Saul Kaplan
Saul Kaplan draws on the passions of his life and the diverse lives of his extended family to illustrate his art.
Kaplan’s signature style includes single or multi-planed faces, people in conversation or wrapped around one another, defined by strong lines and cross-hatching and rhythmic curves. He often hears viewers compare his neo-cubism to Picasso’s, but he rejects the idea of imitation.
“I draw in ovals because that’s how I draw,” Kaplan said. “The intellectual painter is not a painter. It’s not formulistic. It’s facing that blank canvas and spilling your guts.” “You know what most artists do?” Kaplan asks rhetorically, “they fill up space. It’s how they say, ‘I was here.’”
Born in Brooklyn in 1929, Kaplan’s introduction to professional art-making came in 1948 at the prestigious Hans Hofmann School of Fine Arts.
“I got thrown into the art world,” Kaplan said. “I was in the middle of the abstract expressionist movement, De Kooning was down the street, and I didn’t know what was happening.”
On a scholarship, he studied drawing under Hofmann, who was a contemporary of Henri Matisse. Kaplan quickly learned the value of muscle memory, drawing the same figure over and over for 20 hours a week, and the discipline required to fail repeatedly on the path to success.
Being an artist was just not an avocation. Teaching art and administering an art program in a high school was his profession. From 1956 to 1985 Kaplan was an assistant principal of the Fine and Industrial Arts Program in New York City.
Saul and his wife Carol moved to Lake Monticello in 1990 where he continued creating art in his lakeside studio until moving to the Martha Jefferson House in Charlottesville in 2019.
Listing for Saul Kaplan Art Show
September 2020
Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church Unitarian Universalist
To purchase these pieces or to inquire about purchasing other pieces from the Kaplan art collection, please contact dughorwitz@aol.com.
10% of sale proceeds to benefit TJMCUU/90% of sale proceeds to benefit the Martha Jefferson House Kaplan Fund which provides holiday bonuses for Martha Jefferson House line staff.
CERAMICS
Blissful 6.75” x 11.5” Ceramic – Earthenware $30
Charmings Vary from 2” x 4” to 5” x 6” Ceramic – Earthenware $15 each
Facing the Vase 10.0” tall x 3.75” diameter Ceramic – Earthenware $30
Three Faced Strong Arm 12.25” tall x 8” wide x 2.5” deep Ceramic – Earthenware $40
Lady Plate-a-Tude 11” diameter Ceramic-earthenware $30
PAINTINGS
Contemplative 18” x 24” Acrylic on canvas $125
Flowering Attraction 20.5” x 36.5” Acrylic on canvas $175
Love Cubed 26.5 x 34.5” Acrylic on canvas $200
Quartet 18.5” x 30.5” Acrylic on canvas $150
The Secret 18” x 24” Acrylic on canvas $125
Young Love 18” x 24” Acrylic on canvas $125
