Katzenstein - Irving

Katzenstein, Irving (1902-1973)

He won prizes for his oils and watercolors and exhibited throughout Connecticut and New York. He had what contemporaries called a “sensitive style” that was “poetic” and “lyrical.” Although his work sometimes approached abstraction, it held a tension between traditional and modern styles. He once commented that an “idea is the reason for art.” The “great artists,” he continued, “arrived at their painting through contemplation.” Above all, Katzenstein was respected for his craftsmanship, his affable personality, and his style as a teacher that encouraged his students. In a review of a 1956 retrospective exhibition at the New Britain Museum of American Art, Theodore Parker, drama critic for the Hartford Courant, wrote that the exhibition was a “harvest for the quiet eye.” Katzenstein died in 1973, and in the next year the West Hartford Art League, the Wadsworth Atheneum, and the Hartford Jewish Community Center co-sponsored a retrospective of his art at the Atheneum. To this day, Katzenstein and Howard Rackliffe, another WPA painter, remain popular with art collectors in the Greater Hartford area.

Sources: In doing research on Katzenstein, this author utilized theHartford Courant database, but there were so many articles mentioning him, I decided to cite only those that were comprehensive and analytical. The project also received biographical material about Katzenstein and the 1974 exhibition from Michael Shortell, owner of Shortell Framing in Hartford, and is appreciative.  WPA Artist’s Work Card; WPA Biography; Who Was Who in American Art [1985], p. 328;Hartford Courant: “Hartford Painter’s Work in Retrospective Show,” April 15, 1956; “Irving Katzenstein Dies, Arts Academy Founder,” December 14, 1973; T. H. Parker, “A Hartford Painter,” April 21, 1974; Jolene Goldenthal, “Katzenstein Paintings at the Atheneum,” April 21, 1974; Jolene Goldenthal, ”Portraits by Katzenstein Shown,” September 29, 1074. The following are from the Michael Shortell Collection of Materials Pertaining to Irving Katzenstein: Resume (1974?); “League Honors Artist in Show at Wadsworth,” West Hartford News, April 11, 1974; Paul M. Laporte, “The Work of Irving Katzenstein,” (ND); W.M.P.; “Irving Katzenstein, 1902-1973,” typed copy, “Irving Katzenstein,” 8 From Connecticut, Catalogue to Loan Exhibition, April 22-May 29, 1960 Wadsworth Atheneum, p. 14. Also see William Zimmer, “Perennial Favorite in a Compact Show,” New York Times, August 25, 1996.

Works of Art Listed in CT Archives’ database from Irving Katzenstein:

Katzenstein, Irving