200 Willoughby Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11205, United States
In 1932, Milton attended Pratt Institute, where he took evening classes in commercial art.
2000 Carleton Street Berkeley, CA, 94720-2284, United States
Since 1954, he taught at the University of California, Berkeley.
1998
Milton Resnick, 1998
Milton Resnick
1998
Milton Resnick, 1998
Milton Resnick
2000 Carleton Street Berkeley, CA, 94720-2284, United States
Since 1954, he taught at the University of California, Berkeley.
200 Willoughby Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11205, United States
In 1932, Milton attended Pratt Institute, where he took evening classes in commercial art.
Milton Resnick was born on January 7, 1917 in Bratslav, Kovno Governorate, Russian Empire (present-day Bratslav, Ukraine). Both his parents were born in rich families — the Resnicks builders and the Mutchniks flour merchants. In 1922, the family fled from post-Soviet Revolution Russia and settled down in the United States.
In 1932, Milton attended Pratt Institute, where he took evening classes in commercial art. The following year, he entered American Artists School, where he remained till 1937. There, at the school, the artist shifted his focus to Fine Art.
After a short period of time in Paris, Milton returned to New York City, where he continued his education at Hans Hofmann’s school.
At the age of seventeen, Milton left home in order to pursue a life of an artist. During that period of time, in order to survive, he had to sell his blood. Also, Resnick served as an elevator boy at the American Artists School.
By 1938, he had his own studio on West 21st Street, close to that of Willem de Kooning, with whom he formed a close friendship in the 1960's. In 1939, Resnick started to work at the Easel and Mural Division of the Works Progress Administration. In 1940, the artist's career was interrupted by World War II — he served five years in the Army, stationed in Iceland and Europe.
After military service, Milton settled down in Paris, where he met such artists, as Alberto Giacometti and Constantin Brancusi. He lived there till 1948.
In 1948, he returned to New York City. It was in the early 1950's, that Resnick began to gain recognition for his paintings. With the new decade, his work, previously characterized by muscular, sometimes chunky interlocking forms, that seemed to function as a byproduct of a generalized aggressive attack, began to be replaced with a less fraught, loose and dispersive handling of paint. His paintings simultaneously began to assume a massive size, the largest of which, "Swan" (1961), reached 25 feet in length.
In 1971, the artist held a large scale exhibition, featuring paintings of the period from 1958 to 1970, at the Fort Worth Art Center Museum in Texas. The same year, these works were shown at Milwaukee Art Center. In 1976, Milton purchased the space, that served him to the end of his active career, an abandoned synagogue on Eldridge Street on New York's lower east side. Much of the late work was painted on rag or mold made paper, often with acrylic or gouache. During the last ten years of his life, the artist wrote poetry, that became increasingly important to him.
Also, during his lifetime, Resnick served as a teacher at different educational institutions, including Pratt Institute, New York University, Rhode Island School Design and others. Since 1954, he taught at the University of California, Berkeley.
In 1949, Milton co-founded "The Club". In 1990, he received Jimmy Ernst Award.
Also, his work is featured in many important collections of different museums and galleries, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the National Gallery of Art and the National Museum of American Art.
Quotations:
"The act, the doing, the taking up of paint and putting it down - the immediate impact upon your psyche or soul that occurs when you do that - has so much danger in it."
"There's something peculiar about artists. They have ups and downs...After a while everything you do is just wonderful... then you slide back. If you're a good artist you're going to go down. And then it's up to you."
"Painting is...a correspondence between what you are and what you see. It's a moment when something is holding together in such a way that it is a universe in itself...Within this is a test and also a judgment upon yourself, your capabilities, your promises, and the part that you play in the world. And nobody else can test that for you. Certainly not the Museum of Modern Art."
"No one escapes that moment of innocence when the world attacks him and installs within him the spirit of opposites... As long as everything within you is saying yes and no, dark and light, with big earth-shaking ideas, you come nowhere near art, I think. Light and dark don't exist for us as artists. Light is something given to you and you're allowing it to pass through."
"You have to give in to what the paint says...You have to do what it's telling you to do."
In 1949, Resnick was a founding member of the artist's club, known as "The Club".
Milton married Pat Passlof, a painter, in 1961. They mostly lived apart, but nearby each other.
