Artist

Arnold Bittleman

born New York City 1933-died Cambridge, NY 1985
Also known as
  • Arnold I. Bittleman
  • Arnold Irwin Bittleman
Born
New York, New York, United States
Died
Cambridge, New York, United States
Biography

Throughout his life Arnold Bittleman was dedicated to drawing. A student at the Rhode Island School of Design in the early 1950s, Bittleman received his B.F.A. degree from Yale University then spent a year abroad on an Alice Kimball English Traveling Fellowship before completing his graduate work in New Haven. His deep respect for Old Master draughtsmen—Leonardo, Durer, and Goya, among them—coupled with the teachings of Josef Albers helped Bittleman determine his future directions. Bittleman believed drawing to be a process of thought, and not simply the transcription of observed images—a concept he pursued both as an artist and as a teacher at various institutions (including Yale, Minneapolis School of Art, and Union College in Schenectady from 1966 until his death).

Virginia M. Mecklenburg Modern American Realism: The Sara Roby Foundation Collection (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press for the National Museum of American Art, 1987)

Works by this artist (29 items)

View all artworks
Herbert Bayer, "Every new opinion, at its starting, is precisely in a minority of one."--Thomas Carlyle, Heroes and Hero Worship, II, 1840, lecture in London, May 8. From the series Great Ideas of Western Man., 1961, metal, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Container Corporation of America, 1984.124.25
“Every new opinion, at its starting, is precisely in a…
Artist
Date1961
metal
On view
Herbert Bayer, Fire Steals Too Much of an Important Resource, from the Early Series, 1942, gelatin silver print, gouache and paper on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Container Corporation of America, 1984.124.15
Fire Steals Too Much of an Important Resource, from the…
Artist
Date1942
gelatin silver print, gouache and paper on paperboard
Not on view
Herbert Bayer, Destiny of an Old Directory, from the Early Series, 1939, gouache and gelatin silver print on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Container Corporation of America, 1984.124.14
Destiny of an Old Directory, from the Early Series
Artist
Date1939
gouache and gelatin silver print on paperboard
Not on view
Herbert Bayer, We both consider the people as our children and love them with parental affection but you love them as infants whom you are afraid to trust withoutnurses and I as adults whom I freely leave to self-government.--Thomas Jefferson. From the series Great Ideas., 1957, gouache on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Container Corporation of America, 1984.124.28
We both consider the people as our children and love them…
Artist
Date1957
gouache on paperboard
Not on view