Ivan Olinsky: A Quiet and Successful Career

"Madonna" by Ivan Olinsky

"During the 1920s, Olinsky experimented with new approaches such as showing figures against translucent curtains or in front of mirrors. His style became progressively simpler, however, and by the late 1920s, his works were characterized by spare compositions in which abstract values are accentuated. In the 1930s, he continued to create minimalist designs. The portraits he executed during the decade show women who exude the energetic spirit associated with modern city life. Olinsky also explored symbolic portrayals, depicting a few images entitled “Madonna,” one of which featured his daughter Leonore. During the 1940s and 1950s, Olinsky continued to portray women, at times showing subjects engaged in reverie and at other times depicting confident subjects dressed in the casual attire typical of their time.

An impeccable craftsman, Olinsky created works that not only captured the realities of his subjects, but also expressed his enthusiasm for them. Although his art received considerable attention from the press during his lifetime, there were no articles or critical reviews devoted to him. His achievement was recognized by a memorial exhibition at the Art Students League in 1962 (where he had taught for years), but it was not until 1995, that it was given scholarly attention, when an exhibition accompanied by a catalogue was held at The William Benton Museum of Art at the University of Connecticut, Storrs, and at the Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme, Connecticut.

Olinsky’s work may be found in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago; the Art Students League, New York; the Brooklyn Museum; the Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio; the Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Virginia; the Dayton Art Institute, Ohio; the Everhart Museum, Scranton, Pennsylvania; the Florence Griswold Museum, Old Lyme, Connecticut; the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company, Hartford, Connecticut; the Hood Museum, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire; the Lyman Allyn Art Museum, New London, Connecticut; the Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, New York; the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minnesota; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the National Academy of Design, New York; the National Arts Club, New York; and the New Britain Museum of American Art, Connecticut."

Olinsky suffered a stroke in December 1961 and died at the home of his daughter, Leonore, on February 11, 1962.

To be continued

(Excerpts from the biography of Ivan Olinsky from Spanierman Gallery's website.)