Jerry Kaplan and Paul Keene were both born in Philadelphia in 1920.  Jerry grew up in Ardmore, the son of a Lithuanian Jewish American tailor.  Paul grew up in North Philadelphia, the son of a Black funeral director.  They both entered the Philadelphia Museum School of Art (now University of the Arts) in 1939.  Their studies were interrupted by World War II. Paul enlisted in the Air Force in 1941, and became a bombardier with the Tuskegee Airmen. Jerry enlisted in the Army in 1942 and served as a medic in North Africa.  When they came home, Paul went to Tyler School of Art, Temple University and Jerry returned to the Philadelphia Museum School.  After graduation in 1947 Jerry started teaching printmaking at PMSA.  And after Paul’s graduation, study at Academie Julian, and two John Hay Whitney Opportunity fellowships at Le Centre d’Arte in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, he began teaching at what had by then become Philadelphia College of Art in 1954.  Their paths had crossed, they had known each other as freshmen in art school, but became close friends as faculty at PCA.  Both men enjoyed long careers as distinguished educators in addition to the international recognition of their achievements as artists. They each exhibited widely. Jerry was invited to work with master printers in lithography at Tamarind Institute in 1962 and used his 1961 Guggenheim Fellowship award to work at Atelier Lacouriere in Paris in 1963.
Both Jerry and Paul were quiet men with a subtle and mischievous sense of humor.  Both men enjoyed long marriages with loving wives and each produced 2 adoring children. They both loved jazz and spent hours together listening to records, talking about Count Basie, Ben Webster, Miles Davis.  We don’t know that they talked much about art – they both were of the opinion that you made art, you didn’t talk about it – but they respected each other as artists.  They were good and dependable friends for the rest of their lives.

It is our honor and pleasure to celebrate these distinguished artists in their 100th year.