Morton Lichter was born in Haverstraw, New York. He studied with Raphael Soyer and Anthony Toney, and received a John Bernard Myers scholarship to study painting at the New School in New York. He also studied acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse with Sanford Meisner and dance with Martha Graham. He divides his time between painting and theatre. From 1964 to 1980, he concentrated on playwriting and teaching theatre. His positions included:
- Resident Playwright at the State University of New York at Buffalo (1972-1975)
- Associate Professor at Brooklyn College (1975-1979)
- Adjunct Professor of Theatre at the Cooper Union in New York (1983-1994)
Between 1995 and 1999, he was co-director of Exiles, a training school for early career professionals based in Cork, Ireland. Morton also worked for two summers at the University of Coleraine in Northern Ireland. His plays have been staged at the Berkshire Theater Festival in Stockbridge, MA, as well as at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Williamstown, MA. An early play, Cafeteria Style, was published in Yale/Theatre, 1967.
He was the recipient in 1976 of an OBIE award for his play Old Timers' Sexual Symphony (and other notes), also performed in Buffalo and as part of the bicentennial celebration of American theare held in Florence, Italy that summer. His play, Given: No Bread, An Encounter and Dinner for Fifteen, was performed in three Italian cities during 1974. In 1980, he received a grant for Creative Writing from the National Endowment of the Arts.
His paintings are in private collections in France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, England, Ireland, the US, and Argentina.
Exhibitions:
Arguments Against Life in Slow Motion, Art 101, Brooklyn, NY (Solo) 2016
Pike-Modern Gallery, Milford, PA (Group) 2007
ART EXPO, Balleydehob, Ireland (Group) 2002 and 2003
Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie, Strasbourg, France (Solo) 1998
West Cork Arts Centre, Skibbereen, Ireland (Solo Retrospective) 1992
Helen Drutt Gallery, New York, NY (Group) 1991
Honey Sharp Gallery, Lenox, MA (Group) 1985
Judith Selkowitz Fine Arts, New York, NY (Group) 1983 and 1985
Weyhe Gallery, New York, NY (Solo) 1984
Galerie Ditesheim, Neuchatel, Switzerland (Solo) 1983
Loeb Galerie, Bern, Switzerland (Solo) 1982
Self Portraits from Hockney to Rembrandt, Galerie Ditesheim, Neuchatel, Switzerland (Group) 1982
"Morton Lichter's recent work... makes clear that he is a painter unreservedly anchored in the modernist tradition, but at the same time it is clear that he does not fit conveniently into any current descriptive category or 'school'." -R. H. Becker
"I like Morton Lichter's work... The work reflects integrity. He lives through his canvas... As a purist among painters, he can be classified as an endangered species. Artists of his intensity are increasingly rare to find." -Tomi Ungerer
"[Morton Lichter] has moved from strength to strength, and in my opinion as someone with a long involvement in visual arts... he is now doing his strongest work ever." -Stanley Abercrombie