American, 20th–21st century, male.
Born 12 May 1934, in Omaha (Nebraska).
Painter, sculptor, muralist. Figures, abstract, animals, numerology, mysticism.
Figurative Expressionism.
Rhino Horn Group.
Jay Milder was the third of four children born to Leo and Jeannette Milder. His family came to the United States from Bratslav, Ukraine in 1851. They are descendants of the Baal Shem Tov, the patriarch of Hasidic Judaism, and the Hasidic mystic Rebbe Nachman of Bratslav.
At 17 years old, Milder graduated from high school and moved to New York City where he supported himself by working in the garment district. He went to Paris in 1954 to study art at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière and the Sorbonne. He studied cubist painting with Andre L’Hote and sculpture with Ossip Zadkine. From Paris, Milder travelled to Morocco and stayed in the Arab section of Tétouan. Milder had a profound experience inside Tétouan’s spiritual district, which led him to a greater aesthetic awareness and influenced his artistic development, most notably his vibrant palette and organic use of materials and forms. Around this time, Milder delved into theosophy and Eastern philosophy and examined his hereditary roots in mysticism....