Joseph M. Amarotico

Joseph Amarotico painted in oil and acrylic on canvas and gouache on paper, using a surrealistic style to build architectural fantasies and "dream castles" from basic everyday shapes. The overall effect he achieved is similar to the play of light and color found in stained glass windows. His work as a painter was overshadowed by his reputation as a conservator, restoring paintings for the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Specializing in 19th Century American paintings (a very different style from his own work), he refurbished paintings, found dates and names for paintings of unknown origin and appraised paintings for their quality. In 1976, he restored two major paintings by Benjamin West entitled Death on a Pale Horse and Christ Rejected, both at the Academy. In 1978, he was asked to restore four historical paintings by John Trumbull in the Rotunda of the United States Capitol. He also restored paintings by Edward Hicks, Thomas Hicks, Martin J. Heade, and Charles Wilson Peale for the Bucks County Historical Society, as well as for The Academy of Natural Sciences, Pennsylvania Hospital, The Barnes Foundation, Independence National Historic Park, the Free Library of Philadelphia, and numerous others.

Education and Training
American Art School, New York, New York, 1953
B.A., Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1954-1959
Independent study in Europe for three months in 1954 and in 1958
Assistant to conservator at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1953-1968

Teachers and Influences
Raphael Soyer at the American Art School
Theodor Siegl, senior conservator at the Academy, who trained Amarotico until 1968, when Amarotico replaced him as senior conservator

Connection to Bucks County
Joseph Amarotico lived in Plumsteadville from 1971 until 1981. The Amaroticos moved to the country to "get back to nature," raising animals and growing their own food.

Colleagues and Affiliations
Sculptor Karl Karhumaa was a close friend.

Major Solo Exhibitions
Socrates Perakis Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1962-1964, 1966
Mickelson Gallery, Washington, D.C., 1965, 1967, 1970, 1975, 1980
Peale House Galleries, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1970
Pearl Fox Galleries, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1970
Tribute to Joseph Amarotico, Noel Butcher Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1986

Major Group Exhibitions
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Annual Exhibitions, 1964, 1966, 1968, 1969; Fellowship Exhibition 1956-1970
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Biennial Exhibition, 1963
National Traveling Exhibition, American Federation for the Arts, 1964
Mary Washington College (University of Virginia), Fredericksburg, Virginia, 1965
United States Department of State Art for Embassies, Kingston, Jamaica, 1967
Cheltenham Art Center, Cheltenham, Pennsylvania, 1968
Annual Exhibition, Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio, 1969, 1970
Two-person show at Rutgers University Art Gallery, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 1971
Woodmere Art Gallery, Philadelphia, 1974
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Faculty Exhibitions, 1979
Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, 1985

Major Collections
Large Obelisk and Metaphysician Betrayed, Penn Federal Savings and Loan Association, 1969

Teaching and Professional Appointments
Instructor of Painting, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1963-1985
Instructor of Painting Materials and Techniques, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1976-1985
Assistant Conservator, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1953-1968
Senior Conservator, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1968-1985
Technical Advisor, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1976-1985
Lecturer, Bucks County Historical Society, Mercer Museum Fall Series, 1981

Major Awards
Cresson Memorial Traveling Scholarship, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1958
Thouron Faculty Prize, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1959
Caroline Gibbons Granger Memorial Award, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1965
Prize in Painting, Cheltenham Art Center, 1968
Prize, Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, 1985
Prize, Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, 1959 Prize, Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, 1959

Affiliations and Memberships
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts