Harvey Dinnerstein (1928–2022)

Underground Together provides a retrospective of the artist, now in his seventies. Frey and Norris in the Introduction discuss Dinnerstein's place in art; from the 50s and 60s when he set out, as something of an anachronism in art terms, to the pluralistic times in which we live now and perhaps a new acceptance.

In his essay The Hand He Was Dealt Peter Hamill succeeds in recreating in words the world in which Dinnerstein grew up and which shaped him, or perhaps more accurately allowed himself to be shaped by, often using the artist's own words to make the point.

The essay by Gabriel P Weisberg, Harvey Dinnerstein: A Traditionalist For The Future looks more closely at Dinnerstein's development including the artists he admired (Daumier, Theophile Steinlen graphic art of Kathe Kollwitz), and pictures or events which inspired his work. She then proceeds to take a closer critical look at his individual paintings, all the time bearing in mind the prevailing attitudes of the art world of the time up to the present. The book concludes with a Biography and a list of Selected Publications.

The overriding impression one gains from these essays is a man devoted to his craft, passionate about drawing, a great draughtsman who acknowledges his debt to the great masters of the past but who equally draws his inspiration from the world and especially the people of today; a realist painter but as he is at pains to point out not a photo-realist.

This is a handsome volume, beautifully produced; large format and most attractively presented and laid out. Following the essays over 160 pages feature the artists work, in total around 200 paintings are included, along with pictures of the artist at work and his studio. The text is also well illustrated; almost all the images throughout the book are in full colour.… (mehr)