following:
Dorothy and Herbert Vogel (collection now at Dartmouth College)
Meyer and Lillian Schapiro
Arthur Collins and Linda Schapiro Collins
Jim Holt
Jacob Weisberg
W.E.R. LaFarge
Alan Trueblood
Lionel Abel
Henry and Elizabeth Moulton
Pat and Alice Moulton
Stephen and Jean Moulton
…and many others
Sawin’s work was collected by the following:
Dorothy and Herbert Vogel (collection now at Dartmouth College)
Meyer and Lillian Schapiro
Arthur Collins and Linda Schapiro Collins
Jim Holt
Jacob Weisberg
W.E.R. LaFarge
Alan Trueblood
Lionel Abel
Henry and Elizabeth Moulton
Pat and Alice Moulton
Stephen and Jean Moulton
…and many others
Biographical note: Sawin was married from 1949 to 1968 to the art historian and critic Martica Sawin. They had three daughters to whom David was deeply devoted.
The family of the artist regrets that there is no work available for sale, but it is possible that Internet searches may help identify willing sellers.
Biographical note: Sawin was married from 1949 to 1968 to the art historian and critic Martica Sawin. They had three daughters to whom David was deeply devoted.
The family of the artist regrets that there is no work available for sale, but it is possible that Internet searches may help identify willing sellers.