Fay Kleinman
Encyclopedia
Most of her work is oil on canvas
Oil painting
Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil—especially in early modern Europe, linseed oil. Often an oil such as linseed was boiled with a resin such as pine resin or even frankincense; these were called 'varnishes' and were prized for their body...
, but she has done some mixed-media work and watercolor
Watercolor painting
Watercolor or watercolour , also aquarelle from French, is a painting method. A watercolor is the medium or the resulting artwork in which the paints are made of pigments suspended in a water-soluble vehicle...
. She has exhibited in museums in New York and Massachusetts and in galleries throughout the country. She is the co-founder of the Becket Arts Center in Becket, Massachusetts
Becket, Massachusetts
Becket is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,779 at the 2010 census.- History :...
.
Kleinman studied studied at the American Artists School
American Artists School
The American Artists School was a progressive independent art school in New York City associated with socialism and the American Radical movement.The school was founded in April 1936 at 131 West Fourteenth Street...
: murals with Anton Refregier
Anton Refregier
Anton Refregier was a Russian immigrant painter in the United States.He made the 27 murals in the Rincon Center in San Francisco, California, which depict the history of California, in the style of the social realism.- Life and early career:Refregier was born in Moscow and emigrated to the United...
, painting with Jean Liberte, and sculpture with Milton Hebald
Milton Hebald
Milton Hebald is a sculptor who specializes in figurative bronze works. Twenty-three of his works are displayed in public in New York City, including the statues of Romeo and Juliet and The Tempest in front of the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park...
. She also took classes through the WPA
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, employing millions of unskilled workers to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads, and operated large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects...
, City College of New York
City College of New York
The City College of the City University of New York is a senior college of the City University of New York , in New York City. It is also the oldest of the City University's twenty-three institutions of higher learning...
, and the National Academy of Design
National Academy of Design
The National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts, founded in New York City as the National Academy of Design – known simply as the "National Academy" – is an honorary association of American artists founded in 1825 by Samuel F. B. Morse, Asher B. Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E...
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She continues to paint into her nineties.
She has painted portraits of her daughter and both her grandsons. One portrait of her grandson, Randy Napoleon
Randy Napoleon
Randy Napoleon is a jazz guitarist, composer, and arranger who is a member of The Freddy Cole Quartet and the leader of the Randy Napoleon Trio. He has toured with Benny Green, the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra , led by John Clayton, Jeff Clayton and Jeff Hamilton, and with Michael Bublé.-Early...
at ten years old was purchased in 2005 by the Ypsilanti District Library in Ypsilanti, Michigan
Ypsilanti, Michigan
Ypsilanti is a city in Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 22,362. The city is bounded to the north by the Charter Township of Superior and on the west, south, and east by the Charter Township of Ypsilanti...
, where it hangs in front of the children's collection. Another painting of Randy and paintings of Brian Napoleon were included in a 2006 show at the Ann Arbor District Library, Ordinary People, in which Kleinman showed the extraordinary qualities of "ordinary" individuals.
In addition to portraits, she has done abstracts, still lifes, and landscapes. She is perhaps best known for her "Zayde" series, paintings created from sketches her father did for her daughter based on stories her daughter, then three, made up for him. The works, that have been compared to those of Paul Klee
Paul Klee
Paul Klee was born in Münchenbuchsee, Switzerland, and is considered both a German and a Swiss painter. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. He was, as well, a student of orientalism...
, include fanciful figures and places.
After a career that included sales through galleries in New York and various New England cities, Kleinman has sold many paintings in her senior years. In 2007, the University of Michigan purchased a mixed media self-portrait of a woman reading a newspaper. It is permanently displayed in the University's new East Ann Arbor Health Center.
She has survived two husbands, Jack Skurnick
Jack Skurnick
Jack Skurnick was the founder and director of EMS Recordings and publisher and editor of the highly regarded music review, Just Records.-Career:...
, who died in 1952 and was the father of Davida, aka Davi Napoleon
Davi Napoleon
Davi Napoleon, aka Davida Skurnick is an American theater historian and critic. She is a theater columnist for The Faster Times, an online newspaper, and a regular contributor to Live Design, a monthly magazine about entertainment design and designers...
. Skurnick was a record producer and violinist. She later married Emanuel Levenson
Emanuel Levenson
Emanuel Levenson was an American classical musician most active from the early 1950s through the early 1970s. Best known at the time as an opera director, he also taught piano and voice, performed as a concert pianist, and founded several arts organizations which survive to this day.A graduate of...
, a pianist and music director of an opera company who taught music at The New School
The New School
The New School is a university in New York City, located mostly in Greenwich Village. From its founding in 1919 by progressive New York academics, and for most of its history, the university was known as the New School for Social Research. Between 1997 and 2005 it was known as New School University...
in New York City. He co-founded the Becket Arts Center with her.