Arthur Singer's watercolor self-portrait in "The Ghost Army"
circa 1944
After a short stay in New York City ( see my previous post ), I drove back upstate to start working on the details of a new exhibition that we are preparing for The University Gallery at Rochester Institute of Technology. Our new book ( below ) will have a roll-out along with this comprehensive exhibition of artwork that my father, Arthur Singer (1917-1990), produced during his long career.
RIT Press introduces: "Arthur Singer, The Wildlife Art of an American Master"
With my brother, Paul Singer, I am co-author of our new illustrated biography that you see here. My brother, Paul, designed the book, and we are very proud of the production work that RIT Press accomplished in order to bring this published book to our audience. You might guess that it is a very wonderful challenge to put together a clear narrative for anyone's life, but our father left us a very important trove of artwork and many reviews and notes about what he accomplished.
Now our book is ready to be published and is also available for pre-order from RIT Press. Our book will also be available in Europe through our distributor. If you are curious click on this link to know more: https://www.rit.edu/press/publications/new-and-coming-soon
Arthur Singer on Audubon Avenue, N.Y.C.
I have written about my father before on this blog, but there are so many facets that I haven't had a chance to cover. In the process of writing this new illustrated biography, I found more materials that we did not have space for. I would start by saying that our father was a book collector and that he would have been so proud of this new volume. In the picture above, we have a photo of a very young man in his room ( still a teenager ) and along the walls in his bookcase are the beginnings of a collection of art books and scrap books he kept for the rest of his life.
Arthur Singer's portrait of a jaguar made at the Bronx Zoo
color pencil on paper circa 1935
People ask - How did a young man growing up on Audubon Avenue in New York City come to love drawing birds and animals? For Arthur this started at a very young age, and he was a regular visitor to the Bronx Zoo and the Museum of Natural History on Central Park West.
Rick Beyer and Liz Sayles new book on "The Ghost Army"
Arthur Singer studied art at The Cooper Union in downtown Manhattan and later attended The Art Students League. Arthur graduated Cooper, and was later drafted into the Army during WWll. He became a member of "The Ghost Army" and you can read about it in our new book, or read the story written by Rick Beyer and Liz Sayles ( above ).
Arthur Singer's paintings and text by Oliver Austin
published by Golden Press
"Birds of the World" and "Birds of North America" were two of Arthur's best selling books - taking almost ten years to produce. The Golden Guide ( below) is still in print in the 3rd Edition now almost fifty years since it was first published. If you are in the Rochester, New York area you can learn more about this and much more if you can come and see our show which will be open from August 7 thru October, 2017. I would love to meet you there and take you through the show!
