Collection: Mortimer Borne

1902-1987

Mortimer Borne was a Polish-born, American printmaker, painter, sculptor and teacher. His family immigrated to the United States in 1916 to escape World War I, where he took up study at the National Academy of Design, the Art Students League of New York and the Beaux-Art Institute of Design. He also studied with Charles Webster Hawthorne, founder of the Cape Cod School of Art in Provincetown.

Borne picked up printmaking in the 1920s and by 1930 his work was being sold by the esteemed Frederick Keppel & Co in New York City. Apart from drypoints, Borne was also a passionate sculptor and created works from wood he either collected or had donated from around the globe. He taught at the New School for Social Research for nearly twenty years.

Shortly after Borne passed away, his wife, Ray, entered the Fellowship Community, an intergenerational community centered on the care of the elderly. The entire estate was turned over to them following her death. The Old Print Shop has represented the estate, through the Fellowship Community, since the 1990s, with proceeds from each sale supporting the very community Mrs. Borne had held dear in the last years of her life.