New York Times Op-Ed Artist Featured in Fall Exhibition

The Koslowe Gallery’s fall 2018 exhibition is now on view. Mark Podwal is well known for his clever and lively illustrations on The New York Times Op-Ed page, and for his long-time collaboration with Elie Weisel, which resulted in their iconic A Passover Haggadah and many other books.

Podwal’s work is infused with a sense of tradition? as well as perception and interpretation. It often reflects history, while offering contemporary commentary through whimsical lines. Podwal began creating his political drawings in the tumult of the 1960s. His first New York Times Op-Ed drawing, on the Munich Massacre, was later shown in the Musée Des Art Décoratifs in the Louvre. Author Cynthia Ozick calls Podwal the “Master of the True Line,” for the way he links ideas to real objects.

Podwal creates an annual poster for the Metropolitan Opera, boxed Rosh Hashanah cards for the Jewish Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art has reproduced his art on its gift shop items. His work has been engraved on a Congressional Gold Medal and embroidered onto Torah covers and textiles for synagogues throughout the world, including Temple Emanu-El (NY) and the Altneuschul (Prague), where Podwal has a seat with his name.

Also a filmmaker, Podwal collaborated with Academy Award-winning filmmaker Allan Miller on the documentary House of Life: The Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague, narrated by Claire Bloom and broadcast by PBS. His 16 glass panels decorate New York’s UJA Federation Headquarters. In 1996, the French government named Podwal an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letter and in 2011 he received the Foundation for Jewish Culture Achievement Award. In 2016, Podwal’s 374-page monograph, Reimagined: 45 Years of Jewish Art by Mark Podwal, was published by Glitterati.