Sidney Goodman

Sidney Goodman (January 19, 1936 – April 11, 2013) was an American figurative painter and draftsman from Philadelphia, PA who explored the human form.

Sidney Goodman was born in South Philadelphia in 1936, the son of Russian Jewish immigrant parents who came to America in the 1920s.

His father was a furrier and his mother was an actress in the Yiddish theatre.

In 1954, Goodman enrolled in the Philadelphia College of Art, (now University of the Arts) graduating in 1958.

Goodman entered the Army, serving from 1958-59.

Goodman received public notice in the early 1960s for his oil paintings, leading to his inclusion in the 1973 Whitney Biennial.

He began teaching at the Philadelphia College of Art starting in 1960.

From 1960 to 1978, he was married to the artist Eileen Goodman, with whom he had one child, Amanda, in 1965.

Goodman's work is noted as exemplary of a renewal of figurative realism in 1960s.

In the New York Times, Brian O'Doherty reviews his show, describing his imagery as "a modern apocalypse influenced by Freud and Gray's Anatomy."

Critics noted Goodman's examination of "expressive distortions of the human form, and connected him to the work of postwar figurative artists such as Francis Bacon.

Art historian and curator Anne d'Harnoncourt describes Goodman's work as encompassing "both his fascination with capturing the characteristic shapes, features, and gestures of humanity (whether drawn from his family and friends or from newspaper snapshots) and his drive to incorporate them into disturbing compositions that convey complex, even contradictory meanings."

From the mid 1960s until the late 1970s he was particularly concerned with what he calls "the violated landscape'—inanimate structures (water tanks, gas tanks, dumpsters, stadiums, incinerators, out of scale buildings) that threaten the harmony of nature."

Goodman noted: "I sometimes paint a realistic picture in order to justify logically something unreal."

Goodman featured his family and himself as the primary subject of his many portraits.

He found inspiration in the work of Goya and Velázquez.

In 1961, his debut exhibition in New York City at the Terry Dintenfass Gallery received high praise.

At the age of 27, Time magazine described Goodman as "one of the most respected and sought-after of the new figure painters."

He received critical attention for his New York debut exhibition and was awarded the Whitney Museum of American Art Neysa McMein Purchase Award.

Goodman had nineteen one-person shows at the Terry Dintenfass Gallery between 1961 and 1996.

From 1963 on, Goodman used a polaroid camera as a visual sketchbook, his studio full of photos he took and other references that inspired him.

Goodman received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1964.

He was selected to be part of the 1973 Whitney Biennial.

He would teach there until the spring of 1978, when he joined the faculty of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

From 1978 to 2011, Goodman taught at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

The Museum of Art at the Pennsylvania State University organized a major show that traveled in 1980-81.

In 1980 Goodman married the artist and lifelong model/muse, Pamela McCabe.

They had two children, Luke in 1986 and Maia in 1989.

In 1986, Goodman received the Hazlette Memorial Award for Excellence in the Arts (Painting).

In 1996, the Philadelphia Museum of Art presented a retrospective show of Goodman's paintings and drawings.

In 1996, the Philadelphia Museum of Art presented a retrospective of Goodman's paintings and drawings.

In 1996, he said that shows and reviews always were secondary to what was happening daily in his studio.

"If the painting is going well, that's the main thing. If it's not going well, then all the other stuff isn't going to help. I felt that way back in the '60s, and I feel that way today."

Selected Permanent Collections

In 2006, he received an honorary doctorate from Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts.

Goodman, using oil paint, pastel, charcoal, pencil, pen and ink, forged a style through direct observation, creative imagination, and prolonged study of European and American masters, employing a figurative and allegorical approach lodged in modern urban and suburban subject matter.

He often renders his subjects with moody or ominous lighting.

Goodman said of light:

"Light has its own power and mystery. Things that I am attracted to come by light - the way things are formed by the use of light."

Goodman taught at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts until 2011, when he retired.