MAX BAND (1900-1974) was born in Kudirkos Naumiestis, Lithuania. He was a teacher at Marijampole Jewish High School, an ephemeral career of just three years. In 1921 he entered the Academy of Art in Berlin and immediately found his niche. After graduating from the Academy, he studied art in Paris for three more years. All in all, he remained in the art metropolis for a total of seventeen productive years. Band appeared to be extremely shy. If he could not avoid all interaction with every artist in Paris, it was not because he didn’t try. While colleagues gathered in sidewalk caf?s for loud and boisterous discussions, Max hung out at the Louvre, studiously looking around. He was especially fond of paintings with pale blue skies, subtle tones and delicate renditions of light. Some would say the artist was depressed. No doubt his ife was filled with grief. At age three his father died. Two years later his mother also died. By default, the little boy was raised by an old grandmother in a gray and humorless home. How he developed the “intrinsic fire” for which he was well known has never been too well explained. Appearances notwithstanding, Band was strongly individualistic. The "fire in his belly" was expressed on canvas in oil. He rejected labels and fanfare. If he was called “modern,” he didn’t care and it didn’t fit. He was also called a painter of “realistic expression.” Whatever that means, it meant nothing to Band. To the lifelong student of art, intelligent use of color was the only essence of style. Whatever his rightful label, the artist was extremely good. His paintings always take us deeper than the casual eye can see. Max Band painted mood. More often than not, it was silent, pensive and preoccupied. Although he hated clich?s, one can always find nobility in most of his fabulous portraits. Consider Ecce Homo, an awkward Christ-like Jew, standing there, clumsy but upright, arms dangling gracelessly. His shirt is half-way tucked.
