Raoul Middleman (born 1935 in Baltimore, Maryland) is an American painter known for his "provocatively prolific work--primarily traditional, including figure studies, landscapes, and still lifes--and for being a megawatt personality." Middleman has been a member of the Maryland Institute College of Art faculty since 1961. In a 2009 Baltimore City Paper article Bret McCabe described Middleman's paintings as featuring "... expressive strokes, a tight control over an earthy palette, a romantic tone slightly offset by a penetrating eye —becomes distinctive even if you haven’t seen them before, so strongly does he articulate his old-fashioned sensibility in his works.”
American University Museum at the Katzen Center has described Middleman as a "Baltimore maestro [whose] nudes are not pretty—they are sagging, dimpled, and real. His cityscapes reveal the underbelly of post-industrial rot, his narrative paintings give contemporary life to his personal obsessions. They are intelligent, messy, and utterly masterful."
"Other artists would look at the relatively undramatic landscape of this region and respond with quiet paintings, but Middleman sees all of nature as being animated. If anything, the countryside is so inherently full of life that animals, people, and buildings are usually no more than blips on the horizon." Giuliano continues to say, "Middleman's theatrical and somewhat claustrophobic portraits remain firmly within a studio environment; when he goes to the country, people pretty much drop from the scene. It's as if the landscape itself is so completely exposed that placing a female nude out there would be redundant."
C. Grimaldis Gallery, Baltimore, MD “The Dialectic of Line”
2006
C. Grimaldis Gallery, Baltimore, MD, “Summer Show”
2004
C. Grimaldis Gallery, Baltimore, MD, “Narrative Visions, Works by: Grace Hartigan, Beverly McIver,
Raoul Middleman, George McNeil, Sangram Majumdar, David Rich, and Tony Shore”
1998
National Academy, New York, NY “173rd Annual Exhibition”
Ice Gallery, New York, NY
C. Grimaldis Gallery, Baltimore, MD “The Painterly Landscape”
1997
National Academy, New York, NY “172nd Annual Exhibition” [Benjamin Altman Prize]
1996
American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY “Invitational Exhibition”
National Academy, New York, NY “171st Annual Exhibition”
The Art Museum at Florida International University, Miami, FL “American Art Today: Images from Abroad”
1994
National Academy, New York, NY “169th Annual Exhibition”
1993
American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY “Invitational Exhibition”
1992
Artscape ‘92, Baltimore, MD “Masters, Mentors, and Makers” National Academy, New York, NY “167th Annual Exhibition”
1990
National Academy, New York, NY “165th Annual Exhibition” [Robert and Rochelle Philipp Prize]
University of Maryland, Baltimore County “A View from Baltimore to Washington”
1989
Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD “The Landscape Observed”
Gaumann Cicchino Gallery, Fort Lauderdale, FL “The Landscape Revisited from Maine to Key West”
1988
The Art Museum at Florida International University, Miami, FL “American Art Today: Narrative Painting”
Norman and Sarah Brown Gallery, Jewish Community Center, Baltimore, MD “Invitation Exhibition (in honor of Israel’s 40th anniversary)” [First Prize]
Maryland Art Place, Baltimore, MD “Landscape: Three Perspectives” 1987 School 33 Art Center, Baltimore, MD “Three on Three: Hartigan, Leake, Middleman”
1986
Haus der Kunst, Munich “Das Automobil in der Kunst”
1985
W.C. Bradley Company, Columbus, GA “Contemporary American Realists” 1984 Artist’s Choice Museum, New York, NY “The First Eight Years”
National Academy, New York, NY “159th Annual Exhibition”
Thorpe Intermedia Gallery, Sparkill, NY “Primacy of Seeing”
1983
One Penn Plaza, New York, NY “New Landscape”
1982
Jersey City Museum, Jersey City, NJ “Painterly Landscape”
William Capro Gallery, New Bedford, MA “The Artists’ Choice”
