Boston Expressionist Artist- David Aronson

David Aronson Man with Bird
oil pastel, 12 3/4 x 16 1/4 in.

David Aronson Suzanna and the Elders
pastel on paper, 31 1/4 x 37 3/4 in.

Cavalier Galleries is pleased to present a group of works by David Aronson (1923-2015) as part of our exhibit of The Boston Expressionists now on view in our New York gallery. Throughout his artistic career Aronson touched on subjects of Judaism, Christianity, mysticism, and modernism, and also worked in a variety of mediums creating paintings in oil and encaustic, works on paper, as well as sculpture. Tying the body of work together is the strong focus on Figuration which Aronson, and other Boston Expressionists, often used to represent moral, spiritual, and psychological conundrums. As the son of a rabbi, Aronson often struggled with the tension between his Orthodox Jewish upbringing and his artistic aspirations, as his work often explored biblical themes.  

Aronson was a renowned member of the arts community in Boston, beginning with his education at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, where he studied under the influential Karl Zerbe, following in the footsteps of other leading expressionists Hyman Bloom and Jack Levine.  He went on to become a respected professor at Boston University where he had a hand in forming the Fine Art Department, and continued to live and work in the Boston area for nearly 60 years. 

His accolades include receiving both the Judges Prize and Popular Prize from the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston in 1944, and being one of the youngest artists invited to participate in the Major Exhibition entitled Fourteen Americans at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1946.  In 1979 the Rose Art Museum of Brandeis University, The Jewish Museum, and the National Academy of Design in New York all hosted retrospectives of his painting and sculpture. Later in his career Boston University also hosted a comprehensive retrospective of his work in 2005, and the Danforth Museum featured a solo exhibition of Aronson’s work in 2009.  Furthermore, his work is included in the permanent collections of over 50 museums worldwide including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Whitney Museum of American Art, MoMA, and the Art Institute of Chicago.

Aronson passed away in July of 2015; more about his life and career can be seen in this New York Times article by Sam Roberts, published July 14, 2015.

                       Contact the gallery for additional information about these works: 

 art@cavaliergalleries.com or 212.570.4696