Marvin Friedman - Ridley Park Market - 1995

Marvin Friedman worked as an illustrator for many, many years. His work appeared in such publications as Gourmet, Playboy, Boy's Life, Redbook and Good Housekeeping. Disillusioned and bitter about the illustration field, Marvin's work took a new direction in the early 1990s. He began doing image-text work based upon autobiography. This branched out further into works that ranged from commentary on popular culture, to pieces that incorporated interviews with cancer survivors and holocaust survivors. Many of the latter pieces, which are among the most current, are executed in pencil and watercolor.

I first met Marvin in the late 1980s, while helping to hang an exhibition of my ex-wife's artwork in a restaurant in downtown Philadelphia. Marvin and his wife Sonny were taking down an exhibition of his work. We've stayed in touch ever since, and I've had the pleasure of visiting Marvin and Sonny at their New Jersey home (and studio) on many occasions.

I purchased this piece, titled "Ridley Park Market", at an exhibition of Marvin's work in Princeton, New Jersey. The piece contains everything that I love about Marvin's work: the expressive line and deeply felt content.