Tag Archives: Mark Paskewitz

Art, Mark Paskewitz

A Brief Introduction to the Dutch Golden Age of Painting

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Rembrandt pic
Rembrandt
Image: biography.com

Best known for developing revolutionary drugs at innovative companies like Kyowa Kirin Pharma, Mark Paskewitz now heads the National Institute of Clinical Research as vice president. He complements his passion for drug research and development with a love of the arts. An avid reader, Mark Paskewitz has refined his interests in a range of artistic movements by reading art history.

In the seventeenth century, an elite group of painters known as the Dutch Masters ushered in the “Golden Age” of Dutch painting. Among the most famous of the Dutch Masters are Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn—more commonly referred to as Rembrandt—and Pieter de Hooch.

The Dutch Golden Age was defined by experimental works and fierce debates over what art should be. Some artists and critics suggested it should be an ode to nature, while others sought to celebrate the heights of humanity as found in classical antiquity. Some scholars and curators have posited that this era in art history determined the future of painting through a battle between idealists and realists.

Art, Mark Paskewitz

Henri Matisse’s Connection with Traditional Yup’ik Masks of Alaska

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Henri Matisse pic
Henri Matisse
Image: biography.com

Mark Paskewitz is a Southern California pharmaceutical development professional with experience managing a variety of successful clinical trials. Passionate about art history, Mark Paskewitz particularly enjoys the works of French Impressionists and those who followed, including Henri Matisse.

A Heard Museum exhibit in Phoenix, titled Yua: Henri Matisse and the Inner Arctic Spirit, draws attention to an aspect of the French modernist that few are aware of. The route to these late works involved Matisse’s exile to Nice and the French Riviera in 1940, following the Nazi invasion of France.

With his daughter staying in Paris and risking her life as part of the Resistance, Matisse was fighting his own personal struggle against cancer. Undergoing surgery in his 70s and just barely surviving, Matisse came to see all that followed as “extra time.” He embarked on new forms of art with new enthusiasm, including cutouts and masks, which he copied from the Inuit masks his son-in-law collected.

Fascinated by masks from his early years, Matisse drew dozens of Yup’ik masks from Alaska, which had shamanistic dancing and ceremonial uses. Combining naturalistic, sculptural qualities and spiritual meanings, the masks attracted Matisse for their complex, highly symbolic aesthetic. The Heard Museum exhibition pairs Matisse’s drawings with actual Yup’ik masks crafted from natural elements such as feathers, wood, hide, and baleen.

Mark Paskewitz, Medical

New Kyowa Kirin Drug Effective against X-Linked Hypophosphatemia

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Serving as National Institute of Clinical Research, Inc. vice president of clinical operations, Mark Paskewitz organizes a variety of clinical studies at affiliated sites in areas ranging from oncology to cardiology. Among Mark Paskewitz’ accomplishments has been his work in the development of a new Kyowa Hakko Kirin drug for X-Linked Hypophosphatemia (XLH), which received European Commission marketing authorization in early 2018.

A rare chronic and progressive musculoskeletal condition, XLH involves renal phosphate wasting and is related to too much of the hormone fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) . Conventional treatments center on taking active vitamin D and phosphate on a daily basis. While this addresses FGF23 and its effects, it does not help resolve underlying issues that can cause children to develop a skeletal disease that results in decreased height and lower-extremity deformities.

The first FDA and EU-approved medication that addresses XLH’s underlying causes, Crysvita has been recognized for its outstanding contribution to public health by the European Medicines Agency. Crysvita works against FGF23 production as a fully human recombinant monoclonal IgG1 antibody, and has also been developed as a treatment for tumour-induced osteomalacia, which involves elevated FGF23 levels.

Art, Mark Paskewitz

The Early Evolution of El Greco’s Style

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Domenikos Theotokopoulos pic
Domenikos Theotokopoulos
Image: biography.com

The recipient of an MD from Drexel University and an MBA from the University of California, Irvine, Dr. Mark Paskewitz balances a busy career as a clinical operations executive with the pursuit of cultural interests. During his free time, Dr. Mark Paskewitz enjoys listening to classical music, visiting museums, and reading about art. He counts El Greco among his favorite artists.

Born as Domenikos Theotokopoulos in 1541 on the island of Crete, El Greco studied to be an icon painter as a youth. Immersed in Byzantine art as a student, he began working as an icon painter and then moved to Venice to join Titian’s studio, where he absorbed the new ideas of Renaissance artists.

However, it wasn’t until El Greco moved to Rome in 1570 that he began developing the style he is known for today. The shift occurred when he encountered the work of the Mannerists, a school of artists who believed that a work of art drew more value from its meaning and philosophy than from its imitation of nature.

El Greco melded his Byzantine and Renaissance training with these Mannerist ideas to develop a revolutionary style that included elongated figures, dramatic highlights, and unusual color choices. His style has proved influential over the centuries, prefiguring major movements such as Expressionism and Cubism.