Biography

Irving Petlin was born in Chicago in 1934. He began his career as a student at the Art Institute of Chicago in the 1950’s. Following his graduation from the Art Institute, Petlin was awarded a Fellowship to Yale where he began working towards his MFA under abstract artist Josef Albers.

Before completing his MFA at Yale, Petlin was drafted into the US army and stationed at the Presidio in San Francisco. While in San Francisco, he lived the life of both a soldier and an artist, spending his nights at his studio in the “Monkey Block” alongside such artists as Elmer Bishoff. His work during this period was included in an exhibition at the Dilexi Gallery.

Following his release from the military, Petlin completed his MFA at Yale and was awarded a Ryerson Fellowship to study abroad. Petlin settled in Paris from 1959 to 1963 where he befriended many well-known artists including Matta, Balthus, Max Ernst and Giacometti. His first political works were executed during this period, commentaries on the war in Algeria and the Paris student riots of 1961.

Petlin returned to the United States in 1966 as a visiting artist at UCLA. Upon his return to California, Petlin resumed his friendships with a number of important artists including Hans Haacke, Max Kozloff, Claes Oldenburg, Robert Morris, Mark di Suvero, Lucy Lippard, Leon Golub, Jon Hendricks, Carl Andre and Mary Frank. Much of Petlin's work from this period relates to international and social unrest. His works touch on subjects of racism, war and violence, including The Burning of Los Angeles (1965-67), a large-scale work that concerns the race riots in the Watts ghetto that took place in late 1965.

Petlin was particularly active in the anti-war movement. In 1965, he and Mark di Suvero created the Los Angeles Peace Tower as a statement against the Vietnam War. Petlin also organized the Artists' Protest Movement while at UCLA and in 1967, Petlin co-founded Artists and Writers Against the War in Vietnam and the Art Workers Coalition. He would continue his involvement with these groups for the next two decades.

From 1967 to 1989, Petlin lived in New York's West Village where he was neighbor to Meyer Schapiro, fine arts professor at Columbia University and scholar in numerous fields ranging from Romanesque to Contemporary art. The two men developed a friendship and Petlin produced a number of portraits of Schapiro during these years. While in New York Petlin also explored his Jewish background through such works as Self Portrait as a Young Man (1981) and La Rue des Juifs (1983). Both of these works explore the relationship between personal history and larger social and historical realities.

Themes concerning history and his own Jewish heritage would continue into the 1990’s with works related to the writings of post-war intellectuals, including Primo Levi and Paul Celan, writers whose work was deeply influenced by the horror of the Shoah. In 1992, the Galerie Jan Krugier & Cie. in Geneva held a solo exhibition of Petlin’s works dedicated to Bruno Schulz, a Polish Jewish writer and artist who was killed by the Nazis in 1942.

Petlin also spent a great deal of time living and teaching in Israel. In 1987, the artist was invited to teach a Master’s class in painting at Haifa University. While there, Petlin traveled extensively around Israel and the West Bank. Many of his works during this period relate to the Israel-Palestinian conflict including the large canvas Hebron (1999 – 2001), which was inspired by the massacre of a group of Muslims by a Brooklyn-born Jewish extremist in Israel.

Petlin produced a number of other controversial works in the last decade. According to Petlin, artists have a particular social duty to explore themes of injustice. One such work, The Entry of Christ into Washington (After Ensor), is a reflection on post-9/11 American politics and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.