Ivan Olinsky: Work & Family

"The Poetry Reading" by Ivan Olinsky

"While Ivan and Genevieve Olinsky were living in Venice from 1906 until 1909, he created small scale spontaneously rendered street scenes. In 1907, their daughter Leonore was born. Their second daughter, Tosca, arrived two years later, around the time that the artist and his family moved to Paris. In the French capital, Olinsky established a studio and studied masterpieces at the Louvre and the Luxembourg museum. He also spent time in the Normandy town of Vernon, where he began to concentrate on the figure.

Olinsky returned to New York with his family in 1910 and set up a studio at Washington Square, where portraiture became his emphasis. At first, he painted his wife and daughters, but soon, he was flooded with commissions. By 1912, he was supplementing his income from portraits by teaching at the Academy, where, two years later, he was elected an associate member and awarded the Thomas B. Clarke Prize in its annual exhibition. He gained full membership in the Academy in 1919. He also taught at the Art Students League.

In addition to painting portraits for his living, Olinsky created paintings of figurative subjects for exhibition. Often depicting attractive women, he demonstrated his skills at modeling with color and treating three-dimensional form in a convincing fashion. Critics remarked on his skills, admiring 'the dash and verve that all his things have,' and commenting that 'his color modelling and surety of line have made him known everywhere.'”  

To be continued

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