With its proximity to the cultural hub of New York City and its quieter suburban and rural landscapes, Connecticut was fertile ground for artists and writers in the period of Modernist movements between 1913 and 1979. Many of these cultural figures are well known through biographical and critical studies. Creative Places seeks to show how place played a significant role in creative work, and how in turn the artists and writers influenced communities in Connecticut.
Irving Katzenstein
Painting/Drawing
1902 – 1973
- Biography/Description of Work
Katzenstein was born in Hartford, where he returned after studies for the rest of his life. He attended classes at the Hartford Art School and studied under Albertus E. Jones, and subsequently under Arthur B. Carles at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. He spent several years, 1928 to 1931, in Paris where he was influenced by Cezanne, Matisse and avant-garde artist. Back in Hartford, Katzenstein completed over forty WPA easel commissions between 1938 and 1940. He then taught at the Ann Randall School for Creative Arts, the West Hartford Art League and the Hartford Jewish Community Center, and was locally well known and respected for his craftsmanship. He was a member of the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts and Connecticut Watercolor Society. He won prizes for his oils and watercolors and exhibited throughout Connecticut and New York. His landscapes and still lifes, though generally traditional in style also flirted with abstraction. The Wadsworth Atheneum co-sponsored a retrospective of his work the year after his death.
- Sources view
- WPA Art Inventory. http://ctstatelibrary.org/katzenstein-irving/
- Associated Resource(s)
- n/a