Original Irving Amen Wood Block Plate for 2 Italian Themed Prints From 1950's

  
The double sided wood block. Used to create the prints. Florence, Italy and San Marco #1. The print pictured is not included either, it is just to show the print being advertised at Amen's gallery.

Amen was born in New York City in 1918. He began drawing at the age of four. At fourteen he won a scholarship to Pratt Institute.

With Michelangelo as his idol he spent seven years in Life Classes perfecting his drawing. From 1942 to 1945 he served with the Armed Forces.

He headed a Mural Project and executed murals in the United States and Belgium. His first exhibition in woodcut was held at the New School for Social Research in New York, in 1948; his second at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, in 1949.

In 1950 the artist studied in Paris. Upon his return he had one-man shows in painting, woodcut and sculpture. In 1953 he travelled throughout Italy, sketching and studying.

This resulted in a series of eleven woodcuts, eight etchings and many oils on Venice, Florence, Rome, Padua, Torcello. One of these woodcuts, PIAZZA SAN MARCO #4 and its four woodblocks constitute a permanent exhibit of block printing in color at the SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. Travel in Israel, Greece and Turkey in 1960 led to a retrospective show at the ARTIST'S HOUSE in Jerusalem. Since then he has had hundreds of one-man shows throught the country in galleries, museums and Universities.

His work is included in major international exhibitions and was exhibited in the Far East and Africa under the auspices of the State Department. He is a member of many national and international organizations, and has taught at Pratt Institute and The University of Ntre Dame. Amen's deep love of mankind and hopeful attitude towards life emanate powerfully from his work. The message is inseperable from the form and both communicate his feelings.

This has brought him the broadest audience. Designed a Peace Medal to commemorate the end of the Viet Nam War. Illustrated the classic, GILGAMESH, for the Limited Editions Club. Created Designs for twelve stained glass windows sixteen feet high depicting the twelve tribes of israil, commissioned by Agudas Achim Synagogue at Columbus, Ohio. His biography is included in the WHO'S WHO IN AMERICA, WHO'S WHO IN AMERICAN ART, WHO'S WHO IN THE WORLD, WHO'S WHO IN WORLD JEWRY, and other major reference works.

University of South Alabama - Mobile, Alabama. Arizona State University - Tempe, Arizona. Tucson Museum of Art - Tucson, Arizona. Arkansas Art Center Foundation - Little Rock, Arkansas.

Arkansas State University - State University, Arkansas. Magnes Memorial Museum - Berkeley, California.

Skirball Museum Hebrew Union College - Los Angeles, California. Mills College - Oakland, California. Stanford University Museum of Art - Stanford, California. Hausatonic Museum - Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Yale University - New Haven, Connecticut. University of Georgia - Athens, Georgia. Art Institute of Chicago - Chicago, Illinois. Quincy College Art Gallery - Quincy, Illinois.

Rosary College - River Forest, Illinois. Illinois State Museum - Springfield, Illinois.

Lafayette Art Center - Lafayette, Indiana. Art Gallery, University of Notre Dame - Notre Dame, Indiana. Davenport Municipal Art Gallery - Davenport, Iowa. Des Moines Art Center - Des Moines, Iowa. University of Maine Art Gallery - Orono, Maine.

Baltimore Museum of Art - Baltimore, Maryland. Boston Museum of Fine Arts - Boston, Massachusetts. Town of Brookline Public Library - Brookline, Massachusetts. Fogg Art Museum - Cambridge, Massachusetts. De Cordova and Dana Museum - Lincoln, Massachusetts.

Art Museum Mount Holyoke College - South Hadley, Massachusetts. Museum of Fine Arts - Springfield, Massachusetts.

Albion College - Albion, Michigan. University of Minnesota - Minneapolis, Minnesota. Central Missouri State University - Warrensburg, Missouri.

Art Gallery University of Nebraska - Lincoln, Nebraska. The Art Museum Princeton University - Princeton, N. Dartmouth College - Hanover, New Hampshire. Rutgers University - New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Museum of New Mexico - Santa Fe, New Mexico. Jewish Museum - New York City, N. Metropolitan Museum - New York City, N. Museum of Modern Art - New York City, N.

New York Public Library - New York City, N. State University of New York - New Paltz, N.

University of Rochester Memorial Art Gallery - Rochester, N. Syracuse University Art Collection - Syracuse, N. Salem College - Winston Salem, North Carolina. Cincinnati Art Museum - Cincinnati, Ohio. Dayton Art Institute - Dayton, Ohio. Butler Institute of American Art - Youngstown, Ohio.

Oklahoma Museum of Art - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Coos Art Museum - Coos Bay, Oregon.

Oregon State University - Corvallis, Oregon. Lehigh University - Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. City of Philadelphia Public Library - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Philadelphia Museum of Art - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Museum of Art - Carnegie Institute - Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.

The Charleston Museum - Charleston, South Carolina. Colombia Museum of Art - Columbia, South Carolina. Brooks Memorial Art Gallery - Memphis, Tennessee. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts - Richmond, Virginia.

Corcoran Gallery of Art - Washington, D. Library of Congress - Washington, D. Smithsonian Institute - Washington, D. Huntington Galleries - Huntington, West Virginia. Madison Art Center - Madison, Wisconsin. Neville Public Museum - Green Bay, Wisconsin. Milwaukee Public Library - Milwaukee, Wisconsin. American Embassies Abroad (partial list).

Courtesty UNITED STATES INFORMATION AGENCY. Colombo - Sri Lanka (Ceylon). Port Au Prince - Haiti.

San Salvadore - El Salvador. Albertina Museum - Vienna, Austria. Bibliotheque Royal - Brussels, Belgium. University Art Museum - Edmonton, Canada.

Fitzwilliam Museum - Cambridge, England. Usher Gallery - Lincolnshire, England. Victoria and Albert Museum - London, England. Biblioteheque Nationale - Paris, France. Bezalel National Museum - Jerusalem, Israel. Auckland City Art Gallery - Auckland, New Zealand. Statische Museum - Elberfeld, Germany.