Murray Hantman (1904-1999)

Modernist painter Murray Hantmans career lasted sixty years in which his painting style evolved from representational to abstract.  Hantman received his formal art training at the Detroit Museum of Art School and the Detroit School of Design.  In 1918 he moved to New York and attended the Art Students League.

In 1930 Hantman went out to Los Angeles where he learned the technique of fresco painting from Mexican artist David Alfaro Siqueiros, who was known for his artwork of social commentary.  During this time Hantman was nicknamed "The Chemist" for his skill in mixing colors.  

In 1934 Hantman returned to New York City where he joined the Artists Union.  During War World II the artist worked as a designer in a tool shop. The artist was also an accomplished jazz pianist and teacher.  He taught for twenty years at the Brooklyn Museum School.

In 1945 Murray Hantman began summering on Monhegan Island in Maine.  He spent over thirty summers there and his artwork from those summers was bequeathed to the Portland Museum of Art (Maine) upon his death in 1999.

Source: "Current and Coming", editors The Magazine Antiques, November 2005

Education:
Detroit Museum of Art School, 1916
Detroit School of Design, 1917
The Art Students League, studying with Jan Matulka and Boardman Robinson, 1928-1930

Teaching Positions:
Queens College Youth Center, New York, 1946-48
Private art classes, NY, 1948-59 
Brooklyn Museum Art School, Brooklyn, New York, 1959-79 

Fellowships:
MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, New Hampshire, 1970 

Mural Commissions:
History of Commerce for the Kaufman Department Store, Pittsburgh, assistant to Boardman Robinson, 1928-30
American Today murals for New School for Social Research, New York, assistant to Thomas Hart Benton, 1928-30
America Tropical, Olvera Street, Los Angeles, assistant to David Siqueiros, 1932

Exhibitions:
Chamber of Commerce, Los Angeles, 1931 (Siqueiross "Bloc of Painters")
Federal Art Gallery, New York, 1938
"Hantman Paintings," Marquie Gallery, New York, 1945 (solo show)
"Hantman: Recent Paintings," Marquie Gallery, New York, 1949 (solo show)
"American Art Today: 1950," The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1950
Rockland Foundation, West Nyack, New York, 1954
"Contemporary East: 1955," Montana Museum, Helena, 1955
"Hantman: Recent Oil Paintings," Rockland Foundation, West Nyack, New York, 1956 (solo show)
"American Abstract Artists," Riverside Museum, New York, 1958
City Center, New York, 1958
Washington Irving Gallery, New York, 1959 (solo show)
Brooklyn Museum Art School Faculty Shows, Brooklyn Museum, New York, 1960-77
Silvermine Guild, Canaan, Connecticut, 1960
Gordon Gallery, New York, 1961 (solo show)
Michigan Tech, Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan, 1961 (solo show)
Maine Art Gallery, Wicasset, 1961
Maine Art Festival, Augusta, 1962
Loeb Student Center, New York University, 1964
Granite Gallery, New York, 1964
"Recent Oils by Hantman," xxth Century Gallery West, New York, 1966 (solo show)
xxth Century Gallery West, New York, 1967 (solo show)
"Recent Oils by Hantman," Galerie Mackay, Montreal, 1968 
Allentown Museum, Pennsylvania, 1974
"Paintings by Hantman," Plus Gallery, Portland, Maine, 1977 (solo show)
Portland Museum of Art, Maine, 1984
Portland Museum of Art, Maine, 1988 (solo show)
"Diversities: Paintings by Murray Hantman and Richard Wilson; sculpture by Jo Levy, Anne Weber; photographs by Theodore Beck," Baxter Gallery, Portland School of Art, Maine, 1989

Sources include:
Barridoff Galleries, Portland, Maine
Jim Bennette, ACME Fine Art