This article was originally written in April of 2017, and published in Collections Magazine in China in this same year. The quotes in this article were collected in an interview with Daniel Greene, conducted by the author on April 5th, 2017.

Daniel E. Greene N.A. is one of the most prominent and prolific realist artists in America, completing over 1,000 finished works to date and still painting. He has taught over 10,000 students at workshops within the USA, as well as in art schools such as the Art Students League in New York City, The National Academy, and The Pennsylvania Academy of Art. He has also taught courses abroad in France, Spain, Ireland, Canada and Italy.  Mr. Greene is also an ARC Living Master^TM and a judge for the Art Renewal Center International Salon. Although it is always a challenge to do both personal paintings and to teach, Daniel Greene is in a small, selective group of artists who are capable of doing both. Painting for over 60 years now, few artists have had as full or successful a career in the visual world of realist art in the 20th century as Daniel Greene.

Born in 1934 in Cincinnati, Ohio, he discovered his artistic talent at a young age. After getting strong encouragement from his teachers at ages 6 and 7, he always knew he wanted to be an artist. At 12 years of age he was accepted to the Art Academy of Cincinnati where he started his real training and many years later the Cincinnati Museum of Fine Art acquired one of his works.  At age 19 he began studies at the Art Students League of NY under the tutelage of Robert Brackman, eventually taking over his classes and becoming an instructor there when Brackman retired.

Greene’s portrait of Robert B. Hale is widely considered the best pastel of the 20th century. Robert Hale was one of the League’s famous teachers of anatomy and drawing for over 50 years and also the first curator of American Paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The painting now hangs in the League’s offices. This painting is one of Daniel Greene’s most compelling pastel portraits. Greene says of the painting, “I had started a portrait of Hale seated and did a pose where he held his beautiful hands up above his chest, but he was so weak and frail he kept dropping them to his lap.  So I abandoned the first picture and did a second one of him standing in a vertical format so he could drop his hands and I could capture him at full length. One day he brought in a beautiful scarf his wife had knit for him. With the perfectly organized arrangement of pastels in a new set I had purchased, I was able to accurately render the yarn of the scarf as well as the texture and modeling.” In this remarkable work, Greene truly captured a prominent figure in society nearing the end of his life. His weakened body is at rest, but his deep sense of contemplation and internal reflection is evident on his face and is echoed by his poetically energetic hands; the right hand is supporting the left and the viewer can see the tension and sense that the sitter is twiddling his thumb and forefinger, which both indicates and symbolizes an active mind. The long time former director of the Art Students League, Ira Goldberg, has told Greene that “The portrait has brought in many students.” and that “Dan is an ideal student, having attended the school, taught at the school, and having had an independent, successful career.”

 In 1954 Greene moved to NYC to be closer to what he and many others consider to be the art center of the world. He lived in Greenwich Village when he moved to NY and quickly became aware of the prominence of the abstract art movement. He spent some time at Cedar Tavern, a famous place where Willem De Kooning and Jackson Pollack were known to hang out. It was at this point in Greene’s life he knew he had an important decision to make since abstract art was in its ascendency and realism was considered passé. He needed to decide which path to follow. “For me”, Dan says, “…the choice was easy. Abstract art is too easy to produce. I wanted to be challenged. I decided to specialize in classical painting because I wanted to gain skill and I found that realism also best lends itself to my own personal self-expression.” It was an important painting decision to make in the mid 1950s at only 20 years of age.  Greene says, “It was a very difficult path to set out on both technically and politically which embodied all the challenges I was seeking in life. I have never been sorry about this choice.”

Since moving to NY, it has become his home, and he considers himself a New Yorker at heart. His inspiration comes to him, not as a single idea for a single work, but as a group of ideas. One painting will lead its way to another which eventually evolves into a series of paintings. Apart from being known as a world-renowned portrait painter, one of the series he is most known for is his depictions of the New York City subway. This large series of paintings, which he is still working on, already contains 121 works and is still climbing.  One of the challenges of his subway series that both draws and keeps his interest in these painting is not just the excitement of the diversified kinds of people he finds in the subway, but the difficult challenge of perspective. Every tile on every wall needs to be in perfect perspective to one another to make the magic of proper three-dimensional illusion happen. One pronounced example of this series is Greene’s painting of Ed, Spring Street. This painting is of his late father-in-law, Ed. Ed posed for him in Greene’s New York studio, but the background of the subway was painted on Spring Street. Ed captured the look and feel of a New York subway rider. Waiting in a relaxed pose, leaning on a garbage can, he waits with his round glasses and stylish hat for his train to arrive, spacing out in his own thoughts to kill time. In 2004, an exhibition of Daniel Greene’s Subway paintings was exhibited at the NY Transit Museum at Grand Central Terminal as the inaugural event in celebration of the Centennial Year of the New York Subway.

Another series he is known for is his Carnival and Game Board Series. A lot of these subjects were taken from his childhood, especially the Coney Island amusement park in Cincinnati, where he says he “remembers these carnival games and wanted to recreate some of the imagery and feel of his childhood.” Capturing the playful, contemporary, geometric design of shapes and colors, Greene utilizes carnival games as a realistic, yet modernistic backdrop for his true subject, the human soul. The work Dartman pictures a game attendant, past his prime, slouched over on a wooden stool. He holds a grouping of darts in his hand, waiting for the next customer to come by. The cool blue tones of his clothes and bored expression, contrast in extreme the bright hot seductive red tones of the dart board behind him. Looking directly out at the viewer, he makes no motion to pull you into the game. Instead, he waits and watches to see if you approach.

The themes of his series paintings, for Dan, can often transition from one into the next. His painting of Circus Voltini transitions from his Carnival Paintings into his Auction Series. Greene says, “My family and I were in France about 15 years ago, when I was teaching in Brittany. I rented a house while I taught there for 5 weeks. Every week a circus would come to town and have a parade right in front of the house. One of the circuses that came around was the Circus Voltini. They had a poster put on many of the telephone polls. I took one of these posters with me and wanted to do a painting that created the feeling and atmosphere of an auction that featured the poster of the circus. I used friends and relatives as models as if they were bidding on the poster which I had framed. This was the first painting that I did that drove me to do my auction series.” What is most striking about this painting is the sense of energetic commotion and the impression that the viewer is a part of it. When one looks at this work they feel as though they are standing in the scene. This is in part due to the composition and perspective, which puts the viewer in the crowd of people as if they are siting four rows back. The rapid gesturing of hands, some raised and some part way up, combined with the static pose of the lot handler, enhances the sense of motion. This is a snapshot in time. Even the lot handler has only paused for a moment. His heavy hair and flushed face indicate he is sweating as he must continually lift and present item after item to the anticipating crowed, all looking for the best deal. Greene says, “Auctions are extremely tense and dramatic. There are works of all types put up for sale and there is a palpable feeling in the atmosphere over the works of art changing hands at the auction. It is the perfect method to express people and art and its importance in society. I used models, friends and relatives in the audience and on occasion I have also reproduced famous works being offered for sale, creating an imaginary auction scene. The subject provides me with a number of elements I love to paint. I have props from auction houses that I use. I even bought a podium and had a carpenter, the model in my Dartman painting, make a long bench where people who are taking auction bids stand. I stage them in such a way where I can light them in a north light setting to paint from life.”

To Daniel E. Greene, painting means everything. “It is what I do, that’s my whole life and total interest. I am thrilled that I have been able to fulfill my destiny to be an artist. I have lived a life that has been spent doing what I am supposed to do, and happily, I am able to leave a legacy. I hope that people will be inspired by my work and that it will help others to learn. If you want to be an artist, all I can say is don’t give up, persevere, learn how to criticize your own work rather than depending upon others for advice. Paint the things that interest you. Paint from life and study great works in museums.”

There is a book to be published in the next year on Daniel Greene’s work by F&W publisher titled, Daniel Greene American Master Studios and Subways, written by Maurine Bloomfield who is the editor of The Artist Magazine. Apart from this, Greene has been heavily honored and written on. In 1995, the American Society of Portrait Artists honored Greene with the John Singer Sargent Award for life-long dedication.  In 2001, the Portrait Society of America presented him with a Medal of Honor. His works have appeared in frequent magazine and newspaper articles and he has been featured on CNN, ABC, CBS, Fox News, New York 1, NBC and NHK Japan television. His portrait commissions include a long list of famous and influential individuals including First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, numerous politicians including governors and mayors, author Ayn Rand, judges, astronauts and corporate leaders.  If asked, Greene at 83 years old quotes Titian at 90 saying, “I am just beginning to learn to paint”. Followed by, “It is a joy to continue to paint and to continue to learn. I improve as I continue to gain experience.” Undoubtedly, Dan will continue to paint until the end of his life and will continue to amaze and inspire those who view his work.