Michael Hafftka
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
figurative
Figurative art
Figurative art, sometimes written as figurativism, describes artwork—particularly paintings and sculptures—which are clearly derived from real object sources, and are therefore by definition representational.-Definition:...
expressionist painter living in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Hafftka was born in Manhattan to Eva and Simon Hafftka, European refugees and Holocaust survivors. Raised in the Bronx, he attended public schools and experimented with several creative forms before he discovered painting when he was 20. In the wake of the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War in 1973, Hafftka volunteered to work for a year on a Kibbutz in Israel. The "momentous change brought on a series of visionary experiences and mystical dreams", and when writing "proved an inadequate outlet of expression," Hafftka began to paint—an experience that proved "revelatory and self defining."
Back in New York, Hafftka worked as an artist while supporting himself with odd jobs. A voracious and broad reader and a frequent visitor to local museums, the artist discovered an affinity for Old Masters, such as Rembrandt and Goya, as well as for 20th-century artists, such as Giacometti and Bacon. Hafftka's interest in the graphic arts led him to design a number of covers for Urizen Books. Several publications on the artist were followed by his first one-person show at Art Galaxy. Among the New York galleries that subsequently have featured his work are: the Rosa Esman Gallery, the Aberbach Gallery, the Mary Ryan Gallery, and the DiLaurenti Gallery. He has also exhibited widely in the United States and abroad.
Hafftka's work is represented in the permanent collections of a number of museums, including: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Museum of Modern Art, Brooklyn Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is a modern art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art and was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th century art...
, Carnegie Museum of Art, New York Public Library
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library is the largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries...
, Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum, Housatonic Museum of Art, Arizona State University
Arizona State University
Arizona State University is a public research university located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area of the State of Arizona...
Art Museum, National Gallery of Art, and Yeshiva University
Yeshiva University
Yeshiva University is a private university in New York City, with six campuses in New York and one in Israel. Founded in 1886, it is a research university ranked as 45th in the US among national universities by U.S. News & World Report in 2012...
Museum.
Housatonic Museum Of Art in Bridgeport, CT, mounted the show A Retrospective: Large Oils 1985-2003, October 2004, with a A 72-page catalogue containing 23 color plates. The catalogue includes essays by Prof. Sam Hunter and Michael Brodsky. Yeshiva University Museum at the Center for Jewish History in New York held a solo exhibition I of the Storm, a major show of recent works, March 22 through August 30, 2009.
Illustrated Books
- Conscious/Unconscious, short stories and drawings by Michael Hafftka, Six Gallery Press 2007, ISBN 978-0978177294
- In the Penal Colony, a short story by Franz KafkaFranz KafkaFranz Kafka was a culturally influential German-language author of short stories and novels. Contemporary critics and academics, including Vladimir Nabokov, regard Kafka as one of the best writers of the 20th century...
illustrated by Michael Hafftka, Limited Editions Club 1987, ASINAsínAsín is a municipality located in the Cinco Villas comarca of the province of Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, located a few kilometers west of Orés. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 106 inhabitants....
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- The Terror of Loch Ness, a novel by Che EliasChe EliasChe Elias is an American novelist and poet now based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.Elias relocated to Pittsburgh to attend Pittsburgh Filmmakers and remained in the area, subsidizing his primary interest of writing by working as a camera operator for Stroon Vision...
, illustrated by Michael Hafftka, Six Gallery Press 2007, ISBN 978-0978296209
- A Heaven of Others, a novel by Joshua CohenJoshua Cohen (writer)Joshua Aaron Cohen is an American novelist and writer of stories.-Novels:* Witz * A Heaven of Others , second edition 2010,...
with art by Michael Hafftka, Starcherone Books 2008, ISBN 978-0978881146
- Circular Stairs, Distress in the Mirrors, poems by Peter KlappertPeter Klappert-Life:He grew up in West Hempstead, New York, and Rowayton, Connecticut. He graduated from Cornell University and the University of Iowa, with an M.A...
with art by Michael Hafftka, Six Gallery Press 2008, ISBN 978-0981009117