The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
Levine, Jack
(lvn´) (KEY) , 1915, American painter, b. Boston. Levine began his career with the Federal Arts Project. His paintings treat social themes in a bitter, satirical vein. They are executed with diffused, prismatic textural effects. The persons he portrays are the essence of corruption, withered, distorted, yet glittering. Among his most celebrated paintings are Gangster Funeral (Whitney Mus., New York City), The Feast of Pure Reason and Election Night (both: Mus. of Modern Art, New York City), Welcome Home (Brooklyn Mus.), and The Trial (Art Inst., Chicago).