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Friday, May 14, 2010

The Painter Margrit Lewczuk, 1985


The Painter Margrit Lewczuk 1985
copyright Peter Bellamy 2010


This picture was taken when she and Louise Fishman painted in the meat packing district, when they held out in lofts and the area was deserted except for the meat and hookers,

The buildings were old and dank, not at all like today.  There was something murky about the studios, filled with old wood, oil paint dust, and turpentine.  Rents were cheap.


The painters drank and painted and formed a community - they struggled with survival and the moral courage to keep painting, drawing strength from only the art itself.

As real estate pressure grew they were forced to move from the meat packing district by intimidation, violence and suspicious fires.


Margrit lost her studio to a fire with many of her great paintings.  She paints now, I believe, in Williamsburg with her son, and Bill forming a loving family and creating more beautiful paintings.  Margrit Lewczuk is Bill Jensen’s life companion and a wonderful painter; similar in values and approach to him and others, such as Louise Fishman. She was friends with Connie Reyes and Ronnie Bladen and moved in this circle.

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