Portraiture Explored in ‘Casting Call’ at The Drawing Room

The Drawing Room in East Hampton will present “Casting Call,” a two‑person exhibition of portraiture by Mark Heming and Jack Ceglic, on view from October 4 through November 9. Both artists were born in New York City and have longstanding ties to the East End

Mark Heming (1907–1999) was born on Manhattan’s Upper East Side to Morris Heimerdinger and Sarah Liebman, whose family owned the Brooklyn Liebmann Breweries. Heming began painting as a young adult without formal training, driven by an interest in the human face and human condition. His studio practice centered on composite portraits drawn from impressions of people encountered in New York City and Europe. Though he was reluctant to exhibit publicly during his lifetime, he moved to Sag Harbor in the 1950s and continued producing new bodies of work until his death at age 92.

Jack Ceglic was raised in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood, where his mother ran a butter and egg store. After high school, he studied art and illustration at Parsons, which led to work designing window displays for department stores. He began exhibiting in the 1960s and is held in esteem for portraits spanning six decades. Ceglic, who has a home and studio in East Hampton, also co-founded Dean & DeLuca with Joel Dean and Giorgio DeLuca, and for many years maintained a studio near the SoHo store, where he invited subjects to sit for him. His portraits include friends, family, employees, downtown acquaintances and artists.

While separated by generation and career path, Heming and Ceglic both engaged deeply with portraiture as a means of exploring psychological nuance and presence. “Casting Call” brings their works into dialogue, highlighting their shared sensitivity to human expression across time, technique and perspective.

The Drawing Room is at 55 Main Street in East Hampton. For more information, visit drawingroom-gallery.com.