Albert Kotin served in the US Army military service during World War II (1941-1945).
After the war Albert Kotin found a studio on 10th Street. He soon joined the "Downtown Group"[3] which represented a group of artists who found studios in lower Manhattan in the area bounded by 8th and 12th street between First and Sixth Avenues during the late 1940s and early 1950s. These artists were called the "Downtown Group" as opposed to the "Uptown Group" established during the war at The Art of This Century Gallery. In 1949 Albert Kotin joined the "Artists' Club"[4] located at 39 East 8th Street. Albert Kotin was chosen by his fellow artists to show in the Ninth Street Show held on May 21-June 10, 1951[5]. The show was located at 60 East 9th Street on the first floor and the basement of a building which was about to be demolished. "The artists celebrated not only the appearance of the dealers, collectors and museum people on the 9th Street, and the consequent exposure of their work but they celebrated the creation and the strength of a living community of significant dimensions." [6]
Albert Kotin was among the 24 out of a total 256 New York School artists included in the Ninth Street Show and in all the following New York Painting and Sculpture Annuals from 1953 to 1957.[7] These Annuals were important because the participants were chosen by the artists themselves.
1968: "Ten Year Retrospective of Albert Kotin's Work," Long Island University; Brooklyn, NY; "Kotin and Carton," Art Faculty two man show, Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY;
1982: "Albert Kotin, 1907-1980," Memorial Exhibition, Barron Arts Center, Woodbridge, NJ.
Selected Group Exhibitions
1935: "Exhibition of Oil Paintings," WPA Federal Art Project, Federal Art Gallery, New York City, NY;
1936: An American Group, Inc., New York City, NY;
1946: "First National Print Competition Exhibit," Associated American Artists, New York City, NY;
1994: "Reclaiming Artists of the New York School. Toward a More Inclusive View of the 1950s," Baruch CollegeCity University, New York City, NY; "New York-Provincetown: A 50s Connection," Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown, MA;
2004: "Reuniting an Era Abstract Expressionists of the 1950s.," Rockford Art Museum, Rockford, IL.