Jonah Kinigstein

Kinigstein was born in Brooklyn, New York City, on June 26, 1923.^[1][2][3][4] His parents were Jewish immigrants from Russia and Poland.^[4] As a teenager, he would use chalk to make sidewalk art.^[4] At times he worked with his father, a house painter.^[4]

After high school, he attended Cooper Union.^[4][5] Before he graduated, he was drafted into the army during World War II, where he served in a photo topography unit.^[4]

After being discharged from the army, he moved to Paris, where he attended the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, and Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma.^[4][5] He exhibited at the Galerie Huit.^[6]

He later moved back to Manhattan.^[4] The rise of abstract expressionism and the loss in popularity in figurative art prevented Kinigstein from being able to paint for a living.^[4] He worked in commercial art, where he designed Bloomingdale's first collectible shopping bag in 1961.^[4] He also began drawing political cartoons criticizing abstract expressionism and the figures in the art world promoting it.^[4]

Kinigstein continued to paint for himself. He dubbed his style "figurative expressionism", and his painting frequently depict distorted figures in front of surreal backgrounds.^[4] At age 99, he continued to paint for two or three hours a day in his home.^[4]

Kinigstein's work is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art,^[7] the Smithsonian American Art Museum,^[2] and the Whitney Museum of American Art.^[8]

Kinigstein was married twice and had two children.^[4] His second wife is Eileen Muken.^[4] He turned 100 in June 2023,^[9] and died on December 6, 2025, at the age of 102.^[10]

Kinigstein was the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship as well as a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation award.^[11]

In 2014, a book of his cartoons entitled The Emperor's New Clothes: The Tower of Babel in the "Art" World was published by Fantagraphics Underground.^[4][12]

In 2022, Unrepentant Artist: The Paintings of Jonah Kinigstein was published.^[4][13]