Jules Maidoff (born May 6, 1933) is an American artist.

Biography

Maidoff grew up in the

Bronx, New York The Bronx () is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state, state of New York (state), New York. It is south of Westchester County, New York, Westchester County; north and east of the ...

where he attended New York High School of Industrial Art and

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...

. In 1955 he received his BA from

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

. While completing his MA at CCNY he was awarded a

Fulbright Scholarship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

to Italy, where he spent one year. After returning to New York, he spent the next decade exhibiting his paintings and working in graphic design. Since 1973, he has lived and worked in

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze''). Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, art ...

where, in 1975, he founded Studio Arts College International (formerly Studio Art Centers International).

Career

Influenced by the

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

ancestry of his parents, as well as childhood visits to the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

and the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, Maidoff was drawn towards a narrative approach to painting. His coming of age during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

also contributed greatly to his views on the artist's social responsibility. After traveling to

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

in 1956 as part of the

Fulbright Program The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

, his interest in the art of the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

as well as the

history of Italy The history of Italy covers the ancient period, the Middle Ages, and the modern era. Since classical antiquity, ancient Etruscan civilization, Etruscans, various Italic peoples (such as the Latins, Samnites, and Umbri), Celts, ''Magna Graecia'' ...

took root, and he frequently returned while supporting his family with work in graphic design and advertising. In 1973, he decided to relocate and concentrate on painting full time. Originally settling in

Pian di Scò Pian di Scò is a ''frazione'' (municipality) in the Province of Arezzo in the Italian region Tuscany, located about southeast of Florence and about northwest of Arezzo, in the Valdarno. It was a separate commune until 2014, when it was merge ...

(where he had purchased a farmhouse in 1970), he began giving art lessons in his studio. Affiliations with study abroad programs led to the creation of an independently accredited nonprofit institution (

SACI ''Sac''I is a restriction enzyme isolated from the bacterium Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorgani ...

) which continues to this day as a degree-granting school at the graduate level. In 2002, Maidoff's experience in Italy and the progression of his work was documented in the short film "Jules Maidoff: An American Painter in Italy", co-directed and shot by his daughter, Natasha Maidoff, and Jilann Spitzmiller.

Collections

Critics have described Maidoff's work as being related to a figurative

Expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

tradition. In addition to painting, he has done extensive printmaking and ceramic work. His works are in the collections of many museums worldwide such as the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium, the Museum of the City of Pisa, Riverside Museum in New York, Brandeis University Museum, The V. Emanuele Foundation in Cascais, the Museum of the City of Leiria, Portugal, the cities of Orvieto, San Giovanni, Siracusa and many more. His work is also in hundreds of private collections including those of the former president of Italy

Alessandro Pertini Alessandro "Sandro" Pertini (; 25 September 1896 – 24 February 1990) was an Italian socialist politician who served as the president of Italy from 1978 to 1985. Early life Born in Stella ( Province of Savona) as the son of a wealthy landow ...

Elizabeth Sackler Elizabeth Ann Sackler (born February 19, 1948) is a public historian, arts activist, and the daughter of Arthur M. Sackler. She is the founder of the American Indian Ritual Object Repatriation Foundation and the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Fe ...

, Jose Frentes Antunes, the

Pritzker The Pritzker family is an American family engaged in entrepreneurship and philanthropy, and one of the wealthiest families in the United States of America (staying in the top 10 of ''Forbes'' magazine's "America's Richest Families" list since the ...

family, Connie Brittan, and

Amalie Rothschild Amalie Rothschild (1916–2001) was an American artist who lived and worked within the art community of Baltimore, Maryland. An accomplished painter and sculptor, she was also an art teacher, philanthropist, patron, and cultural advocate. Over ...

. Many catalogs and interviews have been made about his work and he has been written about by Mario de Micheli, Grace Gleuck, Joachim Burmeister, Carol Becker, and Laura Castro among others.

References

External links

* http://www.julesmaidoff.com * http://www.saci-florence.edu {{DEFAULTSORT:Maidoff, Jules 20th-century American painters American male painters 21st-century American painters 1933 births Living people High School of Art and Design alumni 20th-century American male artists

Biography

Career

Collections

See also

References

External links