Aribert Munzner

Aribert "Ari" Munzner (January 9, 1930 – August 1, 2025) was a German-American artist. He was an abstract painter.

Early life (1930–1955) Munzner was born on January 9, 1930, in Mannheim, Baden, Germany, to Jewish parents. In 1937 his family fled Hitler's Germany to seek sanctuary with a family friend in Baghdad. They managed to procure visas to the US in 1939 because his father had been born in South Africa, and the quota for immigration from that country was not full, in contrast to Germany. They resettled first to New York City and then to Alton, New York. to dean of faculty in the 1990s. In 1994, he became professor emeritus He embarked on his decades-long Genesis project which involved creating vibrant bursts of color resembling galaxies on canvas, and also encompassing monochromatic drawings with minimal elements that resemble magnified images of cells. He mentored many other artists including Hend al-Mansour and Leah Golberstein. Sizing up the catastrophic loss the ever optimistic Munzner said, "I’m starting again because that’s what I’ve been doing all my life," and then added, "Each moment is a magic moment". His daughter is computer scientist Tamara Munzner.