Michael Mazur

Michael Burton Mazur (1935 – August 18, 2009) was an American artist who was described by William Grimes of The New York Times as "a restlessly inventive printmaker, painter, and sculptor."^[1]

Born and raised in New York City, Mazur attended the Horace Mann School.^[2] He received a bachelor's degree from Amherst College in 1958, then studied art at Yale.^[3]

Mazur first gained notice for his series of lithographs and etchings of inmates in a mental asylum, which resulted in two publications, "Closed Ward" and "Locked Ward." Over the years, he worked in printmaking and painting. His series of large-scale prints for Dante's Inferno won critical acclaim,and were the subject of a traveling exhibition organized by the University of Iowa in 1994. Later he concentrated on creating large, lyrical paintings which make use of his free, gestural brushwork and a varied palette. Some of these paintings were seen in an exhibition of 2002 at Boston University, "Looking East: Brice Marden, Michael Mazur, and Pat Steir."^[4] See also Susan Danly's "Branching: The Art of Michael Mazur."^[5]

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, has acquired a definitive collection of Mazur's prints. Trudy V. Hansen authored a catalogue raisonne of Mazur's prints in 2000.^[6]

Mazur's work is owned by museums including the Art Institute of Chicago, the British Museum, The Fogg Museum, the Philadelphia Museum, Whitney Museum, the Yale Art Gallery, and the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University.

He was long active as a teacher and supporter at the Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, Massachusetts.^[7]

He died of congestive heart failure.^[8]

See also

• Boston Expressionism

References

1. William Grimes, "Michael Mazur, Artist of Realism and Abstraction, Dies at 73", The New York Times, August 29, 2009.
2. Lloyd Schwartz, "Michael Mazur, 1935 - 2009: Painter, printmaker, teacher, art historian, curator, political/social/arts activist, Red Sox and Celtics fan", The Phoenix, August 27, 2009.
3. Bryan Marquard, "Michael Mazur; artist reinvigorated monotype; 73", The Boston Globe, August 21, 2009.
4. Stomburg, John (2002). Looking East: Brice Marden, Michael Mazur, Pat Steir. Boston, Massachusetts: Boston University Art Gallery. ISBN 1881450163.
5. Danly, Susan (1997). Branching: The Art of Michael Mazur (1st ed.). Amherst, Massachusetts: Amherst College. ISBN 0914337181.
6. The Prints of Michael Mazur With a Catalogue Raisonne 1956-1999 (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2000)
7. Schwartz, Lloyd. "Michael Mazur, 1935-2009". PROVINCETOWN ARTIST REGISTRY. THE BOSTON PHOENIX. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
8. Grimes, William (29 August 2009). "Michael Mazur, Artist of Realism and Abstraction, Dies at 73". The New York Times.