Burton Wasserman

Burton Wasserman was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1929. He studied painting with Ad Reinhart and Burgoyne Diller at Brooklyn College, graduating in 1950. He formed strong friendships with both of these artists and developed a life-long passion for abstract art.

Whilst pursuing a career as an art professor, writer, and critic, Wasserman has continued actively to produce paintings, prints and sculpture. In his work of the 1960s the influence of the DeStijl movement, and consequently that of Reinhardt and Diller, is most strongly felt - simple geometric shapes, the use of only primary colours, and images reduced to a bare minimum. Through the years Wasserman's work has subtly evolved, always remaining abstract, at times moving into a more painterly approach, and at other times more geometrical but with a wider range of colours.

Wasserman’s work has appeared in more than forty solo exhibitions over the years. He has authored five books and hundreds of magazine articles about artists and their works. His art criticism and commentary appear regularly in Prime Time Arts and Entertainment and the monthly Delaware Valley journal Art Matters. He has exhibited widely, and his work is in the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art; New Jersey State Museum, Trenton; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart; and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, amongst others.

In 2004, he retired as Professor of Art from Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ, where he taught courses in printmaking, painting, design, art education, modern art and art appreciation over a 44-year career. Active as a board member of numerous local and national art associations.

“My work is essentially metaphorical,” says Wasserman, “Each painting is a picture of itself. Each is the accumulation of a half century of inquiry, impulses, feelings and observation coming out of layers of experiences gathered over time.”

late 1950s Untitled
graphite and colour pencil on tracing paper 27.9 x 30.5 cm

late 1950s Untitled - Pink, Yellow, Blue/Gray, Black and White 
graphite and colour pencil on tracing paper with collage 34.9 x 43.2 cm

1953 Composition 
oil on canvas 47.6 x 31.9 cm

1960s Construction Theme Development 
silkscreen 60.3 x 45.7 cm

1960s Construction, Blue, Gray, Red, and Black 
silkscreen 17.8 x 24.1 cm

c1960s Idea 
colour pencil and board construction 33 x 24 cm

c1960s Untitled - Black and Gray 
colour pencil on paper 35.6 x 27.9 cm

c1960s Untitled - Red 
colour pencil on paper 20.3 x 25.4 cm

early 1960s Transformation 
collage of silkscreened sheets on red paper 43.2 x 48.3 cm

1961 Construction Theme Variation 
graphite and colour pencil on tracing paper 30.5 x 35.6 cm

1962 Untitled 
graphite and colour pencil on tracing paper 5.5 x 19.1 cm

1962 Was, Is, and Ever Shall Be 
acrylic on masonite 81.3 x 61 cm

1963 Construction, Black and White Counterpoint 
silkscreen 49.5 x 35.6 cm

1964 Squares / Cross 
pen and ink on artist's board 24.8 x 24.8 cm

1966 Untitled ( Red, Blue, Black ) 
oil on masonite 22.9 x 30.5 cm

1967 Study for Construction Concept 
coloured pencil on paper 35.6 x 27.9 cm

1967 Construction Concept 
silkscreen 26 x 18.7 cm

1967 Number Thirty Four 
silkscreen 27.9 x 22.9 cm

1967 Study for Number 34 
crayon on paper 20.3 x 28 cm

1967 Study for Number Forty 
crayon on paper 25.4 x 19.1 cm

1967 Untitled  - Diamond 
colour pencil on tracing paper 22.2 x 20.3 cm

1967 Untitled - Blue 
colour pencil on acetate 26 x 22.2 cm

1967 Untitled - Red and Black 
colour pencil on paper 26 x 22.9 cm

1967 ( title unknown )

1968 Construction Theme Development 
oil on wood construction 27 x 19.1 x 5.1 cm

1969 "1969-P-NN" 
oil on canvas 76.4 x 45.7 cm

1972-73 ( title unknown ) 
silkscreen

1989 Morphic Iconography, The Origins Laid Bare 
oil on board 73.4 x 86.4 cm

1996 At Different Stages In Life 
acrylic on card 39.4 x 29.2 cm

2006 Blues 
oil on canvas composition stock card 26.7 x 24.1 cm

2007 Monument in Progress 
oil on board 45.7 x 55.9 cm

( date unknown ) Construction in Black and Blue

( date unknown ) bwyellowsquare