An Evening with Burton Silverman

Burton Silverman was Harvey Dinnerstein’s friend for 80 years. In this talk, he tells the necessarily brief story of the unspoken mutual respect and affection as it was echoed in the portraits they painted of each other, the exhibitions they shared, and the similar themes they explored. In doing so, he shows some of Dinnerstein’s paintings and reveal a surprising illustration career.
In the 1860s Degas wrote to Whistler citing the “road from Holland” - Dutch realism from 16th century - that was an important part of their training. They broke with that tradition to produce unique and revolutionary work of their own. Drawing similarities between the realists of today and the turn of the century, Silverman discusses Dinnerstein's painterly journey as a progressive traditionalist whose work has added to the great trove of humanist art.
2:20 Observation of Harvey Dinnerstein’s Army Self Portrait
4:03 The Beginning of Their Friendship
8:05 Working together on the publication of portfolio of drawings in 1967
10:03 When Harvey won a gold medal from the portrait society of America
13:05 Hanging out together at The Met
15:36 Facial Comparison when Harvey was young and during the last time Burt saw him
16:24 The story of when Harvey and Burton went down to Montgomery Alabama during marches and rallies and recorded/sketched
34:59 Artwork depicting war and politics
37:38 Harvey becomes an illustrator
41:40 Art that Inspired Harvey
46:01 Birth of his first child, Rachel, and how it began to develop his focus of painting his family
51:37 The Death of Harvey’s mother
53:27 Mr. Meltzer and who he represented
54:55 Paintings of Family
57:50 “The Parade” Painting
1:01:58 Paintings on the Ordinary Person
1:03:14 Harvey’s Fascination with the Architecture of Prospect Park
1:05:12 Life Sized Figure Paintings
1:07:55 Harvey’s Take on the Male Figure and Portrait
1:14:14 Protest of the Whitney by Steven Assael
1:15:14 “The Crossing” Painting
1:17:21 Harvey’s Sketches
1:18:50 Next to Last Photograph and Burton’s Sketch of Harvey