Marshall Arisman

Marshall Arisman (October 14, 1938 – April 22, 2022) was an American illustrator, painter, storyteller, and educator.

Biography Arisman was born in Jamestown, New York, on October 14, 1938, where he grew up on a dairy farm. He studied advertising art at the Pratt Institute, graduating in 1960. He received an Ida Gaskell Grant to travel and study in Europe after graduating. He completed military service, then began his career as a graphic designer, working for General Motors.

Career While working as a graphic designer for General Motors, Arisman took evening courses in figure drawing. Arisman's paintings have been exhibited in a number of one-man shows in the United States, Europe, and Japan. Permanent collections that include Arisman's paintings include the Brooklyn Museum, the Smithsonian, and the Museum of American Art. Arisman's illustrations and paintings are characteristically dark, expressionistic depictions of figures in tortured postures; torn flesh, blood, and violent force recur throughout his works, depicted with smeared brush strokes against black shadowy backgrounds. Other works, such as Charging Buffalo (2008), while remaining expressionistic in style, are less menacing, and may be interpreted as reflections on primal connections with the environment and with a regenerative life force. As influences, he has cited André François, Goya, Velázquez, Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, and primitive art.

In his illustration work, Arisman approaches each piece without making a distinction between commercial or fine art. The barrier is one that he has been confronted with throughout his career: "the fine art world stigmatizes people for illustrating [...] Every gallery tells me to quit illustration".

Publications Arisman has published several books, including: Frozen Images (1973) Art of the Times Artists' Christmas Cards Images of Labor Fitcher's Bird The Wolf Who Loved Music (2003) Heaven Departed The Cat Who Invented Bebop (2009) Divine Elvis A Postcard from Lilydale

Arisman has also co-authored Inside the Business of Illustration and co-edited The Education of an Illustrator, Teaching Illustration.