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Jules Olitski was born in Snovsk, Russia in 1922. He immigrated to the United States, with his mother and grandmother, in 1924, after his father had been executed. Olitski became a United States citizen in 1942, and he served in the United States Army from 1942 to 1945; however, he was not sent overseas. In 1939, Olitski received a drawing scholarship from the Pratt Institute and from 1940 to 1942 he studied portraiture and drawing at the National Academy of Design and Sculpture at the Beaux Art Institute, in New York. In the late 1950s, Olitski painted primarily in a Fauvist style, and explored the realm of abstract sculpture. Olitski lived in Paris from 1949 to 1951. Olitski received a Master of Art from New York University in 1955. In the early 1960s, Olitski started to explore the realms of art that would make him a highly celebrated international artist. He applied watered-down acrylic paint to unprimed canvas, and eventually he moved to a spray-painting technique. Near the end of his career, Olitski started to build up his canvases with layers of gel and acrylic paint, and finish them with his spray-painting technique. Olitski’s large-scale color fields have gained him international fame and prestige. His work was shown at the 33rd International Biennale, the Whitney American Art Museum, and many other exhibitions. Olitski was also the very first living American artist to have a solo show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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