biography of Henry Albert BOTKIN (1896-1983)

Birth place: Boston, MA

Addresses: NYC/Provincetown, MA

Profession: Painter, writer

Studied: Mass Sch Art; ASL; E.R. Major; Bridgman; abroad.

Exhibited: S.Indp.A., 1928; Corcoran Gal, 1932-53; PAFA, 1941-42, 1946, 1949, 1951-54; CI; AIC; WMAA, 1937-51; GGE, 1939; WFNY, 1939; MMA; BMA; Denver A. Mus.; Walker Gal.; Stendahl Gal.; Carstairs Gal.; Phillips Gal., 1937 (solo); Harriman Gal. (solo); LACMA (solo); SFMA; Chicago AC, 1938 (solo); Audubon A., 1945 (prize); PMG; BMFA; Kansas City AI; Downtown Gal.; Riverside Mus, 1961 (solo), Syracuse Univ, 1971 (solo); Frank Rehn Gallery, 1972 (solo); Four awards incl Nat Inst Arts & Lett grant, 1965; Childs Gal., NYC, 1988 (solo); Salons of Am.

Member: Am. A. Cong.; AEA (pre, 1951); Group 256, Provincetown, MA (pres, 1955-1958); Am Abstr Artists (pres, 1954-1955); Fedn Mod Painters & Sculptors (pres, 1957-1961, 1968-1969); fel Int Assn Plastic Arts & Lett.

Work: MMA; MOMA; WMAA; PMG; Univ. Nebr.; BM; Newark Mus.; Univ. Okla.; Syracuse Univ. MFA

Comments: In the 1930s, Botkin was working as a realist painter of the American scene; by the late 1940s he had turned to abstraction in oils and collage. He was active in Provincetown, MA, 1950-on. Botkin helped to organize the first exhibition of American abstract painting at the Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan, in 1955. He also acted as an art advisor to his cousins Ira and George Gershwin, traveling to Paris to buy works for them and for their friends (including William Paley, Fanny Brice, and Billy Rose).

Sources: WW73; WW47; Provincetown Painters, 203; add'l info. courtesy Childs Gallery, Boston, MA.

Legals