A-1961

The Formative Years and Artistic Evolution

Born in New York City, Paul Burlin was a painter and printmaker who began his formal artistic education between 1900 and 1912 as a part-time student at the National Academy of Art and the Art Student's League. His early travels took him to Europe from 1908 to 1909 and to the Southwestern United States in 1910. Following a trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico, his paintings of the region were exhibited in New York in 1911, an event that led to his invitation to participate in the 1913 Armory Show. During his time in Santa Fe, which lasted until 1920, he painted landscapes, scenes of local daily life, and portraits of Pueblo Indians, often exploring themes of spirituality and anthropomorphism.

Style and Later Life

Burlin's career saw him move to Paris in 1921, where he studied European abstract painting styles. Upon returning to the United States in 1932, he settled in New York and worked as a member of the Federal Project of the Whitney Museum. As his career progressed, his work moved toward abstract expressionism, utilizing key symbols and imagery from Greek mythology to comment on the brutality of war. In his later years, despite losing his sight and undergoing eight cornea implants, he continued to paint, even when declared legally blind. His final works, The Series of Nine, were exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Pasadena Museum.