Poignant framed color gouache painting on paper by second generation Abstract Expressionist painter Jay Milder, a former student of Hans Hofmann, whose work has been greatly informed by his background and interest in Jewish mysticism and Kaballah. 

The visible sheet measures approximately 9 square inches. Framed, the work measures 16 square inches. It is ready to hang.

Jay Milder was born on May 12, 1934 in Omaha, Nebraska, the third of four children of Jeannette and Leo Milder. His family came originally from Bredeslav in the Ukraine. They were descendants of the Chassidic mystic Rab Nachman. His maternal grandparents immigrated to the United States in 1851 to homestead in Devil’s Lake North Dakota, which boasts one of the coldest climates in the nation. Subsequently the family moved to Omaha where his enterprising grandfather prospered as the owner of a large grocery store. Jews in the community tended to gravitate towards this pious and erudite man, who always wore a black Homburg and long black coat, and who would lead the men in meditation every Friday night. As a young boy Milder immersed himself in drawing, but as a teenager his involvement in art lessened as his interested in spiritualism and mysticism increased. The teachings of Rab Nachman were an important early influence on Milder’s philosophy of life and art as they were on Kafka’s writing, a secondary source of inspiration for Milder who did not learn of his family ties to the great mystic until his thirties.

Signature: It is hand signed in pencil, lower left. Undated.