Draft:Raymond S. Elman

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Raymond Elman (born June 20, 1945) is an American artist, publisher, editor, and writer.  Until 1989, he made only abstract art, which was exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide, and which was included in the U.S. Art in Embassies program , founded by Jane Thompson , widow of ambassador Llewellyn Thompson.  Since 1989, Elman has focused on creating large-scale (i.e. 60 x 40 inches) mixed-media portraits, primarily of people in the arts .  Four of his portraits are in the collection of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery and have been exhibited there.  Elman maintained a home in the Provincetown area on the northern tip of Cape Cod from 1970 to 2012, before moving to Miami year-round in 2012 .  In 1985, he co-founded Provincetown Arts magazine with Christopher Busa.  As of 2025, the magazine is still being published.  In 2014, he founded the Inspicio arts digital publication platform, which changed its name to ArtSpeak in May 2023.  ArtSpeak is sponsored by the Lee Caplin School of Journalism & Media in The College of Communication, Architecture + The Arts at Florida International University in Miami.

Early life and education

Elman was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he graduated from Woodward High School before attending University of Pennsylvania.  His father, Isadore Charles Elman (1894-1976) aka I.C. Elman, was born in Rovno, Ukraine where he experienced pogroms against Jews, the Russian Revolution, and World War I.  He emigrated to the United States in 1921, but his entire immediate family perished in the Holocaust.  As a new immigrant, who could not speak English, I.C. Elman’s first job was sweeping floors in a “variety store” in Norton, Virginia.  He eventually owned the store.  He then joined family in Cincinnati, where he founded the I.C. Elman Co., a wholesale toy distribution company, which became one of the largest such companies in the nation, its primary customer being Federated Department Stores.  Elman’s mother, Ethel Evans Elman (1908-1978), was born in San Antonio, Texas and grew up in Louisville, Kentucky.  

Raymond Elman earned two degrees, a BS (1967) and an MBA (1968) from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.  While attending UPenn, Elman took all of the studio art courses he could schedule.  After graduating from Penn, Elman moved to Greenwich Village in New York City, where he took studio art courses at New York University (NYU) and met his mentor Knox Martin (1923-2022).  Martin motivated Elman to “give up his day job” and move to the Provincetown art colony.

Career

Artistic work

Elman's artistic career began in the 1970s when he became part of the Outer Cape Cod art colony, documenting life in Provincetown, Truro, and Wellfleet. His early work from 1970 to 1989 was primarily abstract in nature.  

Since the 1990s, Elman has focused on portraiture, creating what he calls the "Provincetown Art Colony Project." He has made over 200 paintings in this portrait series, documenting personalities and figures from the Cape Cod arts community. Four of his portraits are held in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery.

After relocating to Miami, Elman has continued his portrait work, creating large-scale, mixed-media portraits of members of the Miami arts community.

Publishing career

Elman's first publishing venture was in 1985 when he co-founded Provincetown Arts magazine. Later, Elman went on to became the founding editor-in-chief of Inspicio Arts (now known as ArtSpeak), a publication platform sponsored by Florida International University. According to a 2024 interview with VoyageMIA, he has founded or co-founded three arts publications throughout his career: “Provincetown Arts” (1985), which is still being published today; “Cincinnati Arts” (1988); and “ArtSpeak” (nee “Inspicio”).

Exhibitions

Elman's work has been exhibited in museums and galleries nationwide. Notable exhibitions include:

• "Ray Elman and Norma Holt: The Outer Cape Art Colony in Portrait" (2016) - Provincetown Art Association and Museum, curated by Ethan Cohen and Jane Paradise
• "Raymond Elman: The Portraits" (October 2023 - March 2024) - Jewish Museum of Florida, FIU
• Various exhibitions at Ethan Cohen Gallery

Collections

Elman's work is held in several major public and corporate collections:

• Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery (4 portraits)
• Museum of African American History
• Decordova Museum
• Cincinnati Art Museum
• Seven U.S. foreign embassies: Madrid, Berlin, New Dehli, Brazilia, Tel Aviv, Brussels, Lisbon

Awards

• 2018:  Received first annual Ellies Award from OoliteArts (formerly the ArtCenter / South Florida)

Personal life

Ray Elman is married to videographer Lee Elman (nee Vilinsky) since 1985 . Lee (also known as Lee Skye) served as president of Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill for four years in Truro, MA .  They have a son, Evan , who graduated from University of British Columbia. Their granddaughter, Chloé Renée Elman, was born in August 2018.