William Blumenfeld
1922-1992
William Blumenfeld was born and grew up in New York City, the youngest of three brothers. He studied Fine Art and Graphic Design at Cooper Union in 1941, and again in 1947. In 1949, he attended the Brooklyn Museum Art School, and in the 1950s, he studied at the Art Students League, where he was a life member. During the 1980s Bill’s work was exhibited in New York City at the Drawing Center and Horizon Galleries, and at the Weatherspoon Art Gallery at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro. Reviews of his work appeared in “Arts” and “Art Speak” magazines.
In World War II Bill served in the Army Signal Corps. It was during this time that the symptoms of his paranoid schizophrenia first manifested themselves. Bill spent a good part of the rest of his life in and out of mental institutions. When he was not in hospital, he lived, and created his art, in an SRO on W. 71st Street in Manhattan. He created advertising copy and did store window design for minimum wage. When he could no longer find design jobs, he worked as a messenger in his family’s business.
William Blumenfeld was a tortured soul devoted to his art. One of his great wishes was for his artwork to be seen – thus this website. Found among Bill’s portfolios and shown below along with some photographs of him is an incomplete note that Bill wrote about himself, his work and art.
A note on viewing the images on this website.
Clicking on any image will expand it and show some control buttons BELOW the image as follows:
The right arrow will start a slide show that displays the image for 5 seconds. You can pause the slide show at any time.
“i” displays information about the image. For the most part, just the slides have information here – such as dimensions, medium, and the occasional title.
Also, you can go through the images without starting the slide show by clicking the arrows that will appear when you move the mouse to the right or left of the image.
To return to the smaller images, click the “x” in the upper right corner.
PHOTOS OF BILL – click images for names
BILL’S NOTE
(in case it is hard to read, here is the text with some edits)
My form of recreation both as a hobby and a vocation is painting and drawing. I’ve done some form of painting or drawing since 1938 (high school days). Financially I’ve never made a lot of money but have worked in the adv. field for a salary. My last position was for Harry and Marion Zelenko, a husband and wife designer team. They made out well financially and were an excellent designer team. They did brochures, package design, newspaper and magazine adv. and window display design. Their work was very much up to date, very modern approach and in great demand. I got sick and had to leave.
I’ve gone to art school, studied painting, drawing, advertising design, textile design and sculpture. Cooper Union, Brooklyn Museum Art School and Art Students League were some of the schools attended. Some of the teachers I’ve studied with were Hans Moller, Dalavanti, Barger (sculpture), Morris Kantor, Harry Sternberg, Will Barnett, George Gross, Vatislove Vitlichill, Julien Levy, Marsicano (Bklyn Museum)
If you have any interest at all in the visual arts you develop a discerning eye and you can eventually pick the good from the bad. Subject matter – photographs, painting, sculpture, advertisements. Various types of painting – still life, landscapes, portraiture. Work can become very personal (a fetish). It can concern itself with natural sciences, nature, the heavens, the sea, the land, outer space, or can concern itself with the past, archaeology, famous events in history. There are many schools of painting. Artists band together, greater strength under one school, they think alike about their work and they sell better and it is an easy way to identify them.
It can concern itself with the present with one’s personal life, politics. There are the applied arts a big field, ceramics, textiles, stain glass windows, furniture, clothing, graphic arts, etching, lithography, wood cuts and silk screen, etc. It keeps your mind occupied. It relaxes you, gives you a chance to think. It is a very wholesome outlet, and you never tire of it. It brings you among people, something to talk about. It brings out your inner talents. Some work shop, should be open on Sat. and Sunday.