Sheldon Berlyn (1929-2020)

Color and geometric form are the center of Sheldon Berlyn’s painting. Basing his work in part on the writings of colorists like M.E. Chevreul and Faber Birren and the theory of Abstract-Constructivism, Berlyn creates abstract images with the optical effects of color combinations. Homage to Caravaggio is part of a series of paintings which are abstractions from the work of Italian Renaissance painter, Caravaggio. Homage reflects The Martyrdom of St. Matthew painted by Caravaggio in 1599-1600. Although the forms are highly abstracted, Berlyn retains the shape of the sword and the line of the figure from the original painting. His rigorous brushwork, intense colors, and aesthetic energy counterpoint the drama of Caravaggio’s canvases about death and belief in immortality. —Joan Vita Marotta, 2002