Golfinopoulos was born in New York City on August 3, 1928. He served for three years in the U.S. Air Force.
Art Students League of New York, 1950–1951. Studied with
Edwin Dickinson and
George Grosz.
Columbia University, BFA (1956) and MFA (1958). Golfinopoulos’s main interests were philosophy and art history. He pursued graduate work in philosophy with
Robert Denoon Cumming and
Albert Hofstadter and studied extensively with art historian
Meyer Schapiro. After leaving Columbia, Golfinopoulos remained in contact with Schapiro, and their conversations were influential to his development. After earning his MFA, in 1958, Golfinopoulos had his first one-man show at Collette Roberts’ Grand Central Moderns Gallery, and began teaching part-time at Columbia’s School of Fine Arts. Offered tenure in 1968, feeling that the increase in hours and responsibility would interfere with painting, he decided to leave. Later, he accepted an offer from
Stuart Klonis, then head of the Art Students League, to teach one afternoon per week. He maintained this commitment, seeing it as an ethical imperative. In 1963, Golfinopoulos met Charles Egan of the
Charles Egan Gallery, who became his dealer and his friend. In Egan he found someone whose connection to history, and whose understanding and respect for art, made him an ideal guide for a young artist. Through Egan he met art historian H. H. Arnason and art critic Harris Rosenstein, whose aesthetic convictions and ongoing conversations provided additional grounding and moral support. His friendship with Egan continued after the gallery closed in 1972. Golfinopoulos was married to Anna Urban, a noted yoga instructor. He died on February 2, 2024, at the age of 95. == Work ==