Irving Kriesberg


Irving Kriesberg was an American painter, sculptor, and filmmaker, whose work combined elements of Abstract Expressionism with figurative elements of human and animal forms. Kriesberg exhibited with Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko in the breakout 1952 exhibition, 15 Americans, at the Museum of Modern Art.

Biography and Education

Irving Kriesberg was born March 13, 1919, in Chicago, Illinois.
As a child, Kriesberg filled sketchbooks with images of animals inspired by visits to Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History. Kriesberg studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he received his BFA in 1941. Shortly after graduation from the Art Institute of Chicago he traveled to Mexico City, where he lived and worked from 1941 until 1944. He studied at the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plasticas, Mexico City and exhibited with Taller de Gráfica Popular. In 1945, Kriesberg moved to New York City. His big entry into the New York art scene came when Dorothy Miller, curator of the Museum of Modern Art, included his paintings in the landmark 1952 exhibition, 15 Americans at MoMA.15 Americans also included Jackson Pollock, Clyfford Still, Mark Rothko, Williams Baziotes, and other seminal American modern artists. In addition to painting and sculpture, Kriesberg was also interested in cinematography. He created two avant-garde animations Pastoral and Out of Into. He received his M.A. in film from New York University in 1972.
Kriesberg held teaching positions in highly regarded academic institutions including:
Retrospective:
Kriesberg received two Ford Foundation grants, two Pollock-Krasner Foundation Awards, a National Endowment for the Arts Award, a Fulbright Fellowship, and the Guggenheim Foundation Memorial Award. In 1992 he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member and became a full Academician in 1994.

Museum collections

Kriesberg's paintings are held in the permanent collection of over 74 American art museums including The Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney Museum of American Art, The Corcoran Gallery, The Brooklyn Museum, The Detroit Museum of Art, The Kresge Art Museum, The National Gallery, The Butler Institute of American Art, The Birmingham Museum of Art, The Jewish Museum, The University of Michigan Museum of Art, The Dayton Art Institute, The Allentown Art Museum, The Boca Raton Museum of Art, The Rose Art Museum, The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, The Scottsdale MoCA, and The Crocker Art Museum.
Kriesberg died in New York City on November 11, 2009, at age 90.

Books