David Levine: Finding Humanity at the Edge of the Sea
Famous Caricaturist paints Coney Island Bathers
David Levine (1926 - 2009) was renowned for his incisive caricatures for The New York Review of Books. His drawings of prominent literary, artistic, and political figures graced every issue from 1963 until 2007. Levine’s satirical commentary was often humorous, yet unequivocally critical of human greed and the will to power.
The New York Times described Levine's illustrations as ‘macro-headed, somberly expressive, astringently probing and hardly ever flattering caricatures of intellectuals and athletes, politicians and potentates, that were heavy in shadows cast by outsize noses on enormous, eccentrically shaped heads, and replete with exaggeratedly bad haircuts, 5 o’clock shadows, ill-conceived mustaches and other grooming foibles...to make the famous seem peculiar-looking in order to take them down a peg’.
But Levine’s first love was to get out of his Brooklyn Heights studio and paint on location, making mostly watercolors of garment workers and bathers at Coney Island. These works have a different sensibility, in contrast to his illustrations. These are empathetic portrayals that are reverential (of ordinary people) and referential (to the history of art).
Coney Island offers New Yorkers an ideal summer respite from the hectic and steamy city. Levine painted on the beach, watching the action at a respectful distance. He applied what he studied from his art masters, like Goya and Daumier. The bathers by the sea merge into dynamic groupings, like Théodore Géricault's The Raft of the Medusa. The humanity that shines in his paintings are reminiscent of the work of Ashcan School realist Reginald Marsh. His muted color palette, with forms defined by light and shadow, seems like an homage to Rembrandt. These are attributes that honor his subjects and make them timeless.
Levine often painted the one hundred-year-old boardwalk, with the action found above and below, which serves as a crucial compositional element. It’s a stage set for the countless (visual) narratives he finds with the Luna Park attractions, like the merry-go-round and freak shows.
He was fascinated by the skeletal framework of the Thunderbolt roller coaster, capturing over time its varying states of decay, that was finally demolished in 2000.
Journalist Pete Hamill aptly describes Levine’s paintings this way: ‘The beach serves the people of the vast city of New York. With his paint box, pencil, brushes and water, Levine is there among them, gazing at them, year after year, with an unsentimental but affectionate eye. Their ruined monuments are his too. Their freak shows and bazaars are part of his consoling vision. He delights in their bodies, shaped by toil, children, urban tension, (and) the erosion of time. He marks their existence, and their great value, as they come to the healing sun and the forgiving sea.’
Towards the end of his life Levine developed macular degeneration, which meant he could no longer create his finely-lined caricatures. He did continue his life-long exploration in painting the human form and sharing the visual and empathetic narratives he found.
All images © David Levine Estate
More to Know:
The Forum Gallery represents the estate of David Levine.
The Vision & Art Project raises awareness about vision loss due to macular degeneration in the lives of artists, including David Levine; educates the public about the disease and supports artists experiencing vision loss.
David Levine, Biting Caricaturist, Dies at 83 by Bruce Weber, New York Times, 12.29.09
A Summer Sketchbook, 1963 by David Levine
These Levine watercolours are something truly special.
His watercolours are masterful, but what really put him on the map for so many of us aspiring illustrators were his biting, acerbic, witty, magnificent character/caricatures in line.