Harvey Dinnerstein: A Remembrance (1928-2022) by Dennis Cheaney

Harvey Dinnerstein, Old Couple, 2015, pastel on paper,

7 1/4 x 9 1/4 in.

Painter Harvey Dinnerstein has died age 94 on June 21, 2022. A longtime member of the New York school, Harvey was a classical realist, whose work was strongly rooted in the traditions of Italian Renaissance art. He devoted himself to crafting paintings of daily life that contain, as he stated, “an elevated spirit”.

Harvey Dinnerstein, Past and Present, oil on canvas

Harvey peopled his canvases with New Yorkers regularly encountered throughout the city: construction workers, cyclists, street musicians, mothers, children, and the old. With a keen eye, Harvey painted life-sized oil portraits that show he was an heir to a realist tradition from the Soyer brothers (Raphael, Isaac, and Moses) back to Eakins to Manet and finally to Velazquez.

Left: Thomas Eakins, The Thinker, 1900, oil on canvas, 82 X 42 in, Right: Harvey Dinnerstein, The Cyclist, oil on canvas,

Time and again, Harvey succeeded in making multi-figure compositions when few others did. His paintings work, in part, because they are extraordinarily well thought out. Of particular note are the paintings in which Harvey explored life underground, using the subway as a backdrop to the theater of contemporary life.

Harvey Dinnerstein, Underground Together, 1996, oil on canvas, dimensions unknown

In the subway paintings, people of all types stand shoulder to shoulder, outside of their familiar neighborhoods, and they momentarily mingle together. Harvey could find the right gesture, expression and attire to convey a recognizable “now” without being superficial. It was his way to hold one’s attention while the deeper poetry worked its subtle magic.

Harvey Dinnerstein, Nocturnal Passage, 2009, oil on canvas, dimensions unknown

In his late large works, Harvey develops a personal symbology around the cycles of life. He succeeds in capturing something undefinable about the drama of daily life. Ultimately, Harvey is evocative, heading toward the realm of the poetic.