2. Bernard Safran was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1924 to 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 to work as a milliner
and pay for her refugee family's passage from Poland. Safran grew up in the
rough and vibrant community of Bensonhurst, where Murder Inc. operated,
and his best friend's father was the local bookie. His childhood memories
were visually rich - full of the colorful people, sights, sounds and odors of
everyday life in the big city. His street-smart upbringing with gangsters,
pushcarts, fighting boys and 5 cent matinees left him with an
unromanticized appreciation for the everyday life of the working classes.
His warm, dark palette sets the tone of the paintings, and emphasizes the
brooding atmosphere of the city. Despite the sometimes overwhelmingly
depressing settings, he acknowledges the strength and grittiness of the
individuals. "The people in my paintings are surrounded by enormous
forces, but they're not defeated," he wrote.

25. END08-ABRIL-2015