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Paul W. Zimmerman

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Lehigh University University of Hartford University of Notre Dame

Paul Zimmerman Obituary

ZIMMERMAN, Paul W. Paul Zimmerman, 86, internationally known artist and Professor Emeritus of the Hartford Art School passed away on December 15, 2007. Born April 29, 1921 in Toledo, OH, he was the son of the late Robert Frazee Zimmerman and Ethel Pearl (nee Cramer) Zimmerman. He graduated from Kokomo, IN High School in 1941, with a full scholarship to John Herron Art School, where he earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1946. At graduation he received the Mary Milliken Memorial Fund Scholarship, which provided funds for him to relocate to New York City. Professor Zimmerman came to Hartford at the invitation of his former teacher, Heinrich Mayer, then Director of the Hartford Art School. He accepted his faculty post in 1947. Paul remained on the Hartford Art School, University of Hartford faculty until his retirement from full-time teaching in 1986. Though retired, he continued to paint in his studio, and to teach part-time at the Hartford Art School and at the West Hartford Art League until the year before his death. A prolific landscape painter, his oils and watercolors are found in numerous museum, corporate and private collections, including the following: the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts; the Springfield Museum of Fine Arts; the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts; the Wadsworth Atheneum; The Slater Museum; the University of Notre Dame; Lehigh University; First New Haven National Bank and United Technologies Corporation. His work is included in the private collections of actress Dina Merrill and the late actor Edward G. Robinson. He had also been commissioned to design a series of murals for Chase Manhattan Bank in New York. During his career, his art work was represented by galleries in New Jersey, Maine and Connecticut. Among his many honors were an associate membership in the National Academy (1959) and full membership as a National Academician in 1972. He was the recipient of scores of awards for his artwork, including,: The Hallgarten Prize (1954); The Wallace Truman Prize (1956); The Salmagundi Club Prize from the National Academy (1962); Second Prize, Butler Art Institute (1958); Members Prize, Boston Arts Festival (1964); The Patrick B. McGinnis Award, Berkshire Arts Festival (1961); Second Prize at Chautauqua (1955); The Howard Penrose Award, Connecticut Academy (1959); Third Prize, Kearney Memorial Regional Exhibition, Milwaukee, WI (1964); The Gertrude Melcher Springer Prize at the Indiana Exhibition (1959); First Prize, Connecticut Watercolor Society, and the J.I. Holcomb Prize from the Herron Art Museum (1955). An avid collector of art, as well, Paul Zimmerman donated his collection of Oceanic art to the Slater Museum of Art in Norwich where it remains on permanent display. Paul Zimmerman is survived by a sister, Mrs. Lola Belle Smith of Kokomo, Indiana; two nephews, Rodger Damon Smith of Indianapolis and Gerald Warren Smith of Kokomo, and a niece Linda Sue Huntley, also of Kokomo. Out of respect for his wishes, no funeral service will be held. He will be interred at Cedar Hill Cemetery in Hartford. Memorial donations may be made to the West Hartford Art League, 37 Buena Vista Road, West Hartford CT 06127

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by Hartford Courant on Dec. 29, 2007.

Memories and Condolences
for Paul Zimmerman

16 Entries

RODGER SMITH

November 16, 2008

Can't believe that it's been almost a year (Dec. 15, 2007) since you left us. Think of you often. Love your nephew Rodger

RODGER SMITH

May 31, 2008

Uncle Paul- Remembering some of the gifts you sent me as a child, my first yellow raincoat and sailors hat from Maine. My book by Oscar Wilde of Fairy Tales when I was a year old. My first Timex watch, My official Army compass, "The Golden Egg Book," by Margaret Wise Brown My Crucifix, My book the story of "The Iliad and the Odessey", and the paintings you gave me, which I will treasure the rest of my life. and think of the love that went into them, the detail, etc. We have 40 paintings you did over the years. Hope one day soon to go to Chicago, and see the painting you did in Mother's honor "Still Life L. Belle" that's on permanent display at Scott- Richard's Gallery. Not to mention my train ride to Hartford and the visit when I was 5 years old. I remember your last visit to Kokomo, and our long talks, and our conversations on the phone over the years, and your enjoyment of my research on our family tree, your insight on their photo's and the info. Also remember how pleased you were when I graduated from Computer school. Still have most of my cards and letters from you over the last 61 years. Think of you often. Love your nephew Rodger

Richard Carlson

May 29, 2008

Another thought: Paul thank you so
much for the small painting which you gave during my last visit. While it is far from your most important work - and is more a song, than a symphony - I will cherish it for whatever my forever is. The painting exudes your major concerns of lighting and weather conditions, and displays your keen vision and facility
and the intimacy of your affair with
the landscape. It's time to hang
it in more prominent location -although it has been in my view
daily.

Richard Carlson

May 27, 2008

Dear Paul: You are probably wonder- ing why my previous entry contained so little - in view of so many con-
versations. Speaking of yourself, you once said that "I'm just a dumb painter" when we were discussing
how many artists hide their lack of
productivity and sensory awareness
behind lengthy esoteric diatribes on
art. The word "simple" might have
been more appropriate, but even this
would be misleading to those not present. As we all know, Paul was
a prolific and adept master - his work
always involved a struggle: working
and re-working his canvasses - lost
in the energy of quick decisions -
feeling his way up, down across the
surface - until things began to come
together. He had no preconception
of what the outcome might be -
"giving birth to my children" - with
the inevitable traits, characteristics
and occasional surprises which found
life in his work. Never satisfied too soon in each of his attacks - never resorting formulas, he played the surface until all came into balance - with a color combination which poignantly expressed his affair with nature -from expansive landscapes to intimate views of his garden. His personal collection was eclectic, but one of my favorites was the Heliker hanging next to the kitchen door. While he might prepare a snack during my visits, I studied this
painting over and over again - only
beginning to etch in my mind its
thoughtful execution. He did not
collect just because he could, these
works were counted among his friends - allegiances from which he
could draw energy, wonder and joy.
His insatiable thirst for painting and
the inquisitive minds of his students
kept him, I pray, from ever feeling
lonely. Take care Paul - you deserve
the rest...you have impacted many
lives and I am pleased to be among this special group.

Bernard Z. Friedlander

May 27, 2008

Paul was a good friend and a good colleague at The University of Hartford. I am sorry that my absence from Hartford has so long delayed my learning of his departure to the Great Art Studio In The Sky.

May 25, 2008

Remembering Paul Zimmerman

I first met Paul Zimmerman while he was sifting through watercolor tubes at a local art store. Impeccably dressed in a crisp tan shirt and neatly pressed khakis, and with a distinguished white beard, he looked comfortable inspecting these shelves of Winsor Newton’s and Holbein’s. He was a man on a mission, a man who obviously had a history with all these colors. Instinctively recognizing an opportunity to learn, I asked, “How do you like those lavenders and blues? Are they too opaque for watercolor?”
Those who know Mr. Zimmerman can imagine his emphatic response. “Why, of course use them—use anything that works! Forget the rules! Rules are hogwash! Formulas don’t make paintings!” He went on, describing the similarities of painting and cooking, and how painting was like making soup, and always needed “a little extra potato when there’s too much salt”.
How lucky for me that I met Paul Zimmerman in that art store. He charmed me with his feisty and direct conversation and his passion for art. Soon, I found myself in his critique class at WHAL. And it was there, during the next four years, that I was fortunate to get a further glimpse into this man’s amazingly gifted and creative mind—a mind that lived and breathed for painting and the arts.
It is difficult to describe the learning environment in Paul Zimmerman’s critique class to those who never experienced it. Far from being the typical “how to” art class, this was for students already experienced in art technique and foundation skills. Furthermore, Paul demonstrated that he had no desire to produce “little Zimmerman’s”. His class attracted mostly loyal, long-standing students, all who contributed to this professional ambiance of honest and supportive discipline for collective art struggles. The format of the class included critiques of a wide assortment of art approaches as serious fellow artists shared their recent works, all done outside the classroom.
But what set this experience apart from other classes, and what kept Paul’s students loyally returning for more, was his extraordinary ability to “see” and respond to each person’s unique approach. Paul always focused on the heart of a piece of art, the view so often unidentified or lost in the course of the art process. He helped us find that focus and then to further develop our own way. “What is it that turns you on to paint these things? Is it how the flowers smell? Is it how the sun hits the surface? Is it the rhythms or the way the colors affect you?” He’d remind us to stop trying to paint like others, “Just look at all of you. One dressed in tans and browns—and another in bright colors with green, yellow and red—and in all different kinds of outfits. I would never think that any of you could produce the same kind of paintings.” He often said, “When anyone walks in and sees your work on a wall, they should be able to instantly recognize it as yours.”
He also encouraged us to be innovative and gutsy in our struggles to develop our personal art goals. And most importantly, he gave us the courage to exam our unique relationships with our art and to come to terms with what we found.
Paul so easily simplified the complex. He immediately and instinctively knew when a painting could work or could head off in the wrong direction. His concrete advice energized students who were stumped. In a typical class, he might prompt an abstract artist to join two works, possibly with one upside down. Or a realist might hear, “Stop ‘rendering’! You’re a painter, not a photographer! Try a little more of that development over here…and here! See how beautiful this messy stuff is?” He’d often advise a discouraged student, “Put that painting in a closet and don’t take it out for a while. Just keep painting.” And probably the most dramatic presentations of his skills came as a master of the basic art elements and design. Paul could delve into a box of colored papers, and then elicit “light bulb” responses from a mesmerized student audience as he then held a ripped dark shape in strategic placement on the canvas.
Paul Zimmerman’s art instincts were universally respected and always proven true with the test of time. And the uncanny speed and certainty with which he saw art was a rare innate gift, an ability that was truthfully expressed and generously shared. It was a joy for me to experience this in his classroom. I will forever be indebted to Paul Zimmerman for helping me to “see” art and to find my own way. I now join his many students who continue to paint, still hearing his voice, now guessing his likely reaction to our new work, and sharing among us a special language of the art process. I join my fellow artists in expressing enormous gratitude and appreciation of our unforgettable art mentor. We will miss him and he will always be a part of our work and our lives.

(Written by a student of Paul’s as a personal remembrance to share with fellow students and friends)

Paul at the West Hartford Art League

May 25, 2008

Roxanne Stachelek

May 25, 2008

Paul was an important part of the West Hartford Art League for many years, and he had a large impact on many students. Their dedication to him speaks volumes about what they thought of him, and his teaching style. We were fortunate to have had him as a teacher here after his retirement from the Hartford Art School. Pauls memory will live on with a Best of Show award that will be given in his name during our Open Juried Show every April.

RODGER SMITH

May 25, 2008

UNCLE PAUL: TODAY, SUNDAY MAY 25, 2008, IS OPENING DAY OF A MEMORIAL EXHIBIT OF YOUR LIFE AND WORKS, AT THE WEST HARTFORD ART LEAGUE, 37 BUENA VISTA, WEST HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, 06127, WHERE YOU TAUGHT PART-TIME TILL 2006. WHICH WILL RUN THROUGH JUNE 15, 2008.

AT WORK IN HIS STUDIO

RODGER SMITH

May 25, 2008

A PICTURE OF UNCLE PAUL

Richard Carlson

May 24, 2008

Thank you Paul for more than forty
years of friendship. My own work continues to reflect your wise advice
and shall always be marked by your
insightfulness, but the fondest memories are our chats over a glass
of beaujolais and the invaluable
learning experience by the early trip
to Manhattan.

Rodger Smith

April 29, 2008

Happy Birthday, Uncle Paul, this would have been your 87th Birthday, April 29, 2008. Miss you and think of you often. Love your sister Belle, and her children, Rodger, Linda, and Jerry.

Jim Hayes

March 1, 2008

I had Prof. Zimmerman for painting in '79 and '80. I remember his boundless enthusiasm as well as his infinite patience for "one student" who may have felt a bit self-important. I loved the "Zimmermanisms": when informed that some do not like the smell of oils, he replied "Turpentine. I could use it as aftershave!"

Tom Hundersmarck

February 10, 2008

Back in 1976-77 I was one of Paul's many students at the Hartford Art School over the years. He as a fabulous teacher and the most important artistic mentor of my life. I remember long interesting conversations he would have with the few eager young students who would stay long after class was officially ended. Of all of these interchanges I remember one in particular when he spoke about how one might succeed in art and in life; "I would place my money on the guy struggling with his work in the corner who works hard and tirelessly rather than the guy with the obvious brilliant talent; I've seen the latter come and go over the years; I know. He did know a lot about art and life. I am, and we all are a little less wise without his presence among us.

Rodger Smith

January 6, 2008

In Deepest Sympathy, We Love and Miss You Uncle Paul. Love Rodger, Linda, Jerry, and Your Sister Belle

Andrew Abbate

December 31, 2007

I speak for my family who have lived on Victoria Road for 40 years. We will miss Mr. Zimmerman. He was a thoughtful person and we had entertaining conversations about the "old" times on our street. I know that God must have needed to renovate heaven's paintings!

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