Syracuse University Art Galleries Syracuse University Art Galleries Working in collage has expanded my development as an The art of collage offers a new di rection in Henry Botkin's Henry Botkin was born in , , where artist; it has also liberated my thinking and dramatized my work. His early paintings aimed at mystery, at what he him­ he began his career as an illustrator. His early training was growth. I have employed many materials and new tech­ self defines as a "mood of enchantment." However, a desire at the Massachusetts School of Art and at the Art Students niques as a way of offering another dimension to my paint­ for a more clearly defined artistic structure and greater League. He worked in Paris for more than seven years and ing. I am convinced that this fresh magic and a new simplicity of expression led Botkin, in the early 1960's, to held his first one-man show there. He has participated in emergence of creativity has opened many horizons. The turn to collage. For Botkin, collage is a search for a new important exhibitions in Great Britain, Germany, Canada, path I follow evokes elements of surprise and the challenge artistic dimension, a fresh presentation of pictorial space, Yugoslavia, France, South America, Israel, South Africa, of the unfamiliar. The decisions and endless experimenta­ and perhaps most importantly, a wish to avoid convention. Italy and Japan. The artist has held more than 60 one-man tion that arrive with this transformation spark the mind and Botkin's collages contain a fresh perceptive order, a sur­ shows in leading galleries and museums in the U.S.A. expand ideas. prise element; familiar things are constantly transformed and Europe. Art is a collision of new truths and awakened sensibilities; and recreated with a feeling of new logic. Perhaps the two Botkin's work is in the permanent collections of 41 it is a serious understanding of the untried and unexpected. words which best characterize Botkin's collages, the words museums, including the Metropolitan Museum, the Whitney Collage for me is the intensification of painting; it is an he himself uses over and over in discussing his art, are Museum and numerous others. He is also represented in expansion that can be added to the progress of the artist. It simplicity and logic. Collage, for Botkin, is not a miscel­ over 135 private collections, including 16 works in the has been my experience that not only does it increase a laneous collection of material, but a serious painting, care­ Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. collection. The artist has also served pulsation of new forces, it ends in the poetic transformation fully planned and painstakingly executed to demonstrate a as president for four leading art organizations. These in­ of a dream world with new inspiration. unique sort of order, a dramatic and dynamic contrast in a clude Group 256, Provincetown, Massachusetts, 1955-56; Henry Botkin, 1969 system of colors and spatial relationships. Artists Equity Association, 1952-1953; American Abstract Syracuse UniversityWhile Botkin's workArt is strikingly Galleries individual and original, Artists, 1954-1955; and the Federation of Modern Painters he also has deep respect for past tradition, for the influence and Sculptors, 1958-1961-1969. He is a Fellow of the Inter­ of other painters and sculptors. He stresses, in his writing, national Institute of Arts and Letters and has been active the importance of education to the artist. He believes that an in the International Association of Plastic Arts. Botkin has understanding of the great periods of art does not stifle participated in and promoted many art forums and exhibi­ individuality or force imitation, but rather enlarges the scope tions, including numerous appearances on Voice of America. of creative development, encouraging the artist to cultivate He was also co-organizor of the first American abstract his own particular style and vision, something which Botkin exhibition in the Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan, himself has done in his paintings. In an era of pop-art and in 1955. op-art, Henry Botkin's professionalism, his dedication and In addition, Botkin has acted as art advisor to many lead­ commitment to his chosen form of artistic expression is ing American collectors and has effected the acquisition of outstanding. over 200 works by European and American artists. He has August L. Freundlich been responsible for many cultural activities for art and Dean, School of Art artists and served as co-editor of The World of Abstract Art (George Wittenborn, 1957). He also compiled and planned Art and Artists in the U.S.A. (1963). Henry Botkin was closely associated with the composer, and this association stimulated Gershwin'S painting career, art col­ lection and exhibitions. The artist also contributed to a book, George Gershwin (Longmans Green, 1938). Richard S. Carroll Director, Lowe Art Gallery COLLAGE PAINTINGS 1 1961 Growth No.4 16112 x 13 26 1964 Black Light 15112x18 49 1968 Gaua Shield 44x34 2 1962 Cycle 6112 x 5112 Joseph H. Hirshorn Collection 50 1968 Zapotec 40x33 27 1964 The Mask 9 x 16 Private Collection 51 1970 Balsa Black 33% x 44 15 x 19112 Joseph H. Hirshorn Collection 3 1968 Toltec 14x 12 3 28 1969 Untitled 44x34 52 1969 Okua 4 1962 Scafati No.2 9 /4 xii Collection of Mrs. Phyllis Lutyens Xantus 22 X 16112 29 1965 Earth Bronze 43 x 33 44x33 5 1962 Syracuse University Art Collection 53 1970 Eye of Chimu 6 1963 The Mountain 12112 x 11112 30 1967 Praha 113,4 x 103,4 54 1968 Sounds of Kensan 33x44 7 1969 Euston 13112 x 12% 31 1964 Cosmic 20 x 24 55 1970 Klaes 44x33 8 1967 Tonga 44x34 Collection of Mr. and Mrs. John Clancy 56 1971 Kojima Song 44x33 9 1966 Isola No.1 11x15% 32 1966 Komachi 21112 x 34 57 1964 Azzurra 44x33 10 1964 Mosaic 13112 x 9112 33 1966 Colombe 31 x 22 58 1969 Orange Dust 44x33 11 1964 D'Anna 13% x 12112 34 1964 Myriad No.2 33x44 59 1969 Arrawa No.2 44x33 12 1.964 Giglio 9 x 6112 35 1969 Karwar 44x34 60 1969 Yellow Shield 44x33 Private Collection 36 1964 Journey to Sauro 33x44 61 1965 Aurora 44x33 Fiori 4112 x 6112 13 1964 37 1965 Celestial No.2 33x44 62 1970 Brown Core 50x60 Kuno 9x11 3/a 14 1969 38 1968 Iwasa 44x33 63 1969 Drum Beat 44x33 1964 Talma 18x22 15 39 1970 To Euston 44x33 64 1969 Talgrath 33x44 Collection of The Museum of Modern Art 40 1967 Geh No.2 44x33 16 1964 Saito 17 x 22112 65 1970 Piliero 44x33 41 44x33 17 1968 Tableau in Black 12 x 11 1969 Ascent 66 1970 Pointed Edge 9 X 12 42 1970 Aviedo 60 x 50 18 1969 Sanctuary 7112 x 10 Syracuse University67 Art1966 Voice Galleries of Kumasa 73,4 x 5% 43 1960 Lambeth Space 60x 50 19 1969 Kypia 8112 x 10 68 1971 Yoruba 13% x 15% 44 1969 Aquila 18 x 13 20 1969 Elegy 23112 x21% 69 1970 Xenaki 10% x 16 24x33 21 1965 Santa Lucia 163,4 x 13% 45 1966 From the Seed 70 1968 Ferrara 12112 x 8112 13112 x 9112 46 1968 Interplay 12 X 9 71 1970 Kusaie 44x34 22 1969 Vicari a Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Leo Godowsky, Jr. 23 1971 Senega 19112 x 18 47 1964 Phoebus 44x34 24 1970 Alkmaar No.2 25 x 12% 48 1969 Asmat No.2 44x34 25 1965 Axis 23112 x 18 Syracuse University Art Galleries

1969 Asmat No.2 1964 Elegy Syracuse University Art Galleries

1962 Cycle 1961 Growth No.4 ,70 Pointed Edge 1970 Journey to Sauro

Syracuse University Art Galleries 1964 Phoebus 1969 Kuno Syracuse University Art Galleries

1965 Celestial No.2 1964 Mosaic 1968 Iwasa

Syracuse University Art Galleries

1969 Sanctuary

1968 Toltec

1970 Alkmaar No.2 PERMANENT COLLECTIONS Abbott Laboratories Newark Museum Akron Art Institute Norfolk Museum of Art Bath-Yam Museum of Arts, Israel Norton Gallery, Florida Boston Museum of Fine Arts Phillips Memorial Gallery, Washington, D.C. Brandeis University Provincetown Art Association Brooklyn Museum Riverside Museum, Butler Institute of American Art, Ohio Rochester Memorial Art Gallery Chrysler Museum of Provincetown Rose Art Museum, Waltham, Massachusetts Colby College Art Museum, Maine St. Lawrence University, Canton, New York Dallas Museum of Fine Arts Slater Memorial Museum, Connecticut Denver Art Museum Smith College Museum of Art Holyoke College, Massachusetts State Museum of Art, Munich, Germany La Jolla Museum of Art, San Diego, University of Michigan Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. University of Nebraska Lowe Art Center, Syracuse University University of Oklahoma Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Wadsworth Athenium, Hartford, Connecticut Mobile Art Gallery, Alabama Walker Art Center, Minnesota Museum of Modern Art, New York Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Maryland Museum of Tel Aviv, Israel SyracuseWichita State University, Kansas University Art Galleries New York University Art Collection Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

CREDITS: Photographs of paintings by Budd Studios. Photograph of the artist by Dena. Syracuse University wishes to acknowledge the cooperation of the Frank Rehn Gallery, . Syracuse University Art Galleries