Elizabeth Murray (September 6, 1940 – August 12, 2007)Smith, Roberta

''

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'', 13 August 2007. Retrieved 16 April 2008. was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...

printmaker Printmaking is the process of creating work of art, artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand proce ...

and draughtsman. Her works are in many major public collections, including those of the

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue on the corner of East 89th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It is the permanent home of a continuously exp ...

, the

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall, in Washington, D.C., the United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was desig ...

, the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of t ...

, the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–194 ...

, the

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art, and was ...

,Elizabeth Murray - American Abstract Painter, 1940-2007
artcyclopedia.com the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

, the

Carnegie Museum of Art The Carnegie Museum of Art, is an art museum in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Originally known as the Department of Fine Arts, Carnegie Institute and was at what is now the Main Branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsbu ...

, and the

Wadsworth Atheneum The Wadsworth Atheneum is an art museum in Hartford, Connecticut. The Wadsworth is noted for its collections of European Baroque art, ancient Egyptian and Classical bronzes, French and American Impressionist paintings, Hudson River School lands ...

. Murray was known for her use of shaped canvases. __TOC__

Early life

Elizabeth Murray was born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...

, United States to Irish-Catholic parents. Her father was a lawyer and her mother aspired to be a commercial artist. She encouraged her daughter to paint and with the help of her high school art teacher Murray entered the

School of the Art Institute of Chicago The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which grew into the museum and ...

in 1958 and graduated with a BFA in 1962. She earned her

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts ...

degree from

Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University is a private college in Oakland, California and part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it w ...

in 1964.mills.edu Notable Graduates
Mills College, Mills.edu As a student, she was influenced by painters ranging from Cézanne to

Robert Rauschenberg Milton Ernest "Robert" Rauschenberg (October 22, 1925 – May 12, 2008) was an American painter and graphic artist whose early works anticipated the Pop art movement. Rauschenberg is well known for his Combines (1954–1964), a group of artwor ...

and

Jasper Johns Jasper Johns (born May 15, 1930) is an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker whose work is associated with abstract expressionism, Neo-Dada, and pop art. He is well known for his depictions of the American flag and other US-related top ...

.Grove Dictionary of Art, Macmillan Publishers, 1996,

Career

She taught art at

Daemen College Daemen University is a private university in Amherst, New York and Brooklyn, New York. Formerly Daemen College and Rosary Hill College, the now-nondenominational school was founded by the Sisters of St. Francis in 1947. As of fall 2020, 2,536 s ...

from 1965 to 1967. In 1967, Murray moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. She first exhibited in 1971 in the

Annual Exhibition. One of her first mature works included "''Children Meeting,''" 1978 (now in the permanent collection of the Whitney Museum), an oil on canvas painting evoking human characteristics, personalities, or pure feeling through an interaction of non-figurative shapes, colour and lines. She is particularly noted for her shaped canvas paintings.Kimmelman, Michael (October 21, 2005
''New York Times'' "ART REVIEW; Stirring Up a Commotion on Canvas" October 21, 2005
/ref>

Awards and honors

She was elected a Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

in 1998. In 1999, Murray was awarded a

MacArthur Fellowship The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 indi ...

. This grant led directly to opening of the Bowery Poetry Club, a Lower East Side performance arts venue run by her husband, Bob Holman.Aptowicz, Cristin O'Keefe. (2008). ''Words in Your Face: A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam.'' "CHAPTER 26: What the Heck Is Going On Here; The Bowery Poetry Club Opens (Kinda) for Business." Soft Skull Press. . In 2006, her 40-year career was honored at New York City's

(MoMA).Exhibition: Elizabeth Murray, October 23, 2005–January 6, 2006
MoMA The retrospective was widely praised, with ''

'' noting that by the end of the exhibition, "You're left with the sense of an artist in the flush of her authority and still digging deep." , Murray was only one of five female artists to have had a retrospective at the MoMA—the other four are Louise Bourgeois (in 1982), Lee Krasner (in 1984),

Helen Frankenthaler Helen Frankenthaler (December 12, 1928 – December 27, 2011) was an American abstract expressionist painter. She was a major contributor to the history of postwar American painting. Having exhibited her work for over six decades (early 1950s u ...

(in 1989), and

Lee Bontecou Lee Bontecou (January 15, 1931 – November 8, 2022) was an American sculptor and printmaker and a pioneer figure in the New York art world. She kept her work consistently in a recognizable style, and received broad recognition in the 1960s. Bont ...

(in 2004).

Personal life

Murray married sculptor Don Sunseri in 1963 in San Francisco. Murray and Sunseri had met three years prior at the Art Institute of Chicago. Among the guests at their wedding was Murray's close friend and fellow artist, Jennifer Bartlett. Murray and Sunseri had one son together, Dakota Sunseri, before they eventually divorced. Murray was later married to poet and poetry activist Bob Holman, whom she met in 1980. They had two children, daughters Sophia Murray Holman and Daisy Murray Holman. The couple remained together, splitting time between New York City and their farm in Washington County, New York, until Murray's death.

Death

In 2007, Murray died of

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, mali ...

. In her obituary, ''

'' wrote that Murray "reshaped Modernist abstraction into a high-spirited, cartoon-based, language of form whose subjects included domestic life, relationships and the nature of painting itself..." The Bowery Poetry Club held a Praise Day in her honor on August 30, 2007, with artists

Brice Marden Brice Marden (born October 15, 1938) is an American artist generally described as Minimalist, although his work may be hard to categorize. He lives and works in New York City; Tivoli, New York; Hydra (island), Hydra, Greece; and Eagles Mere, Penn ...

and

Joel Shapiro Joel Shapiro (born September 27, 1941 New York City, New York) is an American sculptor renowned for his dynamic work composed of simple rectangular shapes. The artist is classified as a Minimalist as demonstrated in his works, which were mostly d ...

, writers Jessica Hagedorn and Patricia Spears Jones, and choreographers

Elizabeth Streb Elizabeth Streb (born February 23, 1950) is an American choreographer, performer, and teacher of contemporary dance. Background Streb was born and raised in Rochester, New York and, after graduating from the dance program of State University of ...

and Yoshiko Chuma among the attendees; ''

Artforum ''Artforum'' is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art. The magazine is distinguished from other magazines by its unique 10½ x 10½ inch square format, with each cover often devoted to the work of an artist. Notably ...

'' described the event as "a blend of the poignant and the comic that threatened to bring it closer to a ''

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'' skit shredding avant-garde performance practice than an actual art-world remembrance."Remembering Murray
ARTFORUM, August 30, 2007. A second private memorial was held at the Museum of Modern Art later that Fall. Murray was survived by her husband and three children.

Legacy: art and feminism

After Murray's death, the A. G. Foundation,

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, and the

Archives of American Art The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washing ...

established the "Elizabeth Murray Oral History of Women in the Visual Arts Project," to honor her memory. The A. G. Foundation's

Agnes Gund Agnes Gund (born 1938) is an American philanthropist and arts patron, collector of modern and contemporary art, and arts education and social justice advocate. She is President Emerita and Life Trustee of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and Chair ...

said of her,

"It seems so right to honor Elizabeth Murray by archiving the lives, the thoughts, the dreams and goals of other women who—like herself—persisted in the visual arts, extending and enriching the world through their work," said the A. G. Foundation's
Agnes Gund Agnes Gund (born 1938) is an American philanthropist and arts patron, collector of modern and contemporary art, and arts education and social justice advocate. She is President Emerita and Life Trustee of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and Chair ...
.

Film

'' Everybody Knows...Elizabeth Murray'', a film by

Kristi Zea Kristina Gwyn Zea (born October 24, 1948) is an American production designer, costume designer, art director, director and producer in film and television. Born and educated in New York City, she discovered she had a talent for design while workin ...

, exploring Murray's life and work, premiered at the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. Tribeca was f ...

in 2016.

References

Bibliography

* Elizabeth Murray; Francine Prose; PaceWildenstein (Firm
''Elizabeth Murray: paintings 1999-2003: March 7-April 19, 2003''
(New York, N.Y.: PaceWildenstein, 2003) * Robert Storr;

(New York, N.Y.
''Elizabeth Murray''
(New York:

;

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

: Thames & Hudson istributor 2005) * ''Elizabeth Murray: Drawings'', 1980-1986 (exhibition catalogue, Pittsburgh, PA, Carnegie-Mellon U.A.G. 1986) * ''Elizabeth Murray: Paintings and Drawings'' (exhibition catalogue, Dallas, TX, Museum A, and elsewhere, 1987) *

External links

The Estate of Elizabeth Murray

Biography, interviews, essays, artwork images and video clips
from PBS series '' Art:21 -- Art in the Twenty-First Century'' - Season 2 (2003).
Askart.com page on Elizabeth Murray, with ''COLOR IMAGES''

* ttp://web.mta.info/mta/aft/permanentart/permart.html?agency=nyct&line=G&artist=1&station=3 MTA Arts for Transit page on Elizabeth Murray's large-scale glass mosaic mural, ''Stream'', 2001
''Interview with Elizabeth Murray'', Greg Masters
* Audio recording of lecture by Elizabeth Murray, January 24, 1981, from

Maryland Institute College of Art The Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) is a Private university, private art school, art and design college in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded in 1826 as the Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, making it one of t ...

's Decker Library,

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, Elizabeth (Artist) 1940 births 2007 deaths People from Manhattan 20th-century American painters 21st-century American painters American women painters Artists from Chicago Painters from New York City Deaths from lung cancer Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Place of death missing MacArthur Fellows School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni American women printmakers 20th-century American women artists 21st-century American women artists 20th-century American printmakers Neo-expressionist artists