Where Have All the David Levines Gone?

First Da Vinci, now Picasso.  Even as his name is on a banner that drapes the front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, David Levine is listed as one of the top 10 most stolen artists in the world by the Art Loss Registry.

PAINTING HEISTS: THE TOP 10 MOST STOLEN ARTISTS IN THE WORLD

The top 10 list of artists with most works stolen:

1) Pablo Picasso - 1,147

2) Nick Lawrence - 557

3) Marc Chagall - 516

4) Karel Appel - 505

5) Salvador Dali - 505

6) Joan Miro - 478

7) David Levine - 343

7) Andy Warhol - 343

9) Rembrandt - 337

10) Peter Reinicke - 336

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2092698/Pablo-Picasso-stolen-artist-world-1k-pieces-work-missing.html#ixzz1mBk4P3Q1

Levine at the Met

Here's a link to David Levine's Oldenberg, the caricature that's part of the show at the Met.  See if you agree with the New York Times review of the show, which states that Levine's image "does little to stir the pot."

Infinite Jest: Caricature and Satire from Leonardo to Levine

Well, it's about time!  Levine is featured in a show of satirical drawings at the Met.  FYI, a week after the show opens, an additional gallery will open at the Met containing overflow from from the main event and two more Levine caricatures will be on view.

September 13, 2011–March 4, 2012 Galleries for Drawings, Prints, and Photographs, 2nd floor

"David Levine: The Westport Years"

During the period in which David Levine summered in Westport, 1956-1977, he matured as a painter and blossomed into a world-renowned caricaturist who influenced cultural dialogue. This show features caricatures and paintings created during that period.

Opening Reception: Friday October 14 from 5-7 pm. Light refreshments.

Levine On Kissinger, Always Appropriate

In 1979, The New York Times asked David to contribute a caricature of Henry Kissinger to its op-ed page to accompany a piece by William Pfaff accusing Kissinger of war crimes.  David did Kissinger as the Illustrated Man, tattooed in evil. A recently released 1973 recording of Kissinger telling President Nixon that Soviets gassing Jews was a humanitarian, not an American, problem, reminds us of how accurate David always was.  Click on the title, above, to read Menachem Wecker's relevant reprise.

David Levine: An Audio Portrait

David passed away one year ago today.  In his memory, The New York Review of Books posted this lovely slide show and interview conducted with him in 2008.  It's great to hear his voice again.

The Artist Illustrated

David Levine remembered, in the Sunday New York Times, by Walter Bernard.

“Hands down, he’s the greatest modern-day caricaturist and one of the great artists of the last half-century,” wrote Michael Kimmelman in The Times after David Levine died almost a year ago. And it’s true: he was. As wonderful (and occasionally brutal) as his caricatures were, however, painting was David’s truest passion. In 1958 he founded the Painting Group with the artist Aaron Shikler, and for more than 50 years it met every Wednesday evening to work from a live model. For the last 35 years, I was a member of the group. • Watching David work was a revelation. He handled watercolors unlike anybody else. He liked to experiment and, as he put it, “play.” He would draw, redraw, “schmeer,” sponge out and paint again. It was not uncommon to see him rub out a work we’d been marveling over, saying, simply, “I didn’t get what I was going after.” • Three years ago, Levine’s eyesight began to fade rapidly. He lost his ability to see the model, to draw those beautifully crosshatched caricatures for The New York Review of Books, to spend summer days painting the bathers at Coney Island. “I always knew I was a degenerate,” he said, “but I didn’t know it was macular.” • He still came to class every Wednesday and sat among us talking about Degas, Sargent and Daumier. After giving a precise critique, he always offered encouragement. “Keep playing,” he’d say.