Irving Amen is known as one of the most important printmakers in the United States. His deep love for mankind and hopeful attitude towards life emanates powerfully from his work. His universal appeal has brought him the broadest audience.

Born in New York City in 1918, he began drawing at the age of four. A scholarship to the Pratt Institute was awarded to him when he was fourteen years old. With Michelangelo as his idol, he spent seven years in life classes perfecting his drawing.

From 1942 to 1945 he served with the Armed Forces. He headed a mural project and executed murals in the United States and Belgium.

His first exhibition in woodcut was held at the New School for Social Research and his second at the Smithsonian Institute in 1949.

Amen studied in Paris in 1950. Upon his return to the United States, he had one man shows in New York and Washington DC.

In 1953, Amen traveled throughout Italy. This resulted in a series of eleven woodcuts, eight etchings and a number of oil paintings. One of these woodcuts, “Piazza San Marco #4” and its four woodblocks constitute a permanent exhibit of block printing in color at the Smithsonian Institution.

Travel in Israel, Greece and Turkey in 1960 led to a retrospective show in Jerusalem. His art is widely owned and loved. Irving Amen has taught at Pratt Institute and at the University of Notre Dame.

Commissions include a Peach Medal in honor of the Vietnam War and 12 stained glass windows for the Agudas Achim Synagogue in Ohio.

He is listed in Mantle Fielding Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors and Engravers and the Dictionary of Contemporary American Artists by Paul Cummings.

Some of the museums that represent his art are:
Albertina Museum – Vienna
Baltimore Museum of Art – Maryland
Bezalel National Museum – Jerusalem
Corcoran Gallery of Art – Washington, DC
Fogg Art Museum – Massachusetts
Jewish Museum – New York
Metropolitan Museum of Art – New York
Boston Museum of Fine Arts – Massachusetts
Museum of Modern Art – New York
Philadelphia Museum of Art – Pennsylvania
Smithsonian Institution – Washington, DC
Statische Museum – Germany
Victoria and Albert Museum – England