Ira  Moskowitz 

Birth Year : 1912
Death Year : 
Country : Poland

Ira Moskowitz, descendant of a long rabbinical line, was born in Poland and went with his family to Prague, Czechoslovakia, in 1914. The family remained there until 1927, and young Moskowitz received his first education in Prague's schools. Soon after, his family moved to New York City, and in 1927 Moskowitz became the pupil of Henry Wickey at the Art Students League, having finally resolved his conflict between a passion for drawing and a desire to follow the rabbinical profession of his forefathers. Between 1935 and 1938, he traveled to Israel and to Europe where he studied the works of the old masters, an interest derived from his first teacher and one that eventually led to his active collaboration in 1954 on the four-volume series, "Great Drawings of All Time." 

In 1939, Moskowitz made his first trip to Mexico, and stayed for six months. In 1943 he received a Guggenheim Fellowship and moved to New Mexico, where he remained for seven years drawing the Indians and becoming an active member of the Taos-Sante Fe artists group. His book, "Patterns and Ceremonials of the Indians of the Southwest," appeared in 1949. Since 1962, Moskowitz has divided his time between Paris and New York. He is a superb draughtsman in the old tradition, drawing with a quick, nervous, but incisive line that is extremely lively and full of movement. His subject matter takes its shape from the life that he sees around him-natural forms, the human figure, landscapes, and people at their daily tasks. 

Ira Moskowitz came to New York at the age of sixteen. Within a year he received a scholarship to study at the Art Students' League under such well known instructors as John Sloan and Harry Wickey. Ira Moskowitz's first paintings, etchings and lithographs were exhibited in New York in the early 1930's. Throughout the 1940's Moskowitz lived in the American Southwest and became a prominent member of the Santa Fe Group of Artists. His original prints and paintings of Navajo life and customs gained for him a strong national reputation.

Ira Moskowitz returned to live in New York after 1947 and continued to produce remarkable works of art. Today his etchings, lithographs and paintings are included in many major collections in Europe, the United States and Israel. These include the Library of Congress, Washington DC, the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, and the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris.

Religion and Jewish culture played a vital role in Ira Moskowitz's art. Isaac Bashevis Singer once said of Moskowitz; "Ira has recaptured the religious view of God and the world in his works." The Jewish Wedding was published in New York around 1970 in a signed, limited edition of 100 impressions. From 1967 through 1969 Moskowitz was a frequent visitor to Israel and had several solo exhibitions there at the Haifa Museum of Modern Art. This fine etching, like much of his work from this period, depicts aspects of Israeli life and religion. Every impression was extensively hand coloured by the artist making each etching a unique work of art.