This biography from the Archives of AskART:
| The following is from Elke Chaiken:
BIOGRAPHY of William Chaiken of Hilburn, New York.
1921 Born in Russia
1926 Family emigrated to Canada
1937-40 Winnipeg School of Art, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Studied under George Overton of the British Royal Academy and L.L. Fitzgerald, one of the famous Canadian "Group of Seven", a dominant group of Canadian painters comparable to the Fauve movement. They concentrated on Canadian landscape painting and gave birth to Canadian art.
1941-45 Canadian Army
1947-48 Art Students League, New York, New York Bernays Scholarship; studied under Morris Kantor and Vaclav Vytlacil.
1948 Was accepted into the "Pyramid Art Group" which exhibited in travelling shows in museums and universities all over the United States.
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
In 1959, William Chaiken became a Member of United Scenic Artists, a union of designers and painters for movies, stage and television. Since then he has divided his time between his studio and the theater, where he has painted the décor for most Broadway plays and musicals, the Metropolitan Opera and New York city Opera, Baryshnikov's American Ballet Theater, George Balanchine, Martha Graham, TV, Radio City Music Hall and Disneyland. To name just a few of his most memorable assignments, he painted Marc Chagalls stage designs of "The Magic Flute", Franco Zefirellis "Turandot" and "La Boheme" and Guenther Schneider Siemmsens "Ring Cycle" at the Metropolitan Opera.
He painted the sets and artwork for feature films under the directors Sidney Lumet, John Huston, Martin Scorcese, Woody Allen, John Schlesinger, Bob Fosse, Francis Ford Coppola and many others. On various movie projects he was working abroad, and the impressions of these countries, their people and culture is reflected in his artwork.
ONE-MAN SHOWS
2001 Pomona Cultural Arts Center, Pomona, NY
2001 Leidenfrost Vinyard, Hector, NY
2000 Flywheel Gallery, Piermont, NY
1999 Flywheel Gallery, Piermont, NY
1996 Forum Bildener Künstler, Essen, Germany
1994 Galerie Kargados, Waldshut-Tiengen, Germany
1992 Galerie Kargados, Waldshut-Tiengen, Germany
1985/86 Vorpal Gallery, Soho, New York, New York
1977 Rockland Center for the Arts, West Nyack, New York
1974/78/82 Edward Williams College/Fairleigh Dickinson, Hackensack, NJ
1974/75 Cramer Gallery, Glen Rock, New Jersey
1954-63 Contemporary Arts Gallery, New York, NY
1956 San Joaquin Museum, Stockton, California
1956 Norwich Art School, Norwich, Connecticut
1956 Lyman Allan Museum, New London, Connecticut
MAJOR EXHIBITIONS AND GROUP SHOWS
1993/94 Galerie Kargados, Waldshut-Tiengen, Germany
1972-2000 Rockland Center for the Arts, West Nyack, New York
1978/84 Edward Hopper House, Nyack, New York
1977 Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, New York
1975 Juried Exhibition (Third Prize awarded by Richard Poussette Dart
and Dore Ashton), Rockland Center for the Arts, West Nyack, NY
1974 Morristown Museum, Morristown, New Jersey
1972 Bergen County Museum of Arts and Science, Ridgewood, NJ
1969 2nd Mostra "Ai Frati", Cammaiore, Italy (Honorary Mention)
1961 Brasilia Museum, Brasilia, Brazil: Selected to represent USA in
a joint exhibition of Brazilian and U.S. artists to open the new museum at the new capital of Brazil
1959 Carnegie International, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
1957/58 University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois
1955-57 Brooklyn Museum Water Color International,
Brooklyn, New York
1951/57 Corcoran Biennial, Washington, DC
1956/57 National Society of Painters in Casein (First Prize)
New York, New York
1956 Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
1949-56 Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York
Exhibited in 6 Whitney Annual Shows
Participated in many travelling exhibitions to museums and universities throughout the United States
COLLECTIONS
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York
San Joaquin Museum, Stockton, California
Private collections in Brazil, Canada, Cuba, England, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, Russia, Switzerland and the United States
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