Art

Item Description

Mixed media on paper on board, 12 inches by 17 3/4 inches, signed lower left, image name lower right.

Harold Zisla, 1925 – 2016

 “I believe that paintings should be, more than anything else, a liberation into the spirit of the artist, and to have presence, impact, dynamism, freedom from the trite, the contrived, the boringly dead. They must be alive.” —Harold Zisla

Harold won several awards for his art, his teaching and his humanity. Among them was the First Eldon Lundquist Faculty Fellow, Indiana University South Bend: “In making this selection, the [Lundquist] Committee recognizes your superior accomplishments in teaching, creative and scholarly activity, and your position as perhaps the single most important personality in the artistic activities of our community.”

Zisla’s work is in a number of museum collections as well as being collected by universities and private collectors across the United States and in Europe. More information is available at http://www.haroldzisla.com . A video interview is available at www.LifetimeEd.org/harold-zisla .

Artist Harold Zisla was born in Cleveland, Ohio, June 28, 1925, he died March 18, 2016. He enjoyed a career of more than 80 years. An artist from childhood, Zisla continued to study art in high school and at the Cleveland Museum of Art until 1943. From 1943-1946, Zisla served in the U.S. Navy; upon his return he attended the Cleveland Institute of Art and Case-Western Reserve University. In 1950, he received his B.S. in Art Education, and in 1951, his M.A. in Art Education from Case-Western. In 1952 he moved to northern Indiana, taking a job as an industrial designer at Uniroyal in Mishawaka, IN. From 1957- 1966 Zisla served as Executive Director of the South Bend Art Center, in South Bend, IN.  For Zisla personally, this time saw an increased questioning of, and movement away from, the academic training and figurative style of his youth. From the late 1960’s to the mid 1980’s Zisla rose to Chair of the Fine Arts Department and Professor of Fine Arts at Indiana University at South Bend. Retiring in 1989, Zisla devoted himself fulltime to his art. The 1990’s were a time for reexamining, reworking, refining and the evolution of Zisla’s mature style; the 2000’s saw a continuing growth in his work, a growth that continued until his death.