“Born in Chicago, IL to Meyer Levin, author, and Mabel Schamp, Communist, PhD chemist and university professor; [Levin] grew up in Manhattan, New York.” (1)
“His parents were divorced when he was small; his mother, Mabel, remarried a wealthy man with whom Levin lived for a few years, until they got a divorce and Mabel, who had a doctorate in chemistry, got a job teaching at the University of Hawaii. He lived with her there and spent summers with his father, the writer Meyer Levin, and his father’s new family in Paris.” (2)
“Levin attended the Diploma, Music and Art High School in New York City.” (3)
“In 1961 after receiving his B.A. in Literature at New School for Social Research, New York, Levin moved to Boston. There he was expelled from the Museum School’s graduate program for both experimenting with egg tempera (an early Renaissance medium) and painting too realistically. One of his professors had insisted that Levin paint abstractly with oil or he would flunk him.” (4)
“Levin briefly attended the University of Wisconsin in Madison in 1965 to finish his M.A. in Art. In 1991 Levin returned to school to get an M.A. in Humanities at St. John’s College in Santa Fe.” (3)
“Eli renamed himself in the 90's after his maternal grandfather.” (5)
“It didn’t take Levin long to establish roots in Santa Fe. He’s been well known [t]here for decades and has written books about the Santa Fe art colony of the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s. He’s gone back to the East Coast several times and taught at the University of Wisconsin for a bit, but he always returned to Santa Fe, and — save for his brief foray into painting for the tourist dollar — he’s kept to his social-realist ideals. Levin’s recent work includes nearly two dozen bar scenes, which will be on display at the Argos exhibit. He has also done series on cleaning ladies and janitors; Guatemalan workers in Dixon, where he lives now, with his girlfriend; local people in the town outside of their houses; and one on torture at Abu Ghraib.” (2)
“From 1985 to the present, Levin has held an etching workshop at his studio.” (3)
Reference
1. Eli Levin Art Staff. Eli Levin, A Brief Biography [internet]. Eli Levin Art; 2013 Feb [cited 2019 Dec 16]. Available from: http://elilevinart.com/bio_1.html
2. Levin J. Nudes, nudes, nudes - and a few bars: Celebrating Eli Levin [internet]. Santa Fe, NM: Pasatiempo; 2019 [cited 2019 Dec 16]. Available from: https://www.santafenewmexican.com/pasatiempo/art/gallery_openings/nudes-nudes-nudes-and-a-few-bars-celebrating-eli-levin/article_7872f7ec-d454-11e2-b534-001a4bcf6878.html
3. The Hardwood Museum of Art Staff. Eli Levin: Social Realism and the Harwood Suite [internet]. Taos, NM: The Hardwood Museum of Art [cited 2019 Dec 16]. Available from: http://www.harwoodmuseum.org/exhibitions/view/105
4. Sara Smith Contemporary Staff. Artists Eli Levin [internet]. Sara Smith Contemporary [cited 2019 Dec 16]. Available from: http://sarasmithcontemporary.com/levin/index.htm
5. Askart staff. Eli Levin [internet]. [cited 2019 Dec 16]. Available from: https://www.askart.com/artist_bio/Eli_Levin/102451/Eli_Levin.aspx