Bernard Safran
Self Portrait
(At the age of 43)
1967, 20" x 25", oil on masonite
Bernard Safran was born in New York City in 1924 to Russian immigrant parents.
His father had fled Czarist Russia after escaping from a Siberian prison camp;
his mother had been sent to America at age thirteen by her Polish refugee parents,
who could not afford passage for themselves.
Safran displayed an early aptitude for art,
attended New York's High School of Music and Art,
and later graduated from the Pratt Institute Art School.
His studies at Pratt were interrupted when he enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War II.
He served from 1942 to 1945 with the U.S Army Engineer Corps in China, Burma and India.
In 1946 he began to work as a commercial illustrator,
freelancing for the numerous publishers in New York City.
He concentrated on book jackets for mystery and Western paperbacks,
eventually producing about 100 covers.
He also did many magazine illustrations and the artwork for several illustrated books.
Sleeping
1986, 16" x 33", oil on masonite
The Old Lady
1970, 18" x 24", oil on masonite
The Manhattan Bridge
1970, 17" x 24", oil on masonite
The Window
1970, 18" x 24", oil on masonite
The Renovation
1971, 12" x 20", oil on masonite
The Fish Store
1970, 18" x 24", oil on masonite
Gossip
1986, 20" x 28", oil on masonite
The Bookstore
1971, 20" x 39", oil on masonite
The Garment Center
1970, 20" x 37", oil on masonite
Clotheslines
1969, 19" x 37", oil on masonite
The Hat Maker
1971, 21" x 30", oil on masonite
Subway Rider
1971, 17" x 24", oil on masonite
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