Paul Burlin

Paul Burlin
Born	Isadore Burlin (1886-09-10)September 10, 1886 New York City, U.S.
Died	March 13, 1969(1969-03-13) (aged 82) New York City, U.S.
Occupation	Painter
Spouse(s)	Natalie Curtis (1917–1921), Margarete (Margot) Koop (1924–1936), Helen Simonson (1937–1946), Margaret (Peggy) Timmerman (1947–1969)

Paul Burlin (September 10, 1886 – March 13, 1969) was an American modern and

painter.

Childhood

Paul Burlin was born Isadore Berlin to Jacob and Julia Berlin in 1886 in New York. The family name was originally Berlinsky. His father was from London. His mother from a small city in Northern Germany near the Polish border. Paul grew up in New York City and London, the oldest of three children. His sister, Carrie, was born in 1890, his brother, David, in 1895. Paul disliked the name Isadore, and stopped using it as soon as he could, when he left home at 16. He found it too painful to discuss his early years, and he refused to do so. Once on his own, he changed his name to Harry Paul Burlin. By 1911, Harry had become H. and by 1915 it was gone altogether. Paul had completely separated from his family and his past, and continued to be forward thinking his whole life.

Artistic education

From 1900 to 1912, Burlin was a part-time student at the National Academy of Art and the Art Student's League.

Travels

Burlin was able to travel in Europe in 1908 to 1909. He visited the southwest United States in 1910. The southwestern paintings he made on the trip to

were shown in New York in 1911. The critical acclaim of this exhibition led to his invitation to participate in the Armory Show.

Armory Show

Burlin was invited to participate in the 1913 69th Regiment

Show in New York, the first Modern art exhibition in the United States. This was the exhibit that brought the work of the European vanguard, such as Picasso, Manet, Monet, and Degas to the United States.

Santa Fe

Burlin moved to

exhibition in 1919.

First marriage

Paul Burlin met

. Natalie Curtis is best known for her 1907, "The Indians' Book".

European artistic exile

Paul and Natalie moved to

Paris

.

Return to the United States

In 1932, Paul, his wife, and daughter moved back to the United States. They settled in New York, where Paul lived for the rest of his life, when he was not traveling or working as an artist in residence. He worked as a member of the Federal Project of the Whitney Museum. Paul Burlin was also among those who signed the call for the American Artist's Congress in 1936. In 1936, Paul and Margarete divorced. Paul married in 1937, to Helen Simonson.

Second World War

Burlin used images from

. Burlin's own abstract expressionist form crystallized. His key symbols begin to emerge. Paul Burlin exhibited in the 1944 Art in Progress show.

Abstract expressionism

Paul Burlin begins to use abstract expressionism as a mode for personal expression. Burlin divorced his third wife in 1946 and married Margaret (Peggy) Timmerman in 1947. He and Margaret remained together for the rest of his life. Burlin was invited to be Artist in Residence at many universities and museums such as the

.

Last days

In the 1950s, Burlin began to lose his

. In a respite from the darkness, he painted The Series of Nine very near the end of his life. Paul Burlin died in 1969. The nine final paintings, which summarize and celebrate the life of the painter were shown at the NY MOMA in 1971, and at the Pasadena Museum in 1972.

Honors and awards

• 1913 Art exhibited in the Armory Show
• 1930 Included in the
  New York Museum of Modern Art
  's Ninth Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture by Living Americans
• 1945 The artist's jury for the Pepsi-cola "Portrait of America" contest awarded Burlin first prize for his work titled the "Soda Jerker". The prize was to be $2500. But, Pepsi-cola chose another winner, and Burlin was not allowed to collect.
• 1959 One of three first prize winners of $1000 for Art USA: 59, New York, for "Rose, White, Uptight."
• 1962 First prize from the Pennsylvania Academy for "Red, Red, Not the Same II"
• 1962 Listed as one of 102 Artists "To Wax Enthusiastic About" in Time Magazine, July 6, 1962.
• 1963 Burlin mentioned in the 50th anniversary of the 1913 Armory Show.

Retrospectives

• 1962: The American Federation of Arts: Exhibitions in Philadelphia, Boston, and New York City, sponsored by the Ford Foundation Program in Humanities and the Arts
• 1970-1971:
  The Museum of Modern Art in New York City and the Pasadena Art Museum in Pasadena, California
  , Exhibition of The Last Nine

Public Collections

• Albuquerque Museum of Art and History^[2]

• Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Museum of Modern Art
• Whitney Museum of American Art
• New Mexico Museum of Art^[3]

References

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Notes

Sources

• "Unprized Prizewinner". Time Magazine. Dec. 31, 1945.
• Myers, Bernard: The Painting of Paul Burlin, "Perspectives". Washington University in St. Louis, Spring 1954.
• HIS: Armory Show Veteran at Alan Gallery. "Art News", 57:11, February 1958.
• "102 Artists to Wax Enthusiastic About". Time Magazine. July 6, 1962.
• Whitney, George. Abrupt Ending: The Work of Paul Burlin. Arts. Sept. 1981, p. 97.
• Filreis, Alan. "Beyond The Rhetorician's Touch": Stevens's Painterly Astractions, American Literary History, Spring 1992, pp. 230–63.
• Wedell, Eugene. "Paul Burlin Catalog", Burlin Art Trust, 2008.

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Paul Burlin.

• Library listing for Paul Burlin papers including letters, sketchbooks and interviews
• List of 102 Artists, including Burlin, “To Wax Enthusiastic About”
• Provincetown, MA Art Association and Museum permanent collection
• New York Times article, Art: Paul Burlin, A Case Of December Flowering, September 11, 1981
• Art Student’s League list of past instructors, Paul Burlin
• Duchamp’s 1963 speech about the painters included in the 1913 show
• Works at New Mexico Museum of Art