Irving Amen

American 1918-

Still an actively working artist, Irving Amen won a scholarship from the Pratt Institute at the remarkably young age of fourteen, and continued his studies there until 1939. After serving in the Armed Forces from 1942-1945, Amen returned to his art, enjoying his first exhibition at the New School for Social Research in New York, followed by a show at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington in 1949.

Amen spent time studying in Paris where he showed his impressive repertoire of paintings, woodcuts and sculptures. Travelling through Israel, Greece and Turkey in 1960 led to a retrospective of his work at the Artist House in Jerusalem. Amen then taught art at the Pratt Institute in 1961 and at Notre Dame University, Indiana in 1962.

Irving Amen was commissioned to create a Peace Medal to commemorate the end of the Vietnam War, as well as a stained glass window of the Twelve Tribes of Israel for the Agudas Achim Synagogue in Columbus, Ohio. He is a member of the Society of American Graphic Artists, the International Society of Wood Engravers and the Audubon Artists, Inc.