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.
