Irving Amen (American, 1918-2011)
‘Sketchbook Fragments #3’
etching on paper, 11/90
(image) 17 1/4″ high x 9 3/4″ wide
(framed) 20 1/2″ high x 12 1/2″ wide
Summary: American etching on paper ‘#3’, from the ‘Sketchbook Fragments’ Series, 11/90, by listed artist Irving Amen (1918-2011).
Depicted are a grouping of irregularly placed sketches of people of various sizes on an intentionally sepia toned ground. Starting at the upper left and moving across we have the following sketches: a large full figure of a sitting bearded Jewish man wearing a hat; a slightly smaller bust of a very thin faced man with short hair and cast down eyes; the head of a young female facing sinister with long hair; the head of a man facing sinister with down cast eyes; a head topped wit a stylized bird; a figure of a youth sitting on an octagonal pedestal with legs drawn up and torso bent forward and folded, arms resting on its knees.
Dimensions: 17 ½“ high x 9 ¾” wide (impression); 19 ¾” high x 11 ¾” wide (sight, including visible margins); + frame
Markings: numbered and titled in pencil lower left, “11/90 Sketchbook Fragments #3”; signed in pencil lower right, “Amen”; small original white gallery information label verso uppwer right with blue ball-point pen inscription, “FS7275 | 29”; original printed white auction label verso upper right, “RITCHIE’S | Lot No. | 215 sale no. 718 | 1 piece”; titled in black marker on corrugated cardboard backing verso, “Sketchbook”
Condition: Excellent Vintage Condition – undamaged with no restoration. For Accuracy Only: there is some minimal and even acid burn from the original card backing, as is common. It is framed in a modern brushed silvertone metal frame and ready for display.
Biography: AMEN, Irving (American, 1918-2011). Known for his oil paintings, etchings and woodcuts, Irving Amen was born in New York City, worked there for some years, and then moved to Boca Raton, Florida. Born in New York City in 1918, he began drawing at the age of four. A scholarship to the Pratt Institute was awarded to him when he was fourteen years old. With Michelangelo as his idol, he spent seven years in life classes perfecting his drawing.
He studied at the Pratt Institute from 1932 to 1939 and also studied in Paris and in Italy. He created a Peace Medal commemorating the end of the Viet Nam war and for a synagogue in Columbus, Ohio, designed a stained glass window of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Amen studied in Paris in 1950. Upon his return to the United States, he had one man shows in New York and Washington DC.
In 1953, Amen traveled throughout Italy. This resulted in a series of eleven woodcuts, eight etchings and a number of oil paintings. One of these woodcuts, “Piazza San Marco #4” and its four woodblocks constitute a permanent exhibit of block printing in color at the Smithsonian Institution.
Commissions include a Peace Medal in honor of the Vietnam War. He created designs for 12 stained glass windows 16 feet high depicting the Twelve Tribes of Israel, commissioned by Agudas Achim Synagogue in Columbus, Ohio.
He has been an instructor of art at Pratt Institute and at Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana. Among his memberships are the Society of American Graphic Artists, the International Society of Wood Engravers, and Audubon Artists. He is listed in Mantle Fielding’s Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors and Engravers and the Dictionary of Contemporary American Artists by Paul Cummings. He was elected member of Accademia Fiorentina Delle Arti Del Disegno, an organization to which Michelangelo belonged.
