MORGAN WEISTLING

Morgan studied art at an early age with his father, a former art student. His parents both met at art school. His father, Howard, a POW in Germany, entertained his fellow American prisoners in Stalag 1 with a daily comic strip that he created and drew to keep morale up. Drawn on scraps of paper found on the prison grounds, he crafted a humorous world of characters that managed to bring a smile to imprisoned soldiers. In the last days of the war and feeling the Russians would be coming, his talents with painting saved his life. Using some paints supplied by the Geneva Convention, he painted a American Flag on the shoulder of his prisoner uniform so that the Russians invading Germany would identify him and not shoot him. It worked.

Weistling's father came back from the war with dreams of being an artist. With the G.I. Bill, he took classes at Woodbury Art College in Los Angeles where he met Morgan's mom. After marrying and starting a family, Morgan's father had to abandon his artistic dreams and support his new family by becoming a gardener. But, he saved all his art books.....

Morgan, much younger than his brother and sister, began his artistic training as early as 19 months old. His father would sit with him on his lap at night and teach him how to draw and use his imagination. " My dad and I bonded together with drawing and spoke to each other with pictures". Weistling's father had a real talent for telling a story in comic strip form and so it began in Morgan, a natural sense of the narrative."It was here that art became a language for me".

That led to his studying the art books his father had acquired years earlier. Authors such as Andrew Loomis, Vanderpole, and Bridgeman. The most important books, though, were the volume set from the Famous Artist School.

At the age of 12, Weistling was determined to go through the entire course on his own since the school was no longer in existence. By the age of 15, his study of anatomy, drawing, and painting needed a mentor's direction.

That direction came through a retired illustrator named Fred Fixler. Fred's school, then called the Brandes Art Institute, was dedicated to one thing: learning how to draw from life. "The minute I saw his life drawings I knew this was the guy to study with, there was no doubt," says Morgan. Working part-time as a janitor for the school to pay his tuition, Weistling studied there for 3 years.

While still a student and working at an art store, one day a prominent illustrator came in for supplies. Weistling showed him his student work. The next day he found himself employed at one of the top movie poster agencies in Hollywood. "At that time, all I wanted to be was an illustrator," Weistling says, "but that was amazingly fast." For the next 14 years he illustrated for every movie studio in Hollywood as well as many other fields of illustration.

Also interested in depicting his Christian faith, Morgan has portrayed the life of Christ in many of his paintings. Those images can be found in the best selling book, The Image of Christ, with paintings and text by Morgan.

DAVID LEFFEL

David A. Leffel is a twentieth-century artist who paints in the classic Flemish/Dutch old master style, much in the manner of Rembrandt or Chardin. His subject matter is still lifes, landscapes, portraits, and figures, but the real subject of his work is the light as it gently drifts from one object to another. It pauses here, then moves on. Light is, in fact, what Leffel calls “the concept” of the painting.

For David, beauty is absolute, perfect and universal. He believes the goal of the artist is to understand beauty and to translate its essence upon the canvas. His art reflects this constant striving to expand this understanding, and, his artistic application of the knowledge.

Since beauty is absolute, and not relative to the artist, art is timeless. Although Leffel's works remind us of the Dutch Baroque painters, he is a master of light and shadow. Even Leffel's simplest still lifes are dramatic, and fill us with a profound sense of awe. We must appreciate the art of David A. Leffel on its own terms, and not try to apply stylistic associations to his work. The beauty we see and feel on a Leffel canvas testifies to his understanding and talent.

Born in New York City, Leffel attended both Parsons School of Design and Fordham University. In 1959 and 1960 he studied at the Art Students League, New York City on a Merit Scholarship. In addition to his many one-man gallery shows, Leffel's work has been exhibited in numerous important group and museum shows.

Statement of Purpose:

"Art is an expression of unity and universality, not temporal factors. It is a means of reaffirming life, of overcoming confusion..."

RIMEL NEFFATI

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AGNES CECILE

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JASON YARD YARMOSKY drawing workshop at The Art Students League of New York of New York!

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