Exhibits/Events

SCH Screening of Color – Light – Spirit: Studio Sam Feinstein

Film Screening and Panel on Thursday, May 14, 2026 7:00-8:30 PM, at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy in McCausland Lower School – Doran Hall.

Please join us for a special screening of Color – Light – Spirit: Studio Sam Feinstein, a 40-minute documentary celebrating the life, teaching, and artistic vision of Sam Feinstein. The evening will include a post-screening panel conversation with Pat Feinstein, Binney Meigs ’72, Terry Clattenburg ’59, Pia Druggan, and Megan Monoghan, reflecting on Feinstein’s work on loan to the SCH Permanent Art Collection—including Rising, Immigrants, Rip Van Winkle, and Starry Night—and his lasting influence on generations of artists.

In 1938, Sam Feinstein became Head of the Art Department at Chestnut Hill Academy, the boys’ school that later became part of Springside Chestnut Hill Academy. His philosophy and pedagogy, much of which was shared and carried forward by Chestnut Hill Academy art teacher Barbara Crawford, shaped countless students and helped define the artistic spirit of the school. Their shared belief in art as a vehicle for perception, presence, and transformation continues to resonate throughout our community.

Through vibrant paintings, archival audio, video, and film footage, the documentary brings to life Feinstein’s dynamic approach to art and creativity. Alumni voices offer personal insights into his teaching, which invited artists to see—and paint—in transformative ways. As Feinstein famously said, “We don’t paint flowers; we paint flowering.”

Samuel L. Feinstein (1915–2003) was a painter, teacher, and filmmaker whose work and pedagogy were rooted in a deeply spiritual approach to artmaking. Born in Russia and raised in Philadelphia, he exhibited widely at a young age before devoting his life to teaching and creative exploration. Over a seventy-year career, his work evolved from realism through modernist movements to his own radiant form of Luminist Abstraction, driven by an extraordinary exploration of color.

A revered educator, Feinstein taught at institutions including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pratt Institute, and Chestnut Hill Academy, and led influential private workshops for more than five decades. He also created significant art documentaries, including a landmark film on his teacher Hans Hofmann. His legacy continues to inspire artists to see, feel, and create with depth, integrity, and light.

Color – Light – Spirit: Studio Sam Feinstein

A 40-minute documentary film about the provocative and inspirational art and teaching of Sam Feinstein. Premier Screening plus Q&A with filmmaker and participants on Saturday, June 22nd at 2 pm. Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dennis, Massachusetts. Also available online on the film page here.

“Starry Night” Cat. #162 45″ x 86″ Acrylic on canvas 1980s

“Creativity is spirituality looking for a form.  It is a quest of the human spirit to find a way of flowing with the universal pulse that runs through all things.” – Sam in the documentary Color – Light – Spirit: Studio Sam Feinstein.

Group ’55 and Midcentury Abstraction in Philadelphia

Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA
September 26th, 2020 – May 9th, 2021

Untitled  47.5″ x 34″  Oil on canvas  1958

In the fall of 2020 Woodmere Art Museum will present an exhibition featuring the artists associated with Group ’55 and mid-century abstract painting in Philadelphia.  A concurrent installation will feature the later, large scale, immersive paintings of Sam Feinstein, a founder and President of the group.

In 1955, Philadelphia painters, architects, musicians, and dancers organized a series of exhibitions and public forums across the city, presenting their work as a catalyst for vigorous public dialogue about the role of art and science in the postwar era.  Group ’55, as they came to be known, included architect Louis Kahn, composer George Rochberg, and artists Quita Brodhead, Michael Ciliberti, Sam Feinstein, Sam Fried, Sanford Greenberg, Raymond Hendler, Jane Piper, and Doris Staffel.  

Group ’55 and Midcentury Modernism in Philadelphia will include professionally recorded sessions and historical materials never before made public. Patricia Stark Feinstein, who has overseen the important archive of the group’s work, is organizing the exhibition in collaboration with the Museum.  Barbara Wolanin, a distinguished art historian whose specialization is American modernism, will contribute the main essay for the accompanying catalogue.

Sam Feinstein: Immersive Abstraction

Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA
July 25, 2020 – April 11, 2021

Untitled late 1950s 82″ x 72″ Oil on canvas

This solo exhibition reveals to Philadelphia the richness and magnificence of Sam Feinstein’s monumental canvases painted over decades prior to his death in 2003.  Widely known in Philadelphia as an award-winning exhibitor during the 1930s-50s, Feinstein withdrew from the exhibition world after 1960 but continued to paint.  His private art classes in New York, Princeton, Toronto, on Cape Cod and in his Chancellor Street studio in Philadelphia inspired a multitude of other artists.

Sam Feinstein: The Early Years

Springside Chestnut Hill Academy in Philadelphia, PA
September 26th, 2020 – March 15th, 2021

1947, “Harbor,” Casein and pastel on paper 18″ x 24″

Painter, illustrator, filmmaker and writer, Sam Feinstein taught at Chestnut Hill Academy from 1938-42. This exhibit will feature his watercolors, oil paintings, illustrations, from the 1930-mid 1950s showing his journey towards abstract expressionism including his Hans Hofmann movie, and his work on the film ‘One World or None’. This exhibit is in conjunction with shows at the Woodmere Art Museum. Weekend art classes and opportunities to view both exhibits will be available. This exhibit is made possible through the Samuel L. Feinstein Trust.