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Creator
Israel, Marvin
Call number
MssCol 24896
Physical description
12.17 linear feet (33 boxes, 4 tubes, 14 oversize folders). 37.0 megabytes (16 computer files)
Language
English
Preferred Citation
Marvin Israel papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library
Repository
Manuscripts and Archives Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.Restrictions apply

Marvin Israel (1924-1984) was a New York City-based photographer, painter, and graphic designer. Throughout his career, Israel balanced his personal art practice with a commitment to nurturing other influential photographers. In particular, he designed a number of important photography exhibitions and monographs for other photographers. The collection includes his own work, his wife and friends' artwork, and documentation of his design work.

Biographical/historical information

Marvin Israel was an artist who explored the intersections of painting, photography, art direction, and design. Israel was a mentor dedicated to promoting other artists, particularly photographers Diane Arbus and Richard Avedon. Israel's guidance and aesthetic judgment influenced a generation of photographers in the 1950s and 1960s, many of whom were later defined by Jane Livingston as the New York school of photography.

Israel was born in Syracuse, New York, in 1924. After briefly serving in the military, he attended Syracuse University. In 1950, he met and married the Cuban-born ceramicist and painter Margaret (Marge) Ponce. The couple briefly moved to Paris, where Israel's paintings were featured in several group shows. His first solo show was held at the Galerie Arnaud in Paris in 1952.

The following year, the couple returned to the United States, where Israel began pursuing a Master of Fine Arts at Yale University. While enrolled, Israel studied with Alexey Brodovitch, a photographer and Harper's Bazaar artistic director. Israel shifted his creative output to photography, and in 1955 he received his MFA in Graphic Design from Yale.

After he graduated, Israel was hired as the artistic director at Seventeen Magazine, where he oversaw stories related to several celebrities and entertainers. Two major assignments were photographing James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor on the set of Giant, and following Elvis Presley on his 1956 tour. After his departure from Seventeen in 1958, Israel would never return to photography as the primary medium of his artistic practice, shifting to illustrations and paintings.

During the 1960s, Israel focused on his work as an artistic director and collaborator. From 1957 through the 1970s, Israel served as a freelance designer for Atlantic Records, where he designed record covers for Ray Charles, John Coltrane, and Charles Mingus. Israel served as acting art director for Harper's Bazaar from 1961 until 1963. During his tenure, Israel championed cutting-edge artists from Robert Frank to Andy Warhol. Featuring these artists pushed the boundaries of the publication by printing artistic photography alongside traditional fashion spreads.

Israel designed and edited several photography exhibitions and monographs in the 1970s. He was the chief designer and managed the installation of Richard Avedon's retrospective exhibition at the Minneapolis Institute of the Arts in 1970, one of the largest solo photography shows of the time. Avedon and Israel worked together again in 1975 for Avedon's exhibition at Marlborough Gallery in New York City.

Israel consulted on and designed several photographers' monographs, including those of Richard Avedon, Peter Beard, Lee Friedlander, and Lisette Model. Most notable was the 1972 Diane Arbus: An Aperture Monograph, which brought her photography to a mainstream audience. Israel also collaborated with Peter Beard on his installation, The End of The Game.

After putting down his camera in the 1960s, Israel continued to paint and draw, creating an extensive body of work. His later illustrations consist of charcoal drawings of animals, usually dogs, birds, or pigs, in dark spaces and often fighting, or in some restrictive binding. His landscapes were equally dark and dramatic, featuring dead trees or sprawling fields. While some galleries staged solo shows of Israel's work during his life, much of Israel's exhibition history is posthumous. His paintings are held privately by art collectors and at several major museums and galleries.

In 1984, Israel died suddenly of a heart attack while traveling with Richard Avedon in Dallas, Texas. The pair were planning and designing an exhibition of Avedon's photographs of the American West to be held at the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth. Israel was 59. After his death, the Parsons School of Design held a retrospective of Israel's work in 1986, and his first photography monograph was published in 1998.

Scope and arrangement

The collection dates from the 1940s through 2010 (bulk dates 1950-1984), and contains Israel's photographs and artwork. There is also a significant amount of artwork from other artists, both portraits they made of Israel and gifts. Some personal items are present, primarily photographs and correspondence. The materials in the collection follow Israel's career trajectory as he evolved as a painter, photographer, and designer, and convey how these practices informed one another.

The collection is arranged into three series. Series I: Artistic and Creative Work contains Israel's photography, paintings and drawings, exhibition materials, graphic design work, press coverage, and writing. Series II: Personal Files comprises Israel's personal photographs, certificates, identification cards, correspondence, and address and telephone books. Series III: Works of Other Artists contains artwork arranged by subject that Marvin Israel received from other artists, and includes portraits of the Israels, images of their shared studio space and home, and original artwork given to the couple.

The Marvin Israel papers are arranged in three series:

  • Series I: Artistic and Creative Work
    1941-2010

    Series I contains Israel's artistic photography, paintings and drawings, exhibition materials, design work, press coverage, and writing. Original artworks are arranged according to a local identifier number [eg. EMI.01.0001] assigned by Israel's estate. EMI stands for the Estate of Marvin Israel. The rest of the series is arranged chronologically.

    Israel's original photography includes prints, contact sheets, and negatives. These have all been labeled and dated by Israel's estate. Prints and contact sheets are boxed separately from negatives. The collection contains Israel's 1950s New York City street photography, as well as street scenes from when he traveled to Europe, Japan, India, and the Mediterranean in 1958.

    The collection also includes photographs of musicians and film sets taken when Israel worked as the art director at Seventeen Magazine from 1955 to 1958. In 1956, Israel photographed Elvis Presley touring the United States, and the set of the film Giant with Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean. A selection of prints of Elvis Presley were professionally matted in 1998, in conjunction with the publication of Elvis Presley 1956: Photographs by Marvin Israel.

    Paintings and drawings by Israel are primarily original works on paper. The majority of this work is untitled and undated, and have been filed by the local identifier number. Two major subjects in his later career are animals and barren landscapes. In addition to the original artwork, there are many color and black and white transparencies of paintings and drawings used for reproduction. All transparencies are filed separately and are also largely undated and unidentified.

    The exhibition files contain documentation and materials created to publicize shows of Israel's artwork throughout his career. Materials include posters, promotional materials, and documentation of exhibitions in Paris in the 1950s, some group and solo shows held during his lifetime, as well as posthumous exhibitions of his work.

    Israel's design files hold planning documents related to design work that he executed for other photographers' exhibitions and books. The design files related to other artists' exhibitions include information about the particular show, gallery layouts, and proofs. He also designed promotional materials including posters and invitations. Israel's book designs include mockups and notes about each book's layout.

    The press in this series is clippings from newspapers, magazine articles, and gallery press releases related to Israel's artwork and his design work with other artists. Several articles contain extensive biographical material about Israel, as well as some information about titles and approximate dates of his artwork.

    Israel's writing includes his dissertation from Syracuse University in 1950, and various descriptions of his artistic activities, likely prepared for grant applications or exhibition proposals.

  • Series II: Personal
    1940-1989

    Series II holds Israel's personal files, which include photographs, certificates, identification cards, correspondence, and address and telephone books.

    The majority of the series holds childhood photographs and snapshots of Israel and his life. Several of these photographs were used in the documentary Who is Marvin Israel?. Some slides depicting travel are present (box 8, folder 11).

    Correspondence includes the invitation to Marge and Marvin Israel's wedding, a photocopy of a letter from Israel's travels in India, a memo from Harper's Bazaar staff announcing his hire, and letters from museums and galleries about collecting and exhibiting Israel's work. There are some posthumous letters sent to Larry and Sally Israel regarding his estate. Also present are postcards from Marge Israel, Julien Levy, and Peter Beard.

    Telephone books and address books include Israel's friends and professional contact information. Some pages contain small doodles and drawings.

  • Series III: Works of Other Artists
    1950-2005

    This series contains artwork that Marvin Israel received from other artists, and is arranged by subject, then chronologically. This series includes portraits of the Israels, images of their shared studio space and home, and original artwork given to the couple.

    Portraits include Israel in his studio, as well as portraits with Marge Israel (and sometimes their dog, Marvin) by Amy Arbus, Diane Arbus, Cosmos, George Cserna, Michael Flanagan, Lee Friedlander, Ruedi Hofmann, Kaz Nakamura, and Dan Wynn. There is a poster-sized photograph of Marvin Israel by Diane Arbus, created shortly before she died in 1971.

    The artists Ruedi Hofman and Michael Flannagan photographed Israel's studio and living spaces. Marvin and Marge Israel's home was filled with their paintings and ceramics, as well as their friends' art. The couple shared their studio with their pets, which at times included parrots, doves, chickens, dogs, rabbits, and cats. Nature and animals are consistent themes in both Marvin and Marge Israel's art. The photographs illustrate what was left of the couple's home after they both died, including rooms with walls covered in artwork, scattered sleeping nooks in closets and under tables, empty birdcages, and a kiln.

    Artists working with or students of Israel would often give him pieces of artwork. This includes works on paper, books, and photographs, as well as material used in a documentary by Neil Selkirk, Who is Marvin Israel?. These gifts are arranged chronologically.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

"Purchased by The New York Public Library from the Marvin Israel Estate in 2019, acquired by The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, Photography Collection and transferred to the Manuscript and Archives Division in 2023.

Processing information

Processed by Emily P. Dunne in 2023.

Using the collection

Location

Manuscripts and Archives Division
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018-2788
Brooke Russell Astor Reading Room, Third Floor, Room 328

Access restrictions

Contact division staff for access to electronic records.