Morton Kaish is an American artist whose paintings, drawings, and prints can be found in major museums around the world. At 18, he interrupted his studies to enlist in the U.S. Maritime Service, where he painted portraits of various officers. He then earned his B.F.A. in 1950 at Syracuse University where he was awarded the Hiram Gee Fellowship in painting. He continued his studies at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, the Istituto d’Arte in Florence, and the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome. He married Luise Kaish, who is also a MacDowell fellow, in 1948.
Kaish’s work is known to be colorful and light, as well as to combine traditional and experimental painting techniques with contemporary insights. Kaish moved to New York City in the 1960s, where his daughter was born and he worked side-by-side with his wife on the Upper West Side. To support his painting during the 1950s and 1960s, he worked as a fashion illustrator for Harper's Bazaar, Esquire, and Lord & Taylor.
Serving for 27 years as vice president and board member with the Artists Fellowship, Kaish has helped further the mission of the organization to assist professional artists and their families in times of emergency, disability, or bereavement. At the National Academy Museum & School he served on the Executive Committee of the Council for more than 10 years. He is professor emeritus in the School of Art and Design at FIT/SUNY, and has served as artist-in-residence at Dartmouth College; the University of Washington, Seattle; Haifa University, Israel, as well as on the faculties of the New School, the National Academy, and the Art Students League of New York.
He has been honored with The Benjamin West Clinedinst Memorial Medal for exceptional artistic merit by the Artists’ Fellowship, awarded the Alumni Award for Achievement in the Arts by Syracuse University, and elected to the National Academy in 1988. He received their Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011.
