Blog

Part 2

In art school,  I always liked to switch things up and approach projects from the opposite direction as everyone else.  If we were told to work from light to dark,  I wanted to work from dark to light.  Some teachers found this creative, others found it maddening. After one teacher in Florence, Italy, reprimanded me for not following his instructions, Jules Maidoff, the school’s director, took me under his wing.   

In Jules’ class we were encouraged to pursue our own ideas and to paint freely any way we pleased. While we painted he would read out loud from inspiring books by artists  like Ben Shahn’s “The Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti” and “The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh”.  The latter is one of my favorite books to this day, and it is never far from reach in my studio.  

While studying in his school in Italy, I learned how to apply gold leaf, how to grind my own oil paints, and how to make egg tempera, traditional skills that I still use to this day.

"Romeo and Juliet" by Jules Maidoff

Painting in Jules’ class was the highlight of the semester in Italy, and when I came home I had  a roll of seven wonderful portrait paintings that I completed in his class.  One of those paintings still hangs in my parents house.  When I completed it, Jules said to me “You will be a great painter one day.” And those few kind and encouraging words spoken to an uncertain nineteen year old, have carried me through many years and thousands of moments of self doubt. 

A few years ago I heard that Jules’ work was going to be shown in a gallery in New York.  I wrote to the gallery and they forwarded my letter to him.  When he wrote back, I was finally able to tell him how grateful I was for all that he had taught me.

"Portrait of Mundy," by Domenica Brockman, made in Jules' class

oil on canvas, 1985

To see current painterly work of mine showing the influence of Jules Madoff click <here>

To read about the influence of painting instructor, Eleanor Mikus, please click <here>