Richard Merkin

Richard Merkin’s lively and colorful illustrations have been featured in the New Yorker, Harper’s, and the New York Times Sunday Magazine since the late 1980s. This jovial double portrait honors a life-long friendship between Merkin and the painter and sculptor Italo Scanga (American, born Italy, 1932-2001), who met in

1960 while students at Michigan State University and taught together at RISD from 1964 to 1965. The piece was also shown in the RISD Faculty Biennial in 2001.