Drawing upon a new trove of never-before-shown works, this retrospective zeroes in on all periods of Pinkas Bursztyn’s life and work—a prolific oeuvre that represents a monument to human perseverance and the power of art to cope with loss. In the 1930s, the Polish-born artist’s family was imprisoned at forced labor camps by Nazis. His family’s sole survivor, he immigrated to Palestine and began making art in both Paris and New York, changed his name in an act of self-redefinition, and gained renown for painting fictitious figures named “personnages” that explored psychosexual tropes. This show inserts Maryan’s oeuvre into the narrative of postwar European and American art history by positioning it alongside his like-minded contemporaries. 

Personnage (Soldat), 1974. Collection of Beth Rudin DeWoody