A Resource for Modernist, Vintage, Antique & Contemporary Art & Objects
Our fine art collection is comprised of over 8,000 works of rediscovered, historically significant and contemporary artists. It reflects the major styles and movements of the 20th Century. Every collection is researched, reconditioned and catalogued at our Salon in San Francisco.
Saul Lishinsky was born in 1922, and at the time of this writing is still living in New York City at the age of 87. Lishinsky studied with Hans Hoffman in Provincetown during the Summers of 1946-1948, and attended the Art Students League in New York City.
Saul Lishinsky was raised in the Bronx and has remained his entire life in New York City. After serving in WWII, he began to paint. He was fueled by the encouragement of his cousin, the noted WPA painter, Abraham Lishinsky, and a personal passion for the work of Rembrandt and Cezanne.
Lishinsky had his first show at the 44th Street Gallery in 1946. He would later have eight one-man shows throughout the 1960s. He last exhibited at the Westbeth Gallery in 2006.
He counted amongst his close friends, important artists of he day including; Alice Neel, Phillip Reisman, Anthony Toney, Joseph Soloman, John Krucman, Louis Harris and Theo Fried. He was known as a social activist and founded the Bronx Community Murals project. Prominent murals by Lishinsky can still be seen throughout the greater New York City area.
In 2008 Lishinsky moved into a nursing home and his entire, studio filled with nearly seven decades of work was sold. This collection at Lost Art Salon, came via this sale.
Lishinsky was interviewed in his studio in 2005 and had this to say about his life as an artist: “When I am asked, I say I am 39. I’m really 83. I have no plans to pass away. I’ve lived in Westbeth since 1974. That year, I got divorced. I had a little brownstone on Manhattan Avenue. The whole top floor was my studio.
I had a cousin, Abe Lishinsky, who was a WPA painter. He encouraged me. He said, “Draw whatever you see a lot.” I’ve done that all my life. He said, “Don’t go to the National Academy.” He did that and he felt it crippled him as a painter.
I had a studio off Times Square. At the beginning, I got by doing commercial work. The pay was only $20 to $30 a week, but that was enough. My rent was only $24.50 a month.
When I was 24, I had my first show at the 44th Street gallery. My wife and I were in Provincetown for the summer from 1946 to ‘48. We rented a shack behind a chicken coop.
People in New York City were struggling to make money. I was just satisfied with the money I was making part time so I could exist and keep painting. In order to get a teaching job, you had to have some shows. I had some shows. You had to have write-ups and a point of view. The point of view was cheapening, limiting the expression. You had to give it a name and the name was not enough. That’s what happens to artists. It is not a matter of talent. It is the struggle to get along, the doggedness, sticking to the most intense expression you can get. The struggle to get along and be recognized is what really deflates the spirit.
Gaining acceptability as an artist is mechanical. It is dead. To live, you have to sell your art, but merchandising is cheapening. Merchandising eliminates art that is unpleasant. Unpleasantness is part of life and it has to be shown with what is beautiful. I sell art when I can, but people don’t want to pay. There was this guy, a scenic designer for Balanchine. I made sketches of him. I started a painting of him. He wanted the painting and we agreed to $1000. I reworked the painting and a year passed. He said that he couldn’t afford a thousand dollars. He only wanted to pay $500. That is why I don’t sell”
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Biographical Resumé
Born in Carbondale, Illinois
Grew up and educated in New York City; attended the Art Students League of New York and Hans Hoffman Lectures, Provincetown, Massachusetts
Eight one-man shows: Four in New York, the last at Braverman Gallery, 1964 S.N.I. Gallery and the American Embassy Library in Lisbon, 1961 Center Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut, 1963 J.C.C. Gallery, Denver, Colorado, 1964
Participated in many other shows, including those at: Riverside Museum, New York City; A.C.A. Gallery, New York City; Braverman Gallery, New York City; Jacques Seligmann Gallery, New York City; Waverly Gallery, New York City; Hudson Guild Gallery, New York City; East Side Show, New York City; Barnard College; Rutgers University; Society for Ethical Culture; National Arts Club; Jean Dichter Gallery, Denver, Colorado; Westbeth Gallery New York City.
Edward MacDowell Colony Fellow in 1948 and 1958 Grant from America the Beautiful Fund of New York, for Westchester Square Library Mural, 1976 Created “Apple Of Our Eye”, a multi-media slide show on art and the community, 1976 Completed Westchester Square Library Mural dedicated by Hon. Robert Abrams, Aileen Ryan and others, 1977 Founder and Director of Bronx Community Murals, Inc., 1978 Designed, created “New York, New York” mural with students at Julia Richman High School, 1978 Taught for many years in private schools and personal studio; also art teacher-therapist at Thompson Center Social Rehabilitation Service of Sound View-Throgs Neck Community Mental Health Center (Albert Einstein College of Medicine).
Represented in many private collections, among which are: The well-known actor Everett Sloane; Mrs. Herbert Bittner; New York State Assemblyman Seymour Posner; Dr. and Mrs. Myron Blanchard; Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Glynn; Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Mackles; all of New York City; Mrs. Sally Snelling; Mr. and Mrs. Gerson Brodie; Judge and Mrs. Ted H. Reuben of Denver, Colorado; Mr. and Mrs. Bachner of East Meadows, Long Island; Senora Maria Pardal of Braga, Portugal; Senora Maria de Lacerda of Lisbon, Portugal; Mr. and Mrs. George Ancona of Haverstraw, New York, etc.
Lost Art Salon 245 South Van Ness, Suite 303, San Francisco, CA, 94103
415.861.1530 or partners@lostartsalon.com The Lost Art Collection at Lost Art Salon in San Francisco contains works from the following categories: oil, watercolor, affordable art, vintage art, affordable vintage art, retro art, affordable retro art, affordable period art, original art, fine art, affordable fine art, retro style art, period style art, Mid-Century art, Mid-Century style art, Modern art, 20th Century art, California impressionism art, impressionism art, West Coast art, California art, art deco, art deco art, art nouveau, art nouveau art, post impressionism art, desert art, watercolor art, California scene art, San Francisco scenes art, SF scenes art, surrealism art, modernism art, abstraction art, abstract art, abstract impressionism art, postwar art, hard edge art, outsider art, native art, geometric abstraction art, WPA art, plein aire landscapes, plein aire landscape, portraits, portrait, portrait art, figurative abstract, affordable paintings, affordable painting, cheap painting, cheap paintings, period painting, period paintings, vintage painting, vintage paintings, retro painting, retro paintings, 20th Century paintings, 20th Century painting, antique paintings, original paintings, mid-century paintings, modern paintings, symbolist paintings, arts and craft paintings, impressionist paintings, California impressionism paintings, art deco paintings, art nouveau paintings, desert paintings, watercolor paintings, oil paintings, acrylic paintings, California scene paintings, San Francisco paintings, California paintings, surrealism paintings, abstraction paintings, abstract paintings, post war paintings, hard edge paintings, ourtsider paintings, native paintings, WPA paintings, affordable drawings, affordable drawing, vintage drawings, vintage drawing, antique drawings, original drawings, mid-century drawings, modern drawings, art deco drawings, art nouveau drawings, affordable sculptures, affordable sculpture, vintage sculpture, vintage sculptures, period sculpture, period sculptures, 20th Century sculptures, retro sculptures, antique sculpture, 20th Century sculpture, original sculpture, mid-century sculpture, modern sculpture, affordable ceramics, period ceramics, vintage ceramics, antique ceramics, 20th Century ceramics, original ceramics, retro ceramics, mid-century ceramics and modern ceramics. Lost Art Salon, 245 South Van Ness, suite 303, San Francisco, California, 94103. Master.com.content
