Adele Brandeis (1885–1975) was an American art administrator from

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

Work

In 1911, Brandeis presented a paper on "The Development of Art in Cincinnati" to the Women's Club of Louisville, where she highlighted the crucial role women had played in promoting art in Cincinnati. She encouraged her listeners to work toward the establishment of an art museum and art school in Louisville, which would then lead to greater development of the arts in Louisville. During the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

of the 1930s, Brandeis worked for the

WPA WPA may refer to: Computing *Wi-Fi Protected Access, a wireless encryption standard *Windows Product Activation, in Microsoft software licensing * Wireless Public Alerting (Alert Ready), emergency alerts over LTE in Canada * Windows Performance An ...

Federal Art Project The Federal Art Project (1935–1943) was a New Deal program to fund the visual arts in the United States. Under national director Holger Cahill, it was one of five Federal Project Number One projects sponsored by the Works Progress Administrati ...

and the

Section of Painting and Sculpture The Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture was a New Deal art project established on October 16, 1934, and administered by the Procurement Division of the United States Department of the Treasury. Commonly known as the Section, it was rena ...

. Brandeis did art research for the

Index of American Design The Index of American Design program of the Federal Art Project produced a pictorial survey of the crafts and decorative arts of the United States from the early colonial period to 1900. Artists working for the Index produced a collection of 18, ...

, a comprehensive collection of American material culture, and managed the creation of visual artwork by local artists. Brandeis focused on ensuring that Shaker art in

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

was recorded in the Index of American Design. She knew that the Shaker community near

Harrodsburg Harrodsburg is a home rule-class city in Mercer County, Kentucky, United States. It is the seat of its county. The population was 9,064 at the 2020 census. Although Harrodsburg was formally established by the House of Burgesses after Boonesbo ...

was closed, and that furniture and other items were being auctioned off. In order to keep a record of the Shaker's furniture, weaving, clothing, and other work, Brandeis arranged for four artists to lodge in Harrodsburg and document the surviving Shaker arts for the Index. The materials in the Index informed the later reconstruction of

Shakertown Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, USA, is the site of a Shaker religious community that was active from 1805 to 1910. Following a preservationist effort that began in 1961, the site, now a National Historic Landmark, has become a popular tourist destinat ...

. Brandeis lectured on art at the University of Louisville in the 1930s, for the Art Association in Louisville, and became a member of the first Arts Center Association Board in Louisville in 1942. She wrote for the ''

Louisville Courier-Journal The ''Courier Journal'', also known as the ''Louisville Courier Journal'' (and informally ''The C-J'' or ''The Courier''), and called ''The Courier-Journal'' between November 8, 1868, and October 29, 2017, is the highest circulation newspape ...

'' starting in 1945. Among other jobs, she did research for the editorial page. She was the first woman to be nominated to the board of trustees of the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of ...

in 1949 and served various Kentucky art organizations.

Life

Brandeis was the daughter of Alfred Brandeis, who was the brother of

United States Supreme Court Justice The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point of ...

Louis D. Brandeis, and Jennie Taussig. She died at Mount Holly Nursing Home on June 1, 1975 at 89 years old.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brandeis, Adele 1885 births 1975 deaths American art historians Writers from Louisville, Kentucky University of Louisville people Jewish American historians Section of Painting and Sculpture artists American women historians 20th-century American historians Women art historians Federal Art Project artists 20th-century American women writers Courier Journal people Kentucky women writers Kentucky women artists