Kaufman, Edwin. (1906-1939)

Born in Cleveland, Kaufman began his art studies at an early age culminating with formal training at the Cleveland School of Art, where he studied with Harry Keller. One of his oil paintings won him the Agnes Gund European Traveling Scholarship; he spent a year there painting and studying under several artists: Hans Hofmann, Henry De Waroquier, Othon Friesz , and Abel G. Warshawsky. Kaufman seems to have been able to support himself through his work, in part because his primary medium was etching seriographs, in part because he was an effective agent for his own work. He died tragically, along with his wife and two-year old son, when a bridge they were crossing in Pennsylvania collapsed under the weight of a freight truck. As Henry Adams writes, “Kaufman’s best work is a curious blend of the 19th century picturesque, the social realism of the Ashcan School, and the bold patternmaking of the modernists he associated with in the thirties, such as [Louis] Lozowick....It’s intriguing and somewhat eerie to have his work resurface seventy-five years after his death; and a reminder that we should honor not only those who achieved great things, but those whose early promise was cut short.” 28 works at Cleveland Museum of Art. 2 more images at FAP. 


Sources consulted: Source: Henry Adams, “A Life Cut Short: Edwin Kaufman, 1906-1939, Collective Arts Network, Cleveland.

Works in the New Deal Collection at GVCA by Edwin Kaufman:

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Harbor
Harbor

At least a third of this painting is dominated by a harbor, whose representation of waves resemble the letter "U" and whose boats are the simplest of icons. To characterize the scene as childlike, however, overlooks the skillful pattern-making applied to trees in the foreground and background. Kaufman creates a bounded world whose simplicity is deceptive; he strips away realist techniques while retaining their representational ends.

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