Ronald Markman

Ronald Markman (May 29, 1931 – May 30, 2017) was an American artist and educator best known for producing large colorful paintings and sculptures in a style that combined elements of Surrealism and pop art with a deep grounding in color theory.

He integrated classical and popular culture, humor, as well as whimsy and riotous color to deliver social satire and a deeply personal vision of the world.

Markman was born in the Bronx, New York, during the middle of the Great Depression.

As a child, Markman read Krazy Kat and Smokey Stover comics, attended Broadway shows with his family, and listened to Jack Benny, Fred Allen, and Edgar Bergen on the radio while doodling or drawing at his kitchen table.

He aspired to be a professional cartoonist and, as a teenager, sold cartoons to Seventeen and Redbook magazines.

While still in high school, he sought out and received advice from The New Yorker cartoonist Saul Steinberg, who served as an early role model.

After reviewing Markman's portfolio, Steinberg encouraged him to pursue cartooning and suggested he hone his skills with formal art training.

Markman enrolled in the Art Students League of New York, where he studied with George Grosz, and subsequently at Cooper Union.

According to Markman, other early influences included Paul Klee, Marc Chagall, Joan Miró, Alexander Calder, and Claes Oldenburg.

In 1952, Markman was drafted into the army during the Korean War, where his talents were directed toward utilitarian tasks.

"I painted signs. What else could they do with a painter? I was very lucky."

said Markman.

Two years later, after completing his service and earning the rank of sergeant, he enrolled at the Yale School of Art on the G.I. Bill.

Notable friends and classmates during Markman's tenure at Yale included Eva Hesse, Joseph Raffael, and William Bailey, as well as the painter-turned-poet Mark Strand.

At Yale, Markman studied under the tutelage of Josef Albers, a geometric abstractionist considered the father of color theory and best known for his signature series Homage to the Square.

Markman earned his BFA in 1957 and his MFA in 1959, studying color, drawing, and painting.

Albers' instruction strongly influenced Markman's work throughout his lifetime.

"I feel I owe Albers everything", said Markman.

Markman also emphasized the importance of "learn[ing] about yourself and figur[ing] out how to translate your self-knowledge into art", stating that "You don't want to be like everyone else. You want to figure out what makes your art special and different in a meaningful and imaginative way."

Markman's early work reflects the influences of Albers' philosophy of color theory, George Grosz's biting social satire, Markman's fascination with popular culture, and his personal perspective on the state of the world.

Markman provides a commentary on the emergence, in the second half of the 20th century, of an increasingly commercialized and coarsened consumer culture that valued money, convenience, and sex over classical humanist values.

His aesthetic was rooted firmly in his classical art training and was influenced by both popular culture and primitive artists.

His drawings and paintings—which combined a mix of farce, pop-art, and narrative imagery to deliver a humorous take on society—gained early recognition at a national level.

Markman's first one-man exhibition at the Kanegis Gallery in Boston in 1959 was a critical and commercial success.

That same year, three of his drawings were exhibited in a Recent Acquisitions show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

The next year (1960), his work was exhibited in the Whitney Annual and the Whitney Young America group exhibitions.

In 1960, Markman was offered a position at the Art Institute of Chicago, where he would teach before holding a faculty position at Indiana University for 30 years.

Some of his students, including Jim Nutt, went on to form the Hairy Who and Chicago Imagist movements.

Harold Haydon of the Chicago Sun-Times and Alan Artner of the Chicago Tribune both identified Markman as a strong influence on the latter movement; Haydon christened him "the long-neglected father of Chicago Imagist painting".

His drawings were included in a group exhibition entitled Drawings of the Twentieth Century at the Arts Club of Chicago in 1962 and in the Chicago Biennial Print and Drawing Show at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1964.

A turning point in Markman's art came in 1962, when a Fulbright award took him to Rome, where his fascination with antique Italian maps inspired his creation of an imaginary, satirical country of his own.

"The map had to have a name, so I came up with Mukfa", recounted Markman.

"I wanted something slightly obscene, because the world is obscene, as you probably know."

He described Mukfa as a "fantasy realm of unbridled absurdity" where his alter ego, Rolland Markum, and a cast of colorful characters existed uncensored in an exaggerated alternative reality.

Mukfa, with its slyly bawdy name and iconic cast of cartoonish characters, became a recurring leitmotif throughout his career and a versatile vehicle for Markman's humorous social commentary.

In 1965, Time Magazine wrote of his work, "The influence of such early heroes as Steinberg, Searle and the late George Grosz accounts, in part at least, for Markman's abundant satire and spare surrealism. But he seems to be something of a seer too."

And in 1965, John Gruen of the New York Herald Tribune wrote, "A bit of Steinberg, a dash of Klee, and a soupcon of the English cartoonist Searle—and, voila—Markman... there are skill, humor, and delight to be found in these paintings and drawings."

Simultaneously, Markman laid the foundation for an influential academic career.

He held teaching positions at the University of Florida and at the Kansas City Art Institute.

In 1965, Markman joined the Terry Dintenfass Gallery in New York City.