tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34579688423225007492024-02-06T21:19:00.480-05:00D. Levine Dot CommieA place for friends, colleagues, artists, admirers and anyone influenced by David Levine to maintain a connection to the man and his art.MALhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15844536852258506415noreply@blogger.comBlogger41125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3457968842322500749.post-67500211921239609102019-12-29T20:26:00.000-05:002019-12-29T20:26:20.295-05:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4uIYdjZYgRYFDj0p2TIYGFp8_yJ5jD9cIShs9cdkeGxt4mr8opjnQuugTFt-27Iob1Mfjz7sXv_FUf2OE_jC5a8QhOs_kbAfzvjxYh3T8-94o5PY_DTlWrFS1whYZSaL_ePVh4tGhoKty/s1600/DLevine+self+caricature+72dpi.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1191" data-original-width="721" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4uIYdjZYgRYFDj0p2TIYGFp8_yJ5jD9cIShs9cdkeGxt4mr8opjnQuugTFt-27Iob1Mfjz7sXv_FUf2OE_jC5a8QhOs_kbAfzvjxYh3T8-94o5PY_DTlWrFS1whYZSaL_ePVh4tGhoKty/s320/DLevine+self+caricature+72dpi.png" width="193" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFZTgPfU1lYKW_kBy5IggKQLd_hHR91jG9pzS1b4PaFiwyJqqDdoNYXeE-608bcXcu1fvTqeALOPInusELLXDUfsBrIK6XRZoAoZc5ooC5tv8qIIE30SF7MUZWuwn2qy7oY5tQC_y5QPXT/s1600/NIXON%252C+RICHARD+3%253A21%253A74.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1283" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFZTgPfU1lYKW_kBy5IggKQLd_hHR91jG9pzS1b4PaFiwyJqqDdoNYXeE-608bcXcu1fvTqeALOPInusELLXDUfsBrIK6XRZoAoZc5ooC5tv8qIIE30SF7MUZWuwn2qy7oY5tQC_y5QPXT/s320/NIXON%252C+RICHARD+3%253A21%253A74.jpg" width="273" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGIkG58Fnxo_e_xB6qdfNtZfLtJQTSie24hrua7rt-HWb5pIwV4ipdu1f1nEHLJpKeN_SsWr3UiwjlUhPFGYHXlOioF-TpZDPbSjocWMGg0XulWUEWh3M_zAZEuSrfGGoh1fTmVEXpTZpP/s1600/Trump+in+diapers.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1172" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGIkG58Fnxo_e_xB6qdfNtZfLtJQTSie24hrua7rt-HWb5pIwV4ipdu1f1nEHLJpKeN_SsWr3UiwjlUhPFGYHXlOioF-TpZDPbSjocWMGg0XulWUEWh3M_zAZEuSrfGGoh1fTmVEXpTZpP/s320/Trump+in+diapers.png" width="250" /></a></div>
Today, 10 years ago, David Levine passed away, leaving a gaping hole in the lives of those who knew him, and a missed opportunity for emerging artists and caricaturists to experience his teaching insights and the way his mind worked. His legacy lives on, however, and there will more shows and publications in the coming years. Not a day goes by that we do not think of him with love.MALhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15844536852258506415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3457968842322500749.post-83262102058349004752016-12-21T00:23:00.000-05:002016-12-21T00:23:56.947-05:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkv0aJ-e481VnVyE8NuyhUQxGDIuAMTdgc5ubt2_FCRIBF7K9CyaCt_GQAzlYTAIz-zbvrjbPKs9vy0kZ_uWBNJsdGgDRkyDgSQklpsU7Ys8Hkbtn66IedGVo5k1i8x1FKIIvaWsb7qnr_/s1600/David+Levine+The+Beer+Drinker.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkv0aJ-e481VnVyE8NuyhUQxGDIuAMTdgc5ubt2_FCRIBF7K9CyaCt_GQAzlYTAIz-zbvrjbPKs9vy0kZ_uWBNJsdGgDRkyDgSQklpsU7Ys8Hkbtn66IedGVo5k1i8x1FKIIvaWsb7qnr_/s320/David+Levine+The+Beer+Drinker.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Happy birthday, dad (December 20). Special thanks to the Shikler clan for the gift of this early, early self-portrait, titled "The Beer Drinker."MALhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15844536852258506415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3457968842322500749.post-21640051400440708492015-04-03T15:55:00.001-04:002015-04-03T15:55:54.984-04:00An encounter with David Levine<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizO8FGuh91oAp-Ek4JVAxljscehU-AC8-Gmfj2MNjQ16tg1s9OipDQBYJcXvhDkmbhUVIsl1RsJivDBEkSiSTVgMieY0ud1z5jAzxgIcm-ptV2AW6wLsu9a16MqWOgdOoTrwHK53iKcgjA/s1600/DavidLevine+by+ARH.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizO8FGuh91oAp-Ek4JVAxljscehU-AC8-Gmfj2MNjQ16tg1s9OipDQBYJcXvhDkmbhUVIsl1RsJivDBEkSiSTVgMieY0ud1z5jAzxgIcm-ptV2AW6wLsu9a16MqWOgdOoTrwHK53iKcgjA/s1600/DavidLevine+by+ARH.png" height="320" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://elarcadearciniegas.blogspot.com/2015/04/david-levine.html" target="_blank">Created by an illustrator, Anthony Hare.</a></td></tr>
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MALhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15844536852258506415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3457968842322500749.post-40252316203858361772014-12-31T14:19:00.001-05:002014-12-31T14:21:08.022-05:00David Levine: Rendering the Essence<img src="webkit-fake-url://D4031765-4E0B-4599-9223-D8229B65655E/imagepng" /><br />
<a href="http://visionandartproject.org/" target="_blank">Read this wonderful new article on David Levine</a>, with many images you've never seen before.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDJtanxlJgYIxq_ibod_1RymJTHqfHgoXfv3kcjwV26x-pl-2T8bFG0PpPJBfjbv2_sZwE48B3Ig10v_tli-Ww4zrpiC3cvW7I94qPpB1iZnsFTLwAASlRPkaRlEJjY2mDNEPNPfC-xDwo/s1600/Female1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDJtanxlJgYIxq_ibod_1RymJTHqfHgoXfv3kcjwV26x-pl-2T8bFG0PpPJBfjbv2_sZwE48B3Ig10v_tli-Ww4zrpiC3cvW7I94qPpB1iZnsFTLwAASlRPkaRlEJjY2mDNEPNPfC-xDwo/s1600/Female1.jpg" height="198" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />MALhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15844536852258506415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3457968842322500749.post-57756628702375138332014-12-28T23:47:00.000-05:002014-12-28T23:47:15.420-05:00<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrmZW0sgYK34VLrELpI7KKGkHIRA4F_oCe2LqwizkRnKFaqESYEkN92l8zV3GD6tG-xGwfhtTkPAGPqG-wK6bpuzDU8ep11nhuupIAMavkxmcbvZ0xpovRyoW1fGs_2NZjODTOuklrbhYA/s1600/David+Levine+Self+Portrait+painting+at+the+beach.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrmZW0sgYK34VLrELpI7KKGkHIRA4F_oCe2LqwizkRnKFaqESYEkN92l8zV3GD6tG-xGwfhtTkPAGPqG-wK6bpuzDU8ep11nhuupIAMavkxmcbvZ0xpovRyoW1fGs_2NZjODTOuklrbhYA/s1600/David+Levine+Self+Portrait+painting+at+the+beach.jpg" height="468" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">David Levine, self portrait, 1965</td></tr>
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David Levine lives in our hearts and memories. In a few days it will be five years since he passed away. You can immerse yourself in the <a href="http://forumgallery.com/exhibition/david-levine-1926-2009-fifty-years-of-paintings-and-drawings-december-11-january-17-2015/" target="_blank">first show of his work since that time, through January 17 at The Forum Gallery</a>, New York City.<br />
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<strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">DAVID LEVINE (1926 – 2009)</strong></div>
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<strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">THE WORLD HE SAW</em></strong><strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></strong></div>
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<em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Here is an artist upholding the finest tradition of his craft: Humanism. That inner eye that celebrates life with all its goofy melancholy beauty. It is this that makes art, and looking at art, much more than an intellectual or pleasurable exercise. It makes it necessary. – </em>Morley Safer, ARTnews, 2002</div>
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<strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">New York, NY </strong>- From December 12, 2014 to January 17, 2015, Forum Gallery will present <strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">David Levine: The World He Saw</em></strong>, the first major exhibition of paintings and drawings by American artist David Levine since his passing in 2009. Levine was the most celebrated caricaturist of our time and a painter of luminous, romantic watercolors and oil paintings that depict the citizens of the world, especially his beloved Brooklyn, at work, at rest and at play. <a href="http://forumgallery.com/exhibition/david-levine-1926-2009-fifty-years-of-paintings-and-drawings-december-11-january-17-2015/press-release/" target="_blank"> Read more...</a></div>
MALhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15844536852258506415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3457968842322500749.post-83540797895061586862013-12-20T23:48:00.000-05:002013-12-20T23:48:53.993-05:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH5eLmC3IXMmfK08EsKN_vOT1Qr8wTKDMwKABox0Z10RRGCEe-Ch_qV2pMe1EgDiuKFjMKI7r5nOTzqoKNTvid3720iTtIs1HQyhUs1Z_ZPrsdHOlUNY_Nz15Vn0GScGZ4J373XqaZhXJe/s1600/David+Levine+at+Coney+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH5eLmC3IXMmfK08EsKN_vOT1Qr8wTKDMwKABox0Z10RRGCEe-Ch_qV2pMe1EgDiuKFjMKI7r5nOTzqoKNTvid3720iTtIs1HQyhUs1Z_ZPrsdHOlUNY_Nz15Vn0GScGZ4J373XqaZhXJe/s320/David+Levine+at+Coney+.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"> PHOTO: PATRICIA MCMAHON</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A birthday message from David: Make time for what is meaningful to you. Happy birthday, dad.</span></div>
<br />MALhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15844536852258506415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3457968842322500749.post-4985642782778319422013-05-26T23:47:00.001-04:002013-05-26T23:47:49.633-04:00David Levine and Victor Navasky go way back.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7f5MGuMENBfJBNZitunj3DruavV9lTOKV3m2EsQ8gg3VSqzTZocWc3foQvjMIGzoOaA1IkpoBOToM84PIYC64nJfIqGisv4rCoF0uKr9_9kUg-fhJ-39COsLyTiT0FNbO9d1K5lOKH7_r/s1600/Kissinger+Screwing+the+World+blog+image.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7f5MGuMENBfJBNZitunj3DruavV9lTOKV3m2EsQ8gg3VSqzTZocWc3foQvjMIGzoOaA1IkpoBOToM84PIYC64nJfIqGisv4rCoF0uKr9_9kUg-fhJ-39COsLyTiT0FNbO9d1K5lOKH7_r/s320/Kissinger+Screwing+the+World+blog+image.tiff" width="266" /></a></div>
Victor Navasky recalls the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/24/books/the-art-of-controversy-by-victor-navasky.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0" target="_blank">controversy</a>....MALhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15844536852258506415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3457968842322500749.post-7595603265418895232013-05-21T19:57:00.000-04:002013-05-21T19:57:04.559-04:00David Levine Talking About ArtA shout out to Dave Elder for posting this <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CezSobiuqgs&list=PLC76BEF332BB8B427&index=2" target="_blank">interview with David Levine</a>, an excerpt from Elder's documentary on a group of friends -- accomplished painters all -- who carried the torch of realism and reminded us that life experienced through art is richer still.MALhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15844536852258506415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3457968842322500749.post-72533863173117614312012-12-29T23:54:00.000-05:002012-12-29T23:54:21.929-05:00David Levine Remembered<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsuuAFp3Vv4XfjRfxWSiJycaMdGFVGvq1PuYiRLW6aQ8GDK5vKpnvGi-twJPCTTIttJc-yNC9lVnsC92qmv1pQuyuO5BV1urieRO04TIabtEXT0RXVxA_Vw4207dwn57HJ_Knr6E32R8CP/s1600/David+Levine+self+portrait+at+easel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsuuAFp3Vv4XfjRfxWSiJycaMdGFVGvq1PuYiRLW6aQ8GDK5vKpnvGi-twJPCTTIttJc-yNC9lVnsC92qmv1pQuyuO5BV1urieRO04TIabtEXT0RXVxA_Vw4207dwn57HJ_Knr6E32R8CP/s320/David+Levine+self+portrait+at+easel.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
Today was the third anniversary of David Levine's passing, nine days after <a href="http://50.56.218.160/categories/category.php?category_id=23&id=48100" target="_blank">his 83rd birthday</a>. Not a day goes by that we don't think of him, miss him, cherish our memories of him...and laugh a deep down laugh about all of this mishigas, because that's what he would have done.MALhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15844536852258506415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3457968842322500749.post-46433400804606748332012-08-28T00:06:00.000-04:002012-08-28T00:06:12.977-04:00<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CezSobiuqgs">David Levine talking about art.</a>MALhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15844536852258506415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3457968842322500749.post-31770842527430918042012-02-12T12:06:00.001-05:002012-02-12T12:09:22.383-05:00Where 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.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px;"></span><br />
<h3 class="wocc" style="font-size: 1em; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">PAINTING HEISTS: THE TOP 10 MOST STOLEN ARTISTS IN THE WORLD</h3><div class="ins cleared xolcc bdrcc" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1.2em;">The top 10 list of artists with most works stolen:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1.2em;">1) Pablo Picasso - 1,147</span></div><span style="font-size: 1.2em;"></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1.2em;">2) Nick Lawrence - 557</span></div><span style="font-size: 1.2em;"></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1.2em;">3) Marc Chagall - 516</span></div><span style="font-size: 1.2em;"></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1.2em;">4) Karel Appel - 505</span></div><span style="font-size: 1.2em;"></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1.2em;">5) Salvador Dali - 505</span></div><span style="font-size: 1.2em;"></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1.2em;">6) Joan Miro - 478</span></div><span style="font-size: 1.2em;"></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1.2em;">7) David Levine - 343</span></div><span style="font-size: 1.2em;"></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1.2em;">7) Andy Warhol - 343</span></div><span style="font-size: 1.2em;"></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1.2em;">9) Rembrandt - 337</span></div><span style="font-size: 1.2em;"></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1.2em;">10) Peter Reinicke - 336</span></div></div><span><br />
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Read more: <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2092698/Pablo-Picasso-stolen-artist-world-1k-pieces-work-missing.html#ixzz1mBk4P3Q1" style="color: #003399; cursor: pointer; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2092698/Pablo-Picasso-stolen-artist-world-1k-pieces-work-missing.html#ixzz1mBk4P3Q1</a></span>MALhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15844536852258506415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3457968842322500749.post-52617530270079458962011-09-16T09:39:00.000-04:002011-09-16T09:39:39.923-04:00Levine at the MetHere's a link to <a href="http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/claes+oldenburg">David Levine's Oldenberg</a>, the caricature that's part of the show at the Met. See if you agree with the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/16/arts/design/infinite-jest-at-the-metropolitan-museum-review.html?_r=1&ref=arts">New York Times review of the show</a>, which states that Levine's image "does little to stir the pot."MALhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15844536852258506415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3457968842322500749.post-6979891795630246352011-09-01T22:40:00.000-04:002011-09-01T22:40:54.687-04:00Infinite Jest: Caricature and Satire from Leonardo to LevineWell, 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.<br />
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<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" id="tbl_img" style="background-color: white; color: black; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 20px; padding-top: 20px; width: 600px;"><tbody>
<tr valign="top"><td align="left" width="560"><span style="font-family: geneva, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">September 13, 2011–March 4, 2012<br />
Galleries for Drawings, Prints, and Photographs, 2nd floor</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>MALhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15844536852258506415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3457968842322500749.post-22186275240351252392011-09-01T22:36:00.000-04:002011-09-01T22:36:12.132-04:00"David Levine: The Westport Years"<br />
<div class="no-clear-float" style="clear: none; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">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.</div><div class="no-clear-float" style="clear: none; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><em>Opening Reception: Friday October 14 from 5-7 pm.</em> <em>Light refreshments.</em></div>MALhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15844536852258506415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3457968842322500749.post-73011660497823609522011-01-02T23:41:00.003-05:002011-01-02T23:44:37.073-05:00Levine On Kissinger, Always Appropriate<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In 1979, The New York Times asked David to contribute a caricature of Henry Kissinger to its op-ed page </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">to accompany a piece by</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">William Pfaff</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">accusing Kissinger of war crimes. David did Kissinger as the Illustrated Man, tattooed in evil. A</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> 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 </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Menachem Wecker's relevant reprise.</span></span>MALhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15844536852258506415noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3457968842322500749.post-81467451285478929322010-12-29T16:36:00.000-05:002010-12-29T16:36:17.338-05:00David Levine: An Audio PortraitDavid 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.MALhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15844536852258506415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3457968842322500749.post-69929485466257087752010-12-25T23:09:00.001-05:002011-03-12T21:59:50.449-05:00The Artist IllustratedDavid Levine remembered, in the Sunday New York Times, by Walter Bernard.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;">“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.</span></span>MALhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15844536852258506415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3457968842322500749.post-33627233838576750192010-12-05T19:28:00.002-05:002011-03-12T21:57:54.060-05:00David Levine Retrospective at the Century Association<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Jonathan Harding, who did a wonderful job curating the David Levine Masters show at the Century Association, wrote the following to accompany the show.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">David Levine</div><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">David Levine was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. His father, Harry, ran a small garment factory and his mother, Lena, was a nurse with strong communist sympathies. Their influences would shape his career. Raised as a “red diaper” baby, David not only sold copies of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Daily Worker</i>, but also began haunting the Brooklyn Museum and sketching from its taxidermy collection. After attending the museum’s art school, Erasmus High School and the Pratt Institute, he enrolled in the Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia, but was drafted in 1944 after his first year as a student. During World War II he served in the armored infantry as a map-maker in Egypt and provided cartoon illustrations for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Stars and Stripes</i>. After the war ended he returned to Tyler to finish his studies where he soon met Aaron Shikler and Leroy Davis. While the three were enrolled at Tyler they also availed themselves of the Barnes Foundation where they began to study art through the stylistic traditions touted by Dr. Barnes.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">Intrigued by post-war developments in contemporary art, David and Aaron returned to New York in 1949 and enrolled in Hans Hoffmann’s Eighth Street School. Each eventually found the experience more a study in oppositions, and David would later state, “It was a question of not being able to give up a strength for something that was an excursion into an unknown. I could never let go of representation, in terms of drawing. I really couldn’t understand what it was to cut the moorings completely from some kind of putting down of a relationship to what I was seeing.”</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">Drawing remained the underpinning of David’s career and is fully evident in his caricatures. From childhood he demonstrated a passion for cartooning which persisted in the cartoons submitted to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Stars and Stripes</i> and in a series of Christmas cards he produced with the artist Shelly Fink. David began submitting works to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Esquire </i>in 1958, turned increasingly towards caricature, and was hired as the staff artist for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The New York Review of Books</i> in 1963. Through the combination of his innate talent and this new platform, David’s name became internationally renowned, and his caricatures of world figures have become part of our visual lexicon. The ability to capture both the physical and psychological attributes of his subjects with deft and sure strokes of the pen put him on a par with the greatest caricaturists of history, most notably Honoré Daumier. The comparison is, on the surface, most appropriate. The 4,800 caricatures David did for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The New York Review of Books</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Esquire, The New Yorker</i> and other periodicals correspond to the thousands of lithographs Daumier did for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Le Caricature</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Le Chavari</i>. The two would have undoubtedly shared many sympathies, but while Daumier often targeted the follies of the petit bourgeois, David reserved his strongest judgments for political figures. As Phoebe Hobin noted, “If Levine is a master at skewering the foibles of the mighty, he is equally adept at depicting the dignity of ordinary people.” </div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">In fact, it is the mediums of watercolor and oil painting where David’s art and the Realism of Daumier are closest. From his earliest visits to the Brooklyn Museum David was aware of the larger role of art and took every advantage of the finest teachers: “I don’t mind my resemblance to certain artists I admire—and I don’t think that Degas cared. I don’t think any artist who ever saw anything he liked wouldn’t like to incorporate it and use it, if he could.”</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">Regardless of his sympathies with such French Realists as Daumier and Millet, David was also inspired by the American Realists—“The Eight,”—especially William Glackens and George Luks, who had worked as both illustrators and painters. He was also studying America’s preeminent watercolorists, Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent and Maurice Prendergast. The bravura and freshness of these artists’ watercolors is evident in many of David’s works, but as his style evolved he found equal inspiration in the techniques used by such nineteenth-century British watercolorists as David Cox, John Sell Cotman and Thomas Girtin. The art critic John Canaday observed, “But look again. This apparent shorthand is meticulously studied; what would have been a simple wash in most watercolors is a tint that has been partially rubbed out, modified, worked over—yet with no loss of freshness.” David’s virtuosity with watercolor did not preclude his reverence for oil painting, and he happily professed his esteem for the Old Masters in both their facility with oil painting and their love of humanity. In such works as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Presser, </i>a subject he often returned to, David achieves the same tenor and mood in his large oil as in his smaller, and more intimate, watercolors.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">David’s art is an integral part of American culture, not just for the caricatures of the famous and infamous, but also for his understanding of the common man and woman. He advised his son Matthew and many other artists who sought his counsel to “paint what is familiar” and, not surprisingly found his own greatest familiarity in recording the beauty of Coney Island, garment workers and schmatta ladies, and his ever-interesting sitters and models. David also believed in sharing both ideals and technical expertise. In 1958 he and Aaron Shikler founded the Painting Group, a forum where both professional and amateur artists could hone their craft. While not created in direct reaction to the schools of Hans Hoffmann and others, The Painting Group came to occupy such a role, and for over fifty years has offered an alternative approach to understanding art. Through the Painting Group, David shared not only his knowledge of technique but also his understanding of humanity. He asserted, “Traditionalism doesn’t mean that you have to resemble anything in particular other than to align yourself with a continuation of something that you enjoy in other art of past periods, but that you want to continue because you think that the good aspects of life should continue, so in the same sense painting should relate to what we psychologically are capable of.” David’s thoughts and words continue to resonate with us, and in this single sentence he conveys the depth of his approach to art and how he viewed his own role. David’s paintings, drawings and caricatures are a testament to his vision.</div><div align="right" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: right;"><br />
</div><div align="right" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: right;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jonathan Harding, Curator<o:p></o:p></i></div>MALhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15844536852258506415noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3457968842322500749.post-31398408091235816332010-10-28T12:55:00.000-04:002010-10-28T12:55:46.183-04:00The Artful Populace Of David LevineAn oldie, but goodie, from a Morley Safer piece on<i> CBS News Sunday Morning</i> in 2001.MALhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15844536852258506415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3457968842322500749.post-34091631478725661292010-03-13T16:57:00.000-05:002010-03-13T16:57:52.587-05:00David Levine's Magazine CoversA gallery of some of David Levine's magazine coversMALhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15844536852258506415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3457968842322500749.post-33278410800686011412010-02-20T18:13:00.001-05:002010-02-20T18:17:20.040-05:00Paintings and Drawings by David Levine and Aaron ShiklerSome of you might remember this exhibit in April, 1971. If you click on one of the images, it will enlarge.MALhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15844536852258506415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3457968842322500749.post-81824780279277851452010-02-14T18:34:00.004-05:002010-02-14T18:37:44.418-05:00David Levine, the teacher is gone<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;"><br />
</span></span>MALhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15844536852258506415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3457968842322500749.post-4286846418419381162010-02-04T20:04:00.000-05:002010-02-04T20:04:10.803-05:00David Levine Memorial Service<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A memorial service was held in Brooklyn Heights on Monday, February 1, 2010. <a href="http://www.brooklyneagle.com/categories/category.php?category_id=27&id=33320"> Here's a link to a report on the event</a>. Here's the text of what David's son said at the service.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">"</span>For some reason, when I was little, I couldn’t go to sleep without my father telling me a bedtime story about my stuffed animals, led by a cocker spaniel named Tacko, and how they came to life the moment I fell asleep. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They slid from my bed, tip toed down the hall and, every night, my father invented a new way for them to open the apartment door. Then they were free. Whatever their night’s adventure involved, it always ended the same way, with them finding their way to a building out in Brooklyn where the slaughterhouse livestock was kept. They would free the sheep and goats and cows and let loose a stampede, right under the nose of a guard who would tear his hair out and shout, “They’re driving me crazy!” </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That part would drive </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">me</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> crazy with laughter, and I’d beg him to show me how the guard pulled out his hair, over and over again. Then Tacko and friends would sneak back in bed with me, just before I woke up. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So much of my father is in that story. His ability to fill the inanimate with life. His sense of justice. His love of the underdog. His compassion for all living creatures. The humor he derived from the flaunting of an individual’s right to expression in the face of authority. And his understanding that play and playfulness are the keys to freedom.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Everyone who knew him – and there are so many of us! – knows that he was first and foremost a man at play. His caricatures were questions in the form of statements. They made you engage his perspective. Essentially, they made you play with him. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">His paintings were explorations of the possibilities of paint, hung on the human figure, or on the crumbling remnants of monuments to play. A finished painting was never his objective, but time to play with paint was something he fought for.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">His tennis was pure joy. He could care less about winning. What he wanted was to be involved in an interesting point, or simply to be on the court with an interesting person. And just about everyone he met was interesting to him in some way, even if he secretly disliked someone, which was rare.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is not to say that my father was all ease and pleasure. In fact, he explored, without compromise, every gesture and every statement made in his presence. Maybe two weeks before he died, I was visiting him in the nursing home and I had an awful sense that he was so sick I might never see him again. But all I said was “Gotta get back to the office, dad. I love you.” </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Now why did you say that?” he said. “You said that because you’re afraid I might die. Now, I certainly am going to die, but not tonight. Now go one, get outta here.”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the same way that I couldn’t get to sleep without a story from my father, perhaps my greatest fear in life was of losing him before I could be filled with everything he had to offer. There seemed to be an endless wealth of surprising wisdom that flowed from him, of startling points of view that I wished I had thought of, of stories that went to the heart of being human, of reassurances that, no matter what the anguish of my situation, I had better get back to play because that’s where life was lived and the rest was really a waste of precious time.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But a surprising thing happened the moment he took his last breath. Serenity and a smile came over me. I think that’s because the pain of losing him is only fleeting, in the grand scheme of things. The richness of knowing him is something we’ll always have. And I know he’d want that for us.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">"</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><!--EndFragment-->MALhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15844536852258506415noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3457968842322500749.post-36834173509943897192010-01-31T11:13:00.001-05:002010-01-31T11:21:06.762-05:00The Watchful Eye of David Levine: Interview by Gary Groth (Part One of Six)<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: normal, 'Times New Roman', Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px;">I conducted this interview in the spring of 1994 in Levine’s tastefully decorated and alarmingly neat Brooklyn apartment. He was a gracious host and we spent the better part of a day together. He is a terrific talker, lucid, urbane, erudite, opinionated, and, like most artists who protest their lack of verbal skills, immensely articulate. He takes special delight in great draftsmanship and subtle expression and conveys his love for both with great passion.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: normal, 'Times New Roman', Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px; font-style: italic;">-Gary Groth</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: normal, 'Times New Roman', Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><i><br />
</i></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: normal, 'Times New Roman', Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><i><a href="http://www.tcj.com/history/the-watchful-eye-of-david-levine-interview-by-gary-groth-part-two-of-six">Part 2</a></i></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: normal, 'Times New Roman', Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><i><a href="http://www.tcj.com/history/the-watchful-eye-of-david-levine-interview-by-gary-groth-part-three-of-six">Part 3</a></i></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: normal, 'Times New Roman', Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><i><a href="http://www.tcj.com/history/david-levine-part-four">Part 4</a></i></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: normal, 'Times New Roman', Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><i><a href="http://www.tcj.com/history/the-watchful-eye-of-david-levine-interview-by-gary-groth-part-five-of-six">Part 5</a></i></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: normal, 'Times New Roman', Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><i><a href="http://www.tcj.com/author/gary-groth">Part 6</a></i></span></span>MALhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15844536852258506415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3457968842322500749.post-69754824556418157932010-01-24T12:48:00.003-05:002010-01-24T12:50:05.442-05:00On David Levine (1926–2009)<span style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"></span><br />
<h2><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.nybooks.com/authors/85" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><span style="color: black;">Garry Wills</span></a></span></h2><div><div>It is a charming little dog, meticulously drawn, that faces us, all its curlicue hairs traced, its cantilevered thin legs ending in little paws (1971). Only on a second look do we see that the tiny face staring out at us from this fluff ball is that of Richard Nixon. Then, in a double-take (<em>click!</em>), we realize that this is Checkers, the dog Nixon used in his maudlin television address to stay on Dwight Eisenhower’s presidential ticket in 1952. A less adventurous artist might have done the obvious—made Nixon cower behind the dog he was using as protection. Levine did the unexpected. He <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/1194" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ad0000;">made Nixon the dog</span></a>. And as usual, there was a deeper purpose. He was saying that Nixon would not only do anything to get what he wanted, he would become anything. Later, when abortion was the issue, Nixon would become <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/5943" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ad0000;">a fetus</span></a> (1971). How does one give a fetus identity? With the nose, of course, the Nixon nose that Levine celebrated so relentlessly.<br />
</div><div>Having to puzzle out, however briefly, why the dog is Nixon was a typical reaction to Levine’s cartoons. They teased. Why is General Westmoreland’s neck <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/483" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ad0000;">so long and curving</span></a> (1976)? A moment makes one realize it is an ostrich neck, the better for hiding one’s head from reality. Why does Linda Tripp’s head sit atop the <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/896" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ad0000;">body of a large bird </span></a>(1998)? Oh, of course—a stool pigeon. A Levine work often needed deciphering. Sometimes this was because the attributes were so clever. Al Gore was drawn “straight” during his presidential campaign, but what are all the <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/1647" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ad0000;">little clothes suspended around him</span></a> (2000)? A closer look shows the tabs used to put different dresses on paper dolls, Levine’s comment on how Gore was changing personae.<br />
</div><div>But Levine did not need attributes to get his meaning across. He might have drawn Milton with a little devil beside him to show that the poet made Satan the hero of <em>Paradise Lost</em>. Instead, Levine shows <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/2210" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ad0000;">the man himself as diabolical</span></a> (1978). He might have drawn John Wayne as the sunny cowboy others depicted. Instead, considering Wayne’s support of every kind of war, he drew him with the <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/788" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ad0000;">face of a fanatical killer</span></a> (1997).<br />
</div><div>Levine often did the unexpected. After all, he had a huge range of subjects to cover when illustrating articles in <em>The New York Review</em>—classical figures (working from statues), Renaissance figures (relying on paintings), modern figures (from photos). What other American cartoonist was asked to draw, say,<a href="http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/1661" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ad0000;">Jonathan Sumption</span></a> (2000) or <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/426" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ad0000;">Fernando Pessoa</span></a> (1972)? He even had to draw ideas—<a href="http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/2820" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ad0000;">linguistics</span></a> (1963), <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/2822" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ad0000;">Mannerism</span></a> (1965), <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/5845" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ad0000;">finances</span></a> (1964), the <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/2796" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ad0000;">military industry</span></a> (1964), <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/1526" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ad0000;">art</span></a> (1968), <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/138" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ad0000;">automation</span></a> (1968).<br />
</div><div>In order to represent such a wide range of subjects, he needed a vast store of techniques. Obituaries reduced him to a few characteristics—heavy cross-hatching, big heads on small bodies, etc. Actually, he used large areas of pure black or pure white for many of his faces. Look, for instance, at <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/4717" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ad0000;">Harold Lloyd hanging from a girder</span></a>—his face is a white blank, except for the shade thrown by his straw hat (1984). <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/761" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ad0000;">John Quinn is all white, even his hair</span></a> (1978). So, of all people, is <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/1088" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ad0000;">Rubens</span></a>, the master of chiaroscuro (1978).<br />
</div><div>And he was not trapped in the big head, small body format. He often did normal-size bodies—<a href="http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/400" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ad0000;">Elvis Presley</span></a>(1981), <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/2942" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ad0000;">John Pope-Hennessey</span></a> (1991), <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/7066" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ad0000;">Ford Madox Ford</span></a> (1966), <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/1391" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ad0000;">Twiggy</span></a> (1968), <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/6562" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ad0000;">Aldous Huxley</span></a> (1977), <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/2774" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ad0000;">Cesar Chavez</span></a>(1975). He had to do <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/1008" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ad0000;">Michael Jordan</span></a> full length because he presented him as Leonardo’s universal man in the circle and the square—the image on the Italian one-euro coin (1999). What’s more, he often reversed “his” format and drew small heads on big bodies—<a href="http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/2765" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ad0000;">Charles II</span></a> (1979), <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/2767" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ad0000;">Charles V</span></a>(1977), <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/2206" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ad0000;">Richard Ford</span></a> (1987), <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/323" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ad0000;">Velázquez</span></a> (1986), <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/1112" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ad0000;">Paul Taylor</span></a> (1987), <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/1075" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ad0000;">Orson Welles</span></a> (1972), <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/774" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ad0000;">John L. Sullivan</span></a> (1988). He made <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/2830" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ad0000;">each of Marilyn Monroe’s breasts bigger than her head</span></a> (1973).<br />
</div><div>Levine had a larger field for originality because he realized that readers of <em>The New York Review</em> would get arcane references. When he had a tiny grotesque Nixon <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/5765" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ad0000;">crouch on the fallen female body of Vietnam</span></a> (1973), he knew the readers would see the reference to Fuseli’s incubus—only where Fuseli’s imp is instilling a nightmare in the woman, Nixon is delicately dropping a little bomb down her throat. When he drew the fictional character <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/1524" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ad0000;">Zuleika Dobson</span></a> (1966), his audience would know why he used Max Beerbohm’s style (with its mockery of Beardsley). When he drew the fictional <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/2914" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ad0000;">Pamela</span></a>, they would know why she covers her pudenda with a letter (1972). The picture of <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/2899" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ad0000;">Nixon devouring himself</span></a> (1974) would bring to mind Goya’s Saturn Devouring His Son.<br />
</div><div>Levine was a man of high intelligence, wide reading, and solid artistic training. He composed, shaded, and drew with the eye of a practiced painter. But more than that, he had great psychological insight into his subjects. What he revealed could be scathing. The sadness of Richard Burton’s career is in the picture of his <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/1184" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ad0000;">drink-raddled face and bleary eyes</span></a> as he poses, in his Hamlet costume, tiptoe on the skull of Yorick (1989)—the real death’s head is his own.<br />
</div><div>Despite such dark visions, Levine had a kind of surreal imagination that took the next step, the way Mark Twain used to. It was not enough for Twain to say that a train was so slow it had no need of the cowcatcher; he added that the cowcatcher was needed in the rear of the train to keep cows from ambling aboard. In the same way, Levine began with a picture of <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/gallery-search?q=lyndon+johnson" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ad0000;">Lyndon Johnson</span></a> crying little crocodiles for tears (1965). But later on, he had to top that—he shows a <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/2804" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ad0000;">crocodile shedding little tear-images of Lyndon Johnson</span></a> (1966).<br />
</div><div>Given the run of his working years, his great subject had to be Richard Nixon. Herblock, too, was a great artistic foe of Nixon, but his Nixon is often a stick figure and Levine’s is a rounded tragic portrait. Consider the two men’s treatment of the eighteen-and-a-half-minute gap in the White House tapes. Herblock shows a little Nixon doll dangling in the gap, holding on to the severed tapes on either side of him. Levine shows a seated and solemn Nixon, his hand over his heart in a pledge of truthfulness, but he had phlebitis at the time, and from his swollen left trouser leg some<a href="http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/2901" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ad0000;"> tape reels are spilling</span></a> (1974). Levine brought us many aspects of the man—Nixon in sheep’s clothing (1970); Nixon asleep with a panda bear doll beside him on the pillow (1971); Nixon dangling from the last helicopter leaving Saigon (1971); Nixon crying dollars for tears in the ITT scandal (1975); Nixon as a rugby player, with the globe as the ball (1973); Nixon as Boss Tweed (1973), as Queeg (1974), as the Godfather (1972). The sixty Nixon drawings should be put in a book, to be called <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/gallery-search?q=richard+nixon" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"><em><span style="color: #ad0000;">The Nixoniad</span></em></a>.<br />
</div><div>The treasure house of Levine images—thousands of them—contains actors, athletes, musicians, scientists, philosophers, movie makers, pontiffs, all brought to life (sometimes brought back to life) by a magic pen and an incisive brain. What a loss that he is gone.<br />
</div></div>MALhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15844536852258506415noreply@blogger.com0