Abraham (Abe) Ajay (1919–1998) was an American artist who was best known for his artistic contributions for '' The New Masses'' magazine during the late 1930s and early 1940s.Langa, Helen. "'At Least Half the Pages Will Consist of Pictures': New Masses and Politicized Visual Art." American Periodicals: A Journal of History, Criticism, and Bibliography 21.1 (2011): 24-49 and also for his creative use of reliefs made of found objects during the 1960s and beyond.Cotter, Holland. "Abe Ajay, 78, Artist of Relief; Known for Boxlike Constructions." The New York Times. 14 Mar. 1998 Abraham Ajay was born in

Altoona, Pennsylvania Altoona ( ) is a city in Blair County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 43,963 at the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Altoona Metropolitan statistical area, metropolitan area, w ...

in 1919 to Syrian immigrant parents. Ajay grew up working at his father's candy store and bar in Altoona until he graduated from high school. From an early age, Ajay had a passion for art and sought to harness his artistic abilities when he made the decision to move to New York City to study at the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school in the American Fine Arts Society in Manhattan, New York City. The Arts Students League is known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may study f ...

,Corris Michael. Ad Reinhardt. London: Reaktion, 2008. and the American Artists School in Manhattan. While studying in New York, Ajay became close friends with Ad Reinhardt, the art director for the left-wing culture magazine '' The New Masses'', who inspired him to begin working for the magazine. Ajay's contributions during the late 1930s and early 1940s to ''New Masses'' were significant. Along with Reinhardt, Ajay helped to shape the artistic direction of ''New Masses'' during a period where the magazine incurred financial hardships. Ajay's contributions of covers and cartoons helped to give ''New Masses'' a strong artistic presence despite the overall decline of the magazine during the period. A lack of funding helped precipitate Ajay's departure from ''New Masses'' and as the years went on, his support for Communism waned. In the 1960s Ajay began to produce reliefs made of found objects."Tweed Museum of Art: 50 Years/50 Art Works." University of Minnesota Duluth 21 Mar. 2012 Later his often intricate constructions, created from tooled wood, gypsum and cast plastics, reminded may art historians of the sculptures of Louise Nevelson. In addition, many critics believe that Ajay's work illustrates religious architecture. It was during this time period when Ajay achieved considerable acclaim within the art community. Ajay was a professor of visual arts at

State University of New York at Purchase The State University of New York at Purchase, commonly referred to as Purchase College or SUNY Purchase, is a public liberal arts college in Purchase, New York. Established in 1967 by Governor Nelson Rockefeller, SUNY Purchase is one of 13 compr ...

, N.Y from 1978 until his health began deteriorating towards the mid to late 1990s. Following a move back to Bethel, Connecticut, Ajay died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1998 at the age of 78. He was survived by his wife, Betty Raymond. Ajay's work is contained in the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

, the

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue between 88th and 89th Street (Manhattan), 89th Streets on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It hosts a permanent coll ...

in Manhattan and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington. In addition, Ajay's work with ''New Masses'' is available in existing copies of the magazine found throughout the country.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ajay, Abe 1919 births 1998 deaths American people of Syrian descent Art Students League of New York alumni Artists from New York City People from Altoona, Pennsylvania Federal Art Project artists