Blog – Joseph Papin Artist

The Street is my Studio

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by

JPapin
in

Near the beginning of his career as a professional artist Joseph Papin wrote:

“For the past few years I have been primarily concerned with reportorial art and have attempted to depict the endless streets, places, and people of the great city of New York in a continuing effort to see and understand and perhaps, as in the great tradition that is always before me, to dignify human activity.”

(Papin, Joseph, “The Street is my Studio,” American Artist, Vol. 23 (Issue 2): 42, February 1959).

The following pages of drawings are from that article.

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Comments

4 responses to “The Street is my Studio”

  1. Brenda Scatterty Avatar
    Brenda Scatterty

    Such a blessing to have this article from your father. I am struck by his commitment to a strong ethic – and lack of conformity, despite the political and social pressures that he worked under. I love this phrase – “artistic and intellectual conformity are not forms of higher intelligence”, and I might add that they do not serve as a measure for an artist’s worthiness. His philosophy on being true to oneself, yet staying subjective to the truths before him – resonates with me. Also, having faith and belief in oneself – such a brilliant artist and human being – using pen, above pencil, to avoid adapting to certain standards, and starting over, if he felt the outcome did not reflect his truth. Of course there was so much more to this article, and the stunning artwork, but these are my takeaways.

    Reply
    1. JPapin Avatar
      JPapin

      Thank you Brenda, I surely appreciate what you have written. We are very glad to have this article as well as the record of these drawings and to be able to bring some of these stories from the past into the present.

      Reply
  2. Monica Kaiser Avatar
    Monica Kaiser

    “to dignify human activity.”

    Yes. We need more of this from artists of all genres.

    Reply
    1. JPapin Avatar
      JPapin

      Yes, you make an excellent point, Monica.

      Reply

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