Irving Amen

Flute Player and Dog, Modern Woodblock by Irving Amen

circa 1965

Born in New York City, Irving Amen began drawing at the young age of four. By the time he was fourteen-years-old, he won a scholarship to the Pratt Institute. He emulated Michelangelo's masterpieces and spent years perfecting his unique style. From 1942–45, Amen served with the Armed Forces. He headed a mural project and executed murals in the United States and Belgium. He had his first exhibition at the New School for Social Research in New York and his second at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington in 1949. Amen studied in Paris in 1950. Upon his return to the United States, he had one-man shows in New York and Washington D.C. In 1953, Amen traveled throughout Italy. This resulted in a series of eleven woodcuts, eight etchings and several oil paintings. One of these woodcuts, Piazza San Marco #4 and its four woodblocks constitute a permanent exhibit of block printing in color at the Smithsonian Institution. Travel in Israel, Greece and Turkey in 1960 led to a retrospective show in Jerusalem. His art is widely owned and loved. Amen has taught at Pratt Institute and the University of Notre Dame. Commissions include a Peace Medal in honor of the Vietnam War and 12 stained glass windows for the Congregation Agudas Achim in Ohio. He is listed in the Mantle Fielding’s Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors and Engravers and the Dictionary of Contemporary American Artists by Paul Cummings.