Sidney Goodman was born in 1936 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He achieved national recognition shortly after earning a degree in illustration at the Philadelphia College of Art in 1958. Since 1960 he has supported himself by teaching, first at the Philadelphia College of Art and beginning in 1979, at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.

Goodman played an important role for artists seeking humanist and/or realist alternatives to the ideals and imperatives of 20th century abstraction. The history of his art can be divided into three periods: 1) an expressionistic painter of humanist angst, 2) then a turn-back toward realism and 3) finally, a shift toward allegory and expressionism.

Written and submitted September 2004 by Je...