Harold Bruder Paintings

Harold Bruder

Paintings from: 1960's | 1970's | 1980's | 1990's | 2000's | 2010's

Paintings

Artist Statement

I’ve chosen to show examples of my paintings by decade to
make my development more understandable.
Looking back, I believe I took an independent path during the
1960’s, exploring realistic genre painting during the revolution
caused by Abstract Expressionism.
Even as a “realist” I initially chose to work mostly from
photographs rather than directly from life because of the
cinematic freedom I gained. I often chose to paint
seemingly “banal” domestic subjects because of their
close proximity to my emotional existence.
In the early 1970’s I explored big invented compositions of
gesturing draped figures and later painted directly from
drapes pinned to a wall to evoke my “romance” with
renaissance frescos.

During the 1980’s I returned to genre painting, staging domestic dramas and painting them directly from life. This seeming restlessness grew out of the changes in my life as I’ve moved about, divorced & remarried, fathered three children. I taught painting and drawing for many years in colleges and I believe the analytical process that teaching demands affected my paintings positively. As I’ve aged my work has become more private and in a way, more peculiar. The focus in the 2000’s has become more narrow…many still life paintings and a group of theatrical paintings with mannequins used as actors. Most are quiet and contemplative. I think artists should be like magicians, full of unexpected twists and turns.