About
David Black
1931 – 2022
Photo Credit: Harold Hanka
David Black did not intend to become an artist. He had been a violinist, opera singer, Tony Award-winning Broadway producer, actor, director, playwright, and author. In 1984, a collection of his drawings found their way to London’s Royal Academy artists John Hoyland and Patrick Caulfield, and both were immediately taken with Mr. Black’s innate skill. With their encouragement, Mr. Black fully applied himself to painting, remaining steadfastly self-taught throughout his life.
In 1988 Frederick Gore, Head of the Exhibition Committee of the Royal Academy, visited Black’s studio in New York. Gore selected forty of Black’s paintings for a solo exhibition in London which opened in 1990. In his introduction to the exhibition Gore wrote, “David Black is a serious painter and his paintings are fun. He paints what he likes, he paints what he has seen and he paints it with a sure sense of comedy, really wild comedy, but just too perceptive and observant to be called satire.” Gore called Black “an extraordinary natural talent and a voracious observer of humanity.”
Mr. Black was a native New Yorker,
and the city’s landscapes, crowds, and intimate gatherings were favorite subjects. These works move easily between frantic energy and quiet reflection. He was able to create a definite sense of place. This ability to capture the essential feel of an environment is clear in his paintings set in England, France, Morocco, Italy and Turkey. Closer to home, Las Vegas’ crass and raucous energy is instantly recognizable.
Mr. Black once said, “All of my paintings are influenced by my years in theater. And, what interests me most is when you actually see the drama and conflict between the colors.”
In all of his work, Mr. Black was sharply focused on the emotional world of his subjects. His paintings often told stories, but their center was always affective, always the swirling color of feeling.
Tunisian Collaborative Painting
Mr. Black was invited to Tunis through the Department of State’s Art In Embassies program where he discovered this unique method of collaborative painting. Hillary Rodham Clinton called Mr. Black “an honorary diplomat” for introducing Tunisian Collaborative Painting to the United States. Mr. Black has trained artists in this technique in both America, France and England.
View a short film of Mr. Black working at the Art Students League in New York using this technique.
Read The Wall Street Journal article about Mr. Black’s sessions at the Art Students League.
Author
Mr. Black wrote three books from his time in the theatre:
Falling off Broadway (2015), a memoir of Mr. Black’s adventures on Broadway.
The Magic of Theater (Scribner, 1994), a collection of interviews with such theater luminaries as Stockard Channing, Christopher Walken, Liv Ullman, Joel Grey, and Frank Langella.
The Actor’s Audition (Vintage, 1990), a practical, hands-on guide, covering every aspect of the auditioning process. A must for aspiring actors.
