Samuel Maitin, Figure of a Woman

Often referred to as Philadelphia's first citizen artist, Sam Maitin participated fully in the city's public culture of the arts for decades. In this print, he combines simplified biomorphic forms with black staccato lines, the figure's large hips and belly emphasizing the woman's sensuality.

After graduating from Simon Gratz High School, Maitin won a scholarship to the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art (now the University of the Arts). He concurrently attended the University of Pennsylvania, in which he enrolled in 1945 when he was just sixteen. As the second of three sons of Russian Jewish immigrants, Maitin "couldn't believe” that Penn accepted him, as there were quotas for Jews at the time.