MICHAEL HAFFTKA — BIOGRAPHY

Hafftka's work is represented in the permanent collections of a number of museums,

including: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Brooklyn Museum

of Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Carnegie Museum of Art, New York

Public Library, Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum, Housatonic Museum of Art,

Arizona State University Art Museum, National Gallery of Art, Yeshiva University

Museum and Chapman University's Phyllis and Ross Escalette Permanent Collection of

Art.

Michael Hafftka was born in Manhattan in 1953 to Eva and Simon Hafftka, European

refugees and Holocaust survivors. Raised in the Bronx, he attended public schools and,

though he experimented with several creative forms, did not discover painting until he was20. In the wake of the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War in 1973, Hafftka volunteered towork for a year on a Kibbutz in Israel. The momentous change brought on a series of

visionary experiences and mystical dreams. When writing proved an inadequate outlet ofexpression, Hafftka began to paint—an experience that proved revelatory and self-defining.

Back in New York, Hafftka worked as an artist while supporting himself with odd

jobs. A voracious and broad reader and a frequent visitor to local museums, the artist

discovered an affinity for Old Masters, such as Rembrandt and Goya, as well as for 20thcenturyartists, such as Giacometti and Bacon. Hafftka's interest in the graphic arts led himto design a number of covers for Urizen Books. Several publications on the artist werefollowed by his first one-person show at Art Galaxy. Among the New York galleries thatsubsequently have featured his work are: the Rosa Esman Gallery, the Aberbach Gallery,the Mary Ryan Gallery, and the DiLaurenti Gallery. He has also exhibited widely in theUnited States and abroad.

Hafftka lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Public Collections
Museum of Modern art, New York
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Brooklyn Museum, New York
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
New York Public Library Collection, New York
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Housatonic Museum of Art, Bridgeport, CT
The Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum, TX
Arizona State University Art Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Yeshiva University Museum, New York, NY
Central High School, Philadelphia, PA
Chapman University Permanent Art Collection, Orange, CA