Sidney Gordin

Sidney Gordin studied at Brooklyn Museum Art School. The recorded working language is Russian. Employment is recorded with University of California, Berkeley. Work by Sidney Gordin is recorded in the collections of Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Vanderbilt Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Museum of Modern Art and Whitney Museum of American Art.

• Name — Sidney Alexander Gordin • Born — 24 October 1918 • Birthplace — Chelyabinsk, Russian Republic • Died — 28 January 1996 • Place of death — Berkeley, California, U.S. • Education — Brooklyn Museum Art School • Alma Mater — Cooper Union • Occupation — Artist, professor • Movement — Abstract expressionism, constructivism

Gordin was born on October 24, 1918, in Chelyabinsk, Russian Republic. When he was born the Russian Empire had recently collapsed due to the Russian Revolution. His family migrated to Shanghai, and later Harbin in Heilongjiang province, China. In 1922, at the age of 4, his family moved to Brooklyn, New York City, New York. Gordin graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School.[9] He attended Brooklyn Museum Art School in 1935 to 1936; followed by study at Cooper Union in 1937 to 1941, where he graduated.[10][11]

Gordin's first group exhibition was in 1951 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, named "American Sculpture 1951". That same year in 1951, Gordin's first solo show was held at Bennington College in Vermont. In 1954, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) hosted the "Play Sculpture Competition", Gordin had participated and won third place with "Tunnel Maze" (1954).[12] His "Tunnel Maze" was judged as most successful for play, safety, and ease; and subsequently was manufactured by Creative Playthings.[13][14] In 1958, he moved to California. In 1960, Gordin acquired an art studio in Provincetown, Massachusetts, while still maintaining his home in California. In the 1960s, "The Breakfast Group" was founded by Elmer Bischoff and Gordin.[15] The group was made up of Berkeley-based artists who met weekly to talk art over breakfast, the group held several group exhibitions. In 1959, he had his first solo exhibition in the San Francisco Bay Area at the Dilexi Gallery of San Francisco founded by Jim Newman. In 1992, he was awarded the Maggie Kuhn Award by Presbyterian Senior Services, for being a role model in aging.

Sidney Gordin is recorded as painter, professor, sculptor, designer and filmmaker. Indexed under Architecture, Modernity, and Design.