Burton Silverman (1928-- ) is an American painter.
A 1949 graduate of Columbia University, Silverman's work has concentrated on, as he put it, "the landscape of the human face." As a portrait artist, he has completed commissions for hundreds of noteworthy patrons. Commercially, his work has appeared in Time Magazine and The New Yorker as well as the cover art for the rock album Aqualung by Jethro Tull.Working in watercolor, oil on linen, or pastel, Silverman's style is contemporary American realism. His technique in any media seems to evoke textile-like textures on the surface of the work.
“Silverman’s portraits were never merely illustrations for a text; they were always independent, parallel works of art, vast texts in themselves. In every instance he presented a subtle examination of character and fresh insights into personality. Where words left off, Silverman began. He revealed what could not be described or explained; again and again, he found the essence... How he brought this about, I cannot imagine, but there it was, beyond argument; and it gave me, and continues to give me, joy.” —William Shawn, former Editor of The New Yorker (1954-1989) Catalogue of the exhibition “25 years of Profiles from The New Yorker,” Grand Central Galleries, NY, 1986 “Burt Silverman’s abilities are clear—he’s a master draftsman, superb painter and he designs each picture for maximum understanding and visual excitement. His humanism and intelligence lie deep in every image. The intensity of his perceptions about everyone, from world leaders to garment workers, gives us a truth that is essential.” —Jill Bossert “1990 Hall of Fame,” Society of Illustrators 32nd Annual of American Illustration None of us helped Burt Silverman, whose distinctive drawings vividly illuminated the screen as they now do this book. Pay attention to the mood they create of the delegates in debate, dejection, or defiance, and you realize how a work of the imagination grasps reality more poignantly at times than a photograph.” —Bill Moyers Introduction to Report from Philadelphia, the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Ballantine Books, NY, 1987 < His work has been included in numerous gallery exhibitions, including over 30 solo shows.in New York,Philadelphia, Denver, San Francisco, Washington DC and Taos NM.He has appeared in close to 40 national and international exhibitions including the National Portrait Gallery, the National Academy of Design Annual, the Mexico City Museum of Art, the Royal Academy of Art in London and the Butler Midyear Annual. He has won 32 major prizes and awards from some of these annual exhibitions His paintings are represented in more than two dozen public collections including the Brooklyn Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, The New Britain Museum, the Mint Museum, the Denver Art Museum, the National Museum of American Art, the Delaware Art Museum, the Columbus Museum and the National Portrait Gallery ∑ In 2006 A retrospective exhibit of the 'Intimate Eye ;the Drawings of Burton Silverman' opened at the Brigham Young Museum of Art and traveled to ther Butler Institute of American Art and the Lyme Academy College of Art in 2007 ∑ In Feb of '2005 he was awarded the Annual Excellence in the Arts Award from the Newington Cropsey Cultural Foundation . ∑ In May and June 2004 the Delaware Art Museum hosted the exhibition "Glorious Dignity:" Drawings of the Montgomery Bus Boycott by Harvey Dinnerstein and Burton Silverman and a sequential loan exhibit of these works has been shown in a 50th Anniversary Exhibition at the Montgomery Museum of Art in 2006.in 2001He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the Academy of Art College in San Francisco. ∑ In 2004 he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Portrait Society of America for lifetime achievement. ∑ In 1999 he received the John Singer Sargent Medal from the American Society of Portrait Artists for a similar career of distinction. ∑ In January and February 1999, the Butler Institute of American Art held a 25-year retrospective exhibition of his work titled Sight and Insight; the Art of Burton Silverman. The exhibit also traveled to the Brigham Young Museum in Utah (May, 1999.) A full monograph and catalog accompanied this exhibition ∑ In the Spring of 1995 he conducted a seminar at the National Academy entitled “the Realist Alternative” that probed the possible reemergence of realism as a viable alternative to modernist art. It included Tom Wolfe. Sidney Goodman and Harvey Dinnerstein
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