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I graduated from New York University in 1947 with a B. A. in Fine Arts and I painted and sculpted on my own until I enrolled in Cooper Union in 1950. In 1951, on the recommendation of a fellow student, a painting of mine was exhibited in a group show at the Roko Gallery in Greenwich Village. 

In the next few years I took occasional classes in woodcut, sculpture and painting at the New School and privately. I also went to many galleries and in 1953 started going to the Artists' Club. My work, of course, was influenced by what I saw and conversations both with peers and older artists, especially Willem de Kooning. 

In 1954, I studied with Edwin Dickinson and that was a real turning point, both because of the seriousness with which he took me and inspiration for future teaching methods. It was a short but intense experience. I date my professional career from this period because at the same time I was developing my ow style. I was invited to be in exhibitions much as the Stable Annuals and various coop galleries on Tenth Street. In 1956, my work was in two-person and from person exhibits and I also became a charter member of the March Gallery. I had my first one person show there in November of 1957. 

During this time I earned money as a secretary, working on a part time or temporary basis, to interfere as little as possible with painting. Both time and money were in short supply but I exhibited regularly. In 1958, I was able to spend the summer in Provincetown, where I renewed an acquaintance with Sally and Milton Avery. A sculpture of mine at St. Mark's Church had interested them the previous spring and we talked for a while as I sat in the gallery. The following year Milton chose me as one of the young artists in an exhibit at the National Arts Club. This, together with a solo show at the Delancey St. Museum, led to my inclusion in "Young American Artists: 1960" at the Whitney Museum, curated by John I. H. Baur.

My work received a great deal of attention and all four paintings were sold, one to the Whitney Museum. I was also recommended to the Charles Alan Gallery by Joseph Horshhorn and had my first exhibit there in 1961. A trip to Italy followed and I spent five months living and working in Florence. Two of the paintings I did there entered the Hirshorn and Neuberger collections. The larger one, of Red Grooms, is now in the SUNY, Purchase Museum collection.

In 1962-3, I received a Fullbright grant to France and traveled extensively to Greece the summer before the grant started and lived in Delphi for a month. A painting I did there is in the Newark Museum collection. During the period of the Fullbright grant I lived outside of Paris and worked a great deal and also took short trips to Spain, Holland, Greece, Italy, etc. Paintings produced during the fourteen months I was in Europe were exhibited the following year at the Alan Gallery.

While Charles Alan was impeccably honest, he did not believe in publicity and I was too stupid to realize that it was my responsibility as well, so the neat package of attention I had arrived with was pretty much dissipated by 1966. Sales were sparse both in New York and in Provincetown where I exhibited regularly in the summer until the 1980's.

While I have exhibited at various galleries throughout the country in the last thirty years my finances have been border line. From 1964 to the present I have also earned money as a visiting artist. Those jobs, have been drastically curtained in the last ten years. 

In 1975, I had a one person exhibit at the Everson Museum in Syracuse, encompassing five years of work. In 1984, there was a twenty-give year retrospective at the Canton Art Institute. My most recent one person show was at the Benton Gallery in 1986 and I have shown in group shows since.

In 1988, I became a substitute teacher in the public schools out of financial desperation. Although I had several visiting jobs as well, this has become my main source of income and carries an emotional and physical toll that makes seeking representation very difficult, and painting only slightly less so.