Jeremiah Goodman (October 22, 1922 – September 7, 2017) was an illustrator who signed his work with his first name only. Goodman used his unique painting style to create the essence of a building's interior. His painting interprets the plans of both architects and interior designers. He painted original portraits of spaces for both commercial and private clients. For almost twenty years he created the covers for Interior Design magazine, and also books on interiors and for murals.
Early life
Goodman was born October 22, 1922, in Niagara Falls, New York, the youngest of five children of Anna Cohen and Louis Goodman. His parents were Jewish emigrants from Russia and Poland. While convalescing from a right-hand injury at the age of four, he was given a set of crayons and adapted by becoming left-handed, and developed an interest in art.
Education
In 1930 the family moved to Buffalo. During the Great Depression there was little work for his father, but Jeremiah was able to attend Lafayette High School, studying art with Elizabeth Weiffenbach and Ethel Davis, with the intention of becoming a set designer for Hollywood or Broadway. He graduated in 1939.
In 1940, at the age of 18, he moved to New York City to attend the Franklin School of Professional Art on a full scholarship. After graduating, he studied part-time at Parsons School of Design, then known as the New York School of Fine and Applied Arts, enrolling in interior decoration and commercial illustration courses.
Influences
Painters John Singer Sargent, J. M. W. Turner, Édouard Vuillard and Walter Gay. Architect John Nash Japanese ink brush painting, Zen calligraphy. Turkish-born, California-based interior designer, Kalef Alaton. Betty Carter, his Painting instructor at Parsons School of Design. David Payne, Art teacher at the Franklin School.
In 1948, Jeremiah met British actor John Gielgud, and travelled with him to Europe for the first time in 1949. Gielgud encouraged him to paint room portraits, a pursuit which would continue throughout his life. At the same time, another painter, William Bankier Henderson, aide-de-camp to Sir Archibald Wavell, the Viceroy of India, introduced him to a stratum of people who allowed him to paint interpretations of rooms in their residences.
In 1949, Jeremiah was given entry to the hidden Parisian maisons of illustrious fashion designer Jeanne Lanvin and her daughter, Marguerite Marie-Blanche. Their home decor department, Lanvin-Décoration, was run by Armand-Albert Rateau, who, along with Lanvin, designed the interior of the Daunou Theatre in 1921. Lanvin’s motto, "Art and fashion are one" is evident in Jeremiah's creative endeavours as well.
He attributes Frances Hodgson Burnett's novel, The Secret Garden (1910–11) as an inspiration for the layout of his East Hampton home.
Career
Beginnings
His first job in New York was for window display designers Sue Williams and Dana Cole, while attending school. During WWII, he returned to Buffalo, trained as a machinist with and worked for Curtiss-Wright in their experimental division.
Set Design
In 1945 he moved to Los Angeles, hired by stage and screen interiors set designer, Joseph B. Platt (designer on films Gone with the Wind, Rebecca, and Portrait of Jennie), as an illustrator/sketch artist. After an offer to decorate the set of a Hollywood jungle film, he was frustrated, realizing that his talents were not being fully utilized and returned to New York City.
Display Design
In Manhattan, he did whatever he could to earn a living as an illustrator and designer, creating window displays for Sachs Quality Stores and McCrory's, keeping an entrepreneurial eye out for opportunities.
From 1952, for over thirty years, he worked for Lord & Taylor department stores under the Art Direction of Harry Rodman, first designing windows, painting murals and eventually illustrating advertisements and catalogues.
Advertising Illustration
As the relationship with Lord & Taylor developed, he created fashion illustrations and advertising for magazines and newspapers, most notably, The New York Times. His unique brushwork and spatter techniques, perspectively accurate yet spontaneous, influenced architectural illustrators for decades.
Editorial Illustration
In 1949, Jeremiah began illustrating the covers of Interior Design magazine, an assignment that continued until late 1964. In the same period, he created illustrations for Harper's Bazaar, House & Garden and Vogue magazines.