Jack Martin Draws an Art School's Cast of Characters
1,541 views · Published 30 August 2017 · 21:51 · Indexed 20 October 2026
Channel: John Thornton · 2017 · Education
I taught with Jack Martin for 3 decades at the Art Institute of Philadelphia, where we were forced to attend innumerable unbearably boring faculty meetings. I often wore sunglasses so that I could “rest my eyes” without being caught. Jack used the time much more constructively, filling notebooks with some of the most incisive portraiture I have ever seen. Putting little barbs in there was part of the Art Institute faculty culture. Everyone was relentlessly mocked in word and picture. And Jack was the undisputed king of the "barbarians". I met up with him in Cape May to talk and took a look at the archives. Jack’s role model is the illustrator David Levine, known for his caricatures of famous people. And though none of us lucky enough to be portrayed by Jack are famous, the particularity of his drawing and captioning style does give them a universal appeal.
