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Tribute to late psychiatrist who painted daily on the side stirs up buyers from around country
By Dorothy Shinn
Beacon Journal art & architecture critic
Published on Sunday, Apr 19, 2009
David Moskovitz's paintings are truly phenomenal.
Born in Akron in 1944, he was a psychiatrist who practiced at Portage Path Behavioral Health in Barberton. He had little training as an artist, and aside from coming from an artistic family and having one workshop with famed artist Wolf Kahn and another on monoprints, he was essentially self-taught.
His father had a darkroom and was always interested in photography. His mother was forever involved in creative endeavors, and his sister Katie had exhibited her ceramics at Sylvia Ullman American Crafts Gallery in Cleveland.
Somewhere in my archives is a missive from him or one of his publicists stating that Moskovitz didn't see what all the fuss over painting was about because he could create them in about half the time that it took other artists.
''Someone once described him as having an 'acrylic personality,' because when he was inspired, he really did work fast,'' said his wife, Margie. ''I think that maybe waiting for oils to dry wasn't all that ideal for him and somehow acrylics suited him best.''
He must have been an incredibly quick study as well, for from the beginning, he seems to have grasped the concept of painting entire.
Through May 2, Akron's Harris Stanton Gallery is showing a tribute exhibition of paintings and monoprints by Moskovitz, who died last October.
Gallery co-owner Meg Harris said that within a couple of days of mailing the announcement for her show, she had calls from ''all over the country — California, New York, Pittsburgh, Maryland and Florida. And many of them came in just for the opening. We had a huge crowd.''
I believe her, because while I was at the gallery, she was still fielding calls from people who wanted to come in for a look.
''Paintings sold before the show even opened. And three more sold on opening night,'' Harris said.
''Six paintings were bought sight unseen from our Web site, but I think all of them knew David's work. Some of them already owned his work, so they knew his style.
''He has a huge following.''
He graduated from Case Western Reserve University Medical School in 1971, and Margie said at some point before he graduated, ''he attended an important lecture where they encouraged all of them to pursue whatever side hobbies they might have because they would be going into a difficult profession and would need some sort of outlet.''
As it turned out, that lecture was more prophetic than anyone could have imagined.
''Psychiatry changed from what he had been trained to do, from personal to chemical therapy,'' Margie said. ''And as aspects of psychiatry became more frustrating, art took on a more important role for him.''
When the couple lived in Hartford, Conn., he participated in a show called Art as Avocation, which consisted of work by professionals whose careers were outside the world of art. Moskovitz was already well on his way by that time, according to his wife.
''When we were first married, he did about a dozen paintings a year, and by the 1980s, he had about 100 canvases in the basement. Then he gradually began to enter shows and to develop his resume.
''By the time he was in that show, art had become quite consuming for him, so much so that he painted every night and every weekend and then every day of the week,'' Margie said. ''The last year of his life, he still worked three days a week, but he painted every day.''
It's evident that from the get-go, Moskovitz ''caught on'' to the various stratagems and motifs favored by contemporary artists and quite literally took it from there.
Actually, it seems that after he took it, it took him, body and soul, and the public felt it, because people fell head over heels in love with his work. Moskovitz's paintings are charming, exuberant, colorful and uplifting.
He was most influenced by Kahn, of course, especially in the landscapes, where he creates misty distant views in much the way that Kahn has made famous.
And he definitely looked at the work of other painters. Matisse comes quickly to mind, as do a couple of Northeast Ohio artists — Joe O'Sickey and perhaps Brinsley Tyrrell.
At least some of that is borne out by Margie. The couple spent time in Provence in 1997, but never got to the Matisse Museum in Nice.
''We made a visit to Cezanne's studio, but the furthest east we got while in Provence was to Aix,'' Margie recalled. ''We also went walking in the steps of Van Gogh, and David painted his own version of The Night Cafe. Then friends of ours took us to Auvers-sur-Oise, where Van Gogh is buried.''
Moskovitz ''did a lot of watercolors there and six small canvases, which were easy to ship back, From those, he did larger canvases back home, '' she recalled.
Margie said her husband admired O'Sickey and they bought one of his paintings. ''When we were first married, there was a show of his work, and we fell in love with them, the subject matter, the color and his lush, painterly technique,'' she said. ''Later, we met him after we bought one of his pieces at the Kennedy Gallery in New York. He invited us to his studio and we had a lovely time. He couldn't have been nicer.''
Moskovitz's paintings, though influenced by artists he admired, have a joyousness and an intensity that are all his own.
His brushwork is expressive and bold, his color choices are imaginative and gifted, and his compositions reveal a complete understanding of the Modernist approach.
''Painting was his passion. He painted every day,'' Harris agreed. ''Margie said she could hardly ever get him to go out because he wanted to paint all the time.''
Moskovitz's subjects range from still lifes in his own backyard to landscapes around Northeast Ohio, views of Provence, France, where they vacationed, and of coastal Maine and Connecticut, where they had summer homes.
He participated in juried shows at the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown (1995), the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts (1988, 1989) and Ariel Gallery in New York City (1989), among others.
He had numerous solo exhibits across Ohio and in Hartford, Conn., and New Orleans. His works are held in private and public collections throughout the United States.
''In his very last painting, when he knew he was dying of lung cancer, there was so much exuberance,'' Harris said. ''I find that incredible.''
Details:
Show: David Moskovitz (1944-2008): A Tribute Exhibition
When: Through May 2, 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
Where: Harris-Stanton Gallery, 2301 W. Market St., akron
Information: 330-867-7600 or www.harrisstantongallery.com
Dorothy Shinn writes about art and architecture for the Akron Beacon Journal. Send information to her at the Akron Beacon Journal, P.O. Box 640, Akron, OH 44309-0640 or dtgshinn@neo.rr.com.
David Moskovitz's paintings are truly phenomenal.
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Comments
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Canton, OH
Posted 11:06 AM, 04/19/2009
Props to David. .Nice work. . .
barberton, oh
Posted 12:11 PM, 04/19/2009
HOW GREAT OF A MAN HE WAS!, DR. MOSKIVITZS HELP ME IN MY RECOVERY WITH MY DEPRESSION, HE TOLD ME ONE DAY TO STAY FOCUSED AND TAKE IT "ONE DAY AT A TIME". I SURE DO MISS GOING TO SEE HIM AND HOW HE INSIPIRED ME TO NEVER GIVE UP! HIS ART WORK IS BEAUTY TO ME AND I WILL GO TO THIS ART EXPO , THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE ARTICAL ABOUT HIM, GOD BLESS!
