Sidney Goodman (January 19, 1936 – April 11, 2013) was an American figurative painter and draftsman from Philadelphia, PA who explored the human form.
[1] Goodman received public notice in the early 1960s for his oil paintings, leading to his inclusion in the 1973 Whitney Biennial.
[2] Sidney Goodman was born in South Philadelphia in 1936,[1] the son of Russian Jewish immigrant parents[4] who came to America in the 1920s.
[6] In 1961, his debut exhibition in New York City at the Terry Dintenfass Gallery received high praise.
[1] Goodman, using oil paint, pastel, charcoal, pencil, pen and ink, forged a style through direct observation, creative imagination, and prolonged study of European and American masters, employing a figurative and allegorical approach lodged in modern urban and suburban subject matter.
[2] In the New York Times, Brian O'Doherty reviews his show, describing his imagery as "a modern apocalypse influenced by Freud and Gray's Anatomy.
"[12] Critics noted Goodman's examination of "expressive distortions of the human form, and connected him to the work of postwar figurative artists such as Francis Bacon.
[2] Art historian and curator Anne d'Harnoncourt describes Goodman's work as encompassing "both his fascination with capturing the characteristic shapes, features, and gestures of humanity (whether drawn from his family and friends or from newspaper snapshots) and his drive to incorporate them into disturbing compositions that convey complex, even contradictory meanings.