Glorious Sky (Herbert Katzman's New York)

Herbert Katzman’s lyrical representations of contemporary New York are a stunning tribute to the artist’s fascination with the skyline of his adopted city. Glorious Sky: Herbert Katzman’s New York highlights a selection of his paintings and drawings produced over half a century, during which he worked largely outside the abstract art movement that dominated the mid 20th-century. Included in the 1952 Fifteen Americans exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, Katzman went on to become an influential teacher at New York’s School of Visual Arts and continued to work and exhibit until his death in 2004.

This vibrant new volume traces his career from his arrival in New York in 1950 through the more abstract “New York School” paintings of the early sixties, to his later work which, with its emphasis on mood and muted colour, shows the influence of Turner, Whistler and the Hudson River School. When executing his cityscapes, Katzman did not work on-site; rather, he often worked from other visual prompts. Included in this volume are some of his source materials ranging from vintage photographs and newspaper and magazine clippings to postcards, especially those that captured the aerial views of New York harbor that he favoured throughout his career.