Robert Birmelin
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Short description|American figurative painter}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Robert Birmelin
| image = Robert Birmelin in Studio HiRes.jpg
| other_names = August Robert
A. Robert Birmelin
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1933}}
| birth_place = Newark, New Jersey, U.S.
| education = Cooper Union Art School
Yale School of Art
| occupation = American figurative painter, printmaker, and draughtsman
| website = {{URL|http://robertbirmelin.com/}}
}}
Robert Birmelin (born 1933) is an American figurative painter, printmaker and draughtsman. In other contexts he is also known as August Robert or A. Robert Birmelin. He was born in Newark, New Jersey and currently resides in Leonia, New Jersey.
Birmelin is best known for his paintings and drawings capturing the drama of close physical involvement as experienced in the movement and tensions of the urban crowd. He has also explored a range of other subjects, including landscape and recently, more subjective themes dealing with memory and time, often employing double imagery. Since 2016 he has focused mainly on drawing, producing several long horizontal narrative works, inspired by the format of Chinese and Japanese scrolls he has studied at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Drawing from life, from memory and imagination are central to his practice, strongly believing they yield more vigorous, personal visual imagery, than does the habit of relying to photographic sources, as is common among many contemporary figurative artists.
Education
Born in Newark, Birmelin was raised in nearby Bloomfield, where he was encouraged to attend Cooper Union by a teacher of his at Bloomfield High School.Keyishian, Marjorie. [https://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/17/nyregion/mural-honors-patersons-rich-history.html "Mural Honors Paterson's Rich History"], The New York Times, November 17, 1991. Retrieved May 1, 2021. "Born in Newark, Mr. Birmelin grew up in Bloomfield. A high school teacher, Dorothea Fischer, whom he called 'a great help and an excellent tutor' and who still comes to all his shows, suggested that he apply for a scholarship to Cooper Union."DiFulco, Pasquale. [https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/528512172/ "Colorful mural by Robert Birmelin recalls Paterson's rich history"], Herald News, January 12, 1992. Retrieved May 1, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "By 1949, during his sophomore year at Bloomfield, High School, Birmelin came under the tutelage of now-retired art teacher Dorothea Fischer, who said the artist was a superb student, not only academically, but you just knew he had artistic talent as well." Birmelin studied at the Cooper Union Art School (1951–1954){{Cite web|last=Thieves|first=Noemi Charlotte|date=February 22, 2013|title=Where Would You Be Without Cooper? Robert Birmelin A'54|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KMtS92pm6M|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=December 18, 2020|via=YouTube}} and Yale School of Art (1954–1956, BFA and 1959–1960, MFA), where Josef Albers, Bernard Chaet, and Gabor Peterdi were his most important mentors. He received a Fulbright Fellowship to the Slade School of the University of London (1960–61), followed by a Fellowship at the American Academy in Rome (1961–64).
Exhibition history
Birmelin's work has been seen in 55 one-person exhibitions in the US and internationally, from his first show at The Stable Gallery{{Cite news|last1=Levin|first1=Meyer|last2=Levin|first2=Eli|date=January 1, 1961|title=Robert Birmelin Uses tables, dogs In 'floating' art|work=The Philadelphia Inquirer|access-date=}}{{Cite web|date=March 1980|title=Robert Birmelin: Recent Paintings, Maine and New York|url=https://archive.org/stream/robertbirmelinre00bowd/robertbirmelinre00bowd_djvu.txt|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=December 17, 2020|website=Archive.org}} in New York in 1960 to his most recent show at the Luise Ross Gallery in New York in 2016.{{Cite web|title=Robert Birmelin: The End of Certainty|url=https://www.mutualart.com/Exhibition/Robert-Birmelin--The-End-of-Certainty/96283B00AB8B1328|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=December 17, 2020|website=MutualArt}} His exhibitions include retrospectives at:
- The Columbus Museum, Columbus, Georgia (2003){{Cite book|last=|first=|title=Robert Birmelin: States of Mind|publisher=The Columbus Museum|year=2002|isbn=188265014X|location=Columbus, Georgia|pages=}}
- The Jaffe-Friede Gallery at Dartmouth College (1999){{Cite book|last=Mumford|first=Steve|title=Robert Birmelin; the Difficulty of Getting it Right - Paintings of the 1990s|publisher=Hopkins Center|year=1999|isbn=|location=Dartmouth College|pages=|chapter=Essay}}
- The Jersey City Museum, Jersey City, New Jersey (1997){{Cite book|last=Jacobs|first=Nina S.|title=Robert Birmelin A Life in Drawing - Drawings and Related Prints|publisher=Jersey City Museum|year=1997|isbn=|location=Jersey City|pages=|chapter=Forward}}
He has also participated in many group exhibitions in the United States and Europe.
Birmelin's works are represented in 50 public collections, among them The Metropolitan Museum of Art,{{Cite web|last=Birmelin|first=A. Robert|year=1980|title=City Crowd–Cop and Ear|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/632975?searchField=All&sortBy=Relevance&ft=birmelin&offset=0&rpp=20&pos=2|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=December 18, 2020|website=The Metropolitan Museum of Art}} The Museum of Modern Art,{{Cite web|title=Robert Birmelin|url=https://www.moma.org/artists/565#works|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=December 18, 2020|website=MoMA}} and The Hirshhorn Museum in Washington D.C.{{Cite web|last=Birmelin|first=Robert|date=1978–1981|title=EDGE OF THE CITY WITH BELTWAY|url=https://hirshhorn.si.edu/collection/artwork/?edanUrl=edanmdm%3Ahmsg_81.229|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=December 18, 2020|website=Hirshhorn}}{{Cite web|title=Robert Birmelin Bio|url=http://www.alphagallery.com/robert-birmelin-bio|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=December 17, 2020|website=Alpha Gallery}}
Awards
Birmelin has received awards and grants from The National Endowment for the Arts, the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, The National Academy, The American Academy of Arts and Letters, The Joan Mitchell Foundation, as well as four grants from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, and three from The National Endowment for the Arts.
Teaching
Birmelin was Professor in the Art Department at Queens College of The City University of New York{{Cite news|last=Schwabsky|first=Barry|date=December 14, 1997|title=IN PERSON; Commuter Artist|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/14/nyregion/in-person-commuter-artist.html|access-date=December 17, 2020}} from 1964 to 1999, and also has lectured at colleges and universities throughout the US.
Personal life
In 1960, he and Blair Tillisch (1937–2020) were married.{{Cite web|date=March 21, 2020|title=Blair Birmelin|url=https://www.echovita.com/us/obituaries/nj/leonia/blair-birmelin-10588314|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=December 18, 2020|website=echovita}} She was an artist and novelist.{{Cite journal|last=Birmelin|first=Blair T.|date=Fall 1997|title=Portrait|url=https://www.weber.edu/weberjournal/Journal_Archives/Archive_B/Vol_14_3/BBirmelinFic.html#top|journal=Weber: The Contemporary West|volume=14|issue=3|via=Weber State University}}{{Cite web|title=Birmelin, Blair T.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=au%3ABirmelin%2C+Blair+T.&qt=hot_author|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=December 18, 2020|website=WorldCat}} They have two sons: Lucas, a medical doctor{{Cite web|title=Dr. Lucas A. BirmelinMD|url=https://health.usnews.com/doctors/lucas-birmelin-188804|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=December 18, 2020|website=U.S. News}} and Nicholas, a musician.Turtle Bay Music School. "Artist Series at TBMS. 2018–2019." Leaflet. Retrieved December 18, 2020. https://www.murrayhillnyc.org/photos/Events/2019_TBMS_Artist_Series_Brochure.pdf.
References
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Category:20th-century American painters
Category:Painters from Newark, New Jersey
Category:Bloomfield High School (New Jersey) alumni
Category:People from Bloomfield, New Jersey
Category:Artists from Leonia, New Jersey