Morton Kaish

Morton Kaish, an American painter and printmaker whose work bridged abstraction and realism, light and color, nature and spirit died peacefully in New York on October 16, at the age of 98. Morton lived through nearly a century of profound change and artistic evolution. His long life spanned eras of transformation in American culture and society.
Born in Newark in 1927, Kaish grew up in Maplewood, New Jersey. He earned his BFA at Syracuse University in 1949 and continued his studies at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, the Instituto d’ Arte, Florence, and the Accademia di Belle Arti, Rome.
From the start, Morton seemed destined to be an artist. He played the accordion at ten, worked as a pin boy in the bowling alley, and crossed the Atlantic with the Merchant Marine during World War II. At twenty-one, he married his true love, the sculptor Luise Kaish, with whom he shared nearly sixty-five years of partnership in art and life.
Morton’s career spanned more than seven decades. His paintings are in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Fitzwilliam Museum (Cambridge), the British Museum, and numerous university and regional museums across the country. His paintings were represented by Staempfli Gallery, Irving Galleries and Hollis Taggert Galleries.
He was deeply committed to the community of artists — a longtime member of the National Academy of Design and, for many years, the Vice President of the Artists Fellowship, where he became its longest-serving officer, helping countless artists in need. He has been honored with the Benjamin West Clinedinst Memorial Medal for exceptional artistic merit by the Artists’ Fellowship, the Alumni Award for Achievement in the Arts by Syracuse University, and the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011 from the National Academy.
A lifelong educator, he was professor Emeritus at FIT/SUNY, as well as teaching at The Art Students League of New York, and creating the FIT program in Florence. In addition, he was Artist-In-Residence at Dartmouth and taught at Columbia, SVA and Parsons. Beloved by students for his warmth and generosity, he inspired many with a simple piece of advice that became his hallmark: “Just begin.”
His work explored the expressive power of color and light, often inspired by the natural world and the human figure. In the words of David Ebony, who is contributing to an upcoming Abbeville Press monograph, “Morton Kaish’s paintings radiate a deeply personal sense of beauty and transcendence — art as an act of hope.”
He is survived by his brother Stanley, daughter Melissa Kaish, her husband Jonathan Dorfman and two grandchildren Robert and Katie Dorfman. He was a much loved and respected gentle man who will be missed by many.