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Alexandre Gallery

  • Home
  • Current Exhibition
  • Upcoming Exhibitions
  • Notable 20th Century Sales
  • Catalogs
  • Contact
  • News
  • Past Exhibitions
  • Artists and Work
  • Prints
    • Will Barnet
    • Brett Bigbee
    • Lois Dodd
    • Neil Welliver
MB172_07ThimbledonBridgepg7_large.jpg

Marvin Bileck


Born March 2, 1920
Died April 29, 2005

Marvin Bileck graduated in 1946 from Cooper Union School of Art and went on to further study at the London School of Architecture and Columbia University.  He received a Fulbright Fellowship to France where he continued studies in the Cabinet des Dessins at the Louvre Museum while working in the printing ateliers of Lacouriere and Desjouibert.

Bileck's prints and drawings are widely represented in galleries and museums including Landmark Gallery (New York City), Dartmouth College (New Hampshire), Maine Center for Contemporary Art (Rockport) and Islesford Artists Gallery (Maine).  In addition, his work has been exhibited at museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Chicago Art Institute of Chicago, and Queens Museum. 

In addition to his work as an artist, Bileck enjoyed a distinguished career as a designer and illustrator of children's books. His titles include Sugarplum, Penny, and A Walker in the City by Alfred Kazan. His exquisitely detailed drawings for Rain Makes Applesauce have helped to make it a children's classic and a Caldecott Honors book.

He was a life-long educator who was much beloved by his students and colleagues.  His career as a teacher began in 1960 at the Philadelphia College of Art (now University of the Arts).  In 1967 he began teaching in New York at Queens College, from where he retired Professor Emeritus in 1992.

Bileck and his wife Emily Nelligan lived and worked together in Winsted, Connecticut and Cranberry Island, Maine.

Press

  • The Free Press: Drawings by Emily Nelligan and Marvin Bileck
  • New York Times: Marvin Bileck: ‘Thimbledon Bridge’ and Emily Nelligan: ‘Drawings’
  • American Arts Quarterly: Nelligan and Bileck
  • The New York Observer: Nelligan and Bileck: Charcoal Contours And Nature in Decay

Essays/Interviews

  • Alison Ferris: Marvin Bileck and Emily Nelligan-Cranberry Island
  • Obituary: Marvin Bileck (1920-2005) 
  • Marvin Bileck: Artist Statement 1999 
  • Robert Godfrey: Of Dreaming, Poetry, and the Spirit of Form: The Drawings, Etchings and Engravings of Marvin Bileck- 1996

Past Exhibitions

  • 2016: Drawings and Prints
  • 2015: Prints
  • 2013: Thimbledon Bridge
  • 2009: Selected Illustrations
  • 2005: Cranberry Island

Buy Catalogue

Work Exhibited

Deadwoods Cranberry Isles
Deadwoods Cranberry Isles

2005    
graphite on paper    
9 x 11 7/8 inches

Untitled (counterproof)
Untitled (counterproof)

2004    
etching and aquatint    
8 x 10

And Dreamier the Gloaming Grows
And Dreamier the Gloaming Grows

2001-2002    
etching and engraving on paper    
7 5/8 x 9 1/2 inches

Thimbledon Bridge Title Page
Thimbledon Bridge Title Page

1965-1970
colored pencil and graphite on paper
11 1/4 x 14 inches

Thimbledon Bridge Page 6
Thimbledon Bridge Page 6

1965-1970
colored pencil and graphite on paper
11 1/4 x 14 inches

Thimbledon Bridge Page 2 and page 30
Thimbledon Bridge Page 2 and page 30

1965-1970
colored pencil and graphite on paper
11 1/4 x 14 inches

Thimbledon Bridge Page 3 and 31
Thimbledon Bridge Page 3 and 31

1965-1970
colored pencil and graphite on paper
11 1/4 x 14 inches

Thimbledon Bridge Illustrations Page 4- Half Title Page
Thimbledon Bridge Illustrations Page 4- Half Title Page

1965-1970
colored pencil and graphite on paper

11 1/4 x 14 inches 

Thimbledon Bridge Page 5
Thimbledon Bridge Page 5

1965-1970
colored pencil and graphite on paper
11 1/4 x 14 inches

Thimbledon Bridge Page 9
Thimbledon Bridge Page 9

1965-1970
colored pencil and graphite on paper
11 1/4 x 14 inches

Thimbledon Bridge Illustration Page 11
Thimbledon Bridge Illustration Page 11

1965-1970
colored pencil and graphite on paper

11 1/4 x 14 inches 

Thimbledon Bridge Illustration Page 12
Thimbledon Bridge Illustration Page 12

1965-1970
colored pencil and graphite on paper

11 1/4 x 14 inches 

Thimbledon Bridge Illustration Page 13
Thimbledon Bridge Illustration Page 13

1965-1970
colored pencil and graphite on paper

11 1/4 x 14 inches 

Thimbledon Bridge Illustration Page 14
Thimbledon Bridge Illustration Page 14

1965-1970
colored pencil and graphite on paper

11 1/4 x 14 inches 

Thimbledon Bridge Illustration Page 17
Thimbledon Bridge Illustration Page 17

1965-1970
colored pencil and graphite on paper

11 1/4 x 14 inches 

Thimbledon Bridge Illustration Page 22
Thimbledon Bridge Illustration Page 22

1965-1970
colored pencil and graphite on paper

11 1/4 x 14 inches 

Thimbledon Bridge Illustrations Page 23
Thimbledon Bridge Illustrations Page 23

1965-1970
colored pencil and graphite on paper

11 1/4 x 14 inches 

Thimbledon Bridge Illustration Page 24
Thimbledon Bridge Illustration Page 24

1965-1970
colored pencil and graphite on paper

11 1/4 x 14 inches 

Thimbledon Bridge Illustration Page 25
Thimbledon Bridge Illustration Page 25

1965-1970
colored pencil and graphite on paper

11 1/4 x 14 inches 

Thimbledon Bridge Illustration Page 26
Thimbledon Bridge Illustration Page 26

1965-1970
colored pencil and graphite on paper

11 1/4 x 14 inches 

Writhing Dance of Roots and Rocks
Writhing Dance of Roots and Rocks

2004    
graphite on paper    
6 x 9 3/4 inches

Cranberry Isles
Cranberry Isles

2003    
graphite on paper    
11 3/4 x 17 3/4 inches

Murch's Cove
Murch's Cove

n.d.
soft-ground etching on paper    
7 3/4 x 9 3/4 inches

Murch's Soft Ground
Murch's Soft Ground

1991    
etching on paper     
8 x 9 3/4 inches

Twister in the Limbs- Murch's Cove
Twister in the Limbs- Murch's Cove

1991    
drypoint and engraving    
7 7/8 x 9 3/4 inches

Uprooted Tree- Ruth's Woods
Uprooted Tree- Ruth's Woods

1990
hardground with added drypoint and engraving    
7 7/8 x 9 7/8 inches

Rock Build-up, Great Head
Rock Build-up, Great Head

1988    
etching and engraving on paper    
8 x 9 7/8 inches

Fallen Trees
Fallen Trees

1980    
etching and aquatint on paper     
8 x 9 3/4 inches

Untitled
Untitled

n.d.    
etching, unique impression    
9 3/4 x 12 inches

Untitled
Untitled

n.d.
engraving on paper    
7 7/8 x 9 3/4 inches

Deadwoods Cranberry Isles Untitled (counterproof) And Dreamier the Gloaming Grows Thimbledon Bridge Title Page Thimbledon Bridge Page 6 Thimbledon Bridge Page 2 and page 30 Thimbledon Bridge Page 3 and 31 Thimbledon Bridge Illustrations Page 4- Half Title Page Thimbledon Bridge Page 5 Thimbledon Bridge Page 9 Thimbledon Bridge Illustration Page 11 Thimbledon Bridge Illustration Page 12 Thimbledon Bridge Illustration Page 13 Thimbledon Bridge Illustration Page 14 Thimbledon Bridge Illustration Page 17 Thimbledon Bridge Illustration Page 22 Thimbledon Bridge Illustrations Page 23 Thimbledon Bridge Illustration Page 24 Thimbledon Bridge Illustration Page 25 Thimbledon Bridge Illustration Page 26 Writhing Dance of Roots and Rocks Cranberry Isles Murch's Cove Murch's Soft Ground Twister in the Limbs- Murch's Cove Uprooted Tree- Ruth's Woods Rock Build-up, Great Head Fallen Trees Untitled Untitled
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