Past: Mark Landersman (1896 - 1985) W/Selections From Our Inventory

As part of our new exhibit, we are pleased to introduce the discovery of paintings by Mark Landersman (Brooklyn, NY, 1896-1985), a career garment worker and self-taught artist. Recent finds include a remarkable self-portrait of an unknown African American artist dating from the 1960s and “The Wilton Madonna,” a concrete sculpture formerly of the Peter Brams Collection. The exhibit will be up from December 5 to January 12, 2025.

Mark Landersman was born into a Jewish immigrant family in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. His mother was related to Boris Thomashevsky (star of Yiddish theatre), and his father trained as an architect. However, despite his father’s formal education, he and his family worked in the garment industry like many Jewish immigrants when they arrived in America.

Mark married Pearl Antonier, worked in the garment industry, and became a buyer, merchandiser, and creator of design concepts.

In 1954, Mark began painting with gouache while recuperating from an operation. Over the next 30 years, Landersman experimented with abstract and representational paintings while continuing to work in the garment industry until his retirement at the age of 80. He continued to paint until his death at 89.

The works herein are his most original and abstract. He combines complex patterning and structures with inventive architecture—they appear to be informed by the lights, energy, and pace of the commute between Brooklyn and Manhattan. One cannot help but relate these to his father’s lost profession.

For Landersman, these were a private pursuit, and he never sought to show or sell them. To this end, these works have never been seen outside the family until now.