Frances Kornbluth (July 26, 1920 – May 26, 2014) was an American
abstract expressionist
Abstract expressionism is a post–World War II art movement in American painting, developed in New York City in the 1940s. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve international influence and put New York at the center of the ...
painter.
Biography
Frances Kornbluth was born in New York City on July 26, 1920. Originally intent on becoming a composer, Kornbluth graduated from
Brooklyn College in 1940 with a degree in music; however, in the 1950s she focused her creative energies on painting. Kornbluth studied at the
Brooklyn Museum Art School
The Brooklyn Museum Art School was a non-degree-granting professional school that opened at the Brooklyn Museum in Brooklyn, New York in the summer of 1941. The Brooklyn Museum Art School provided instruction for amateur artists as well until Janua ...
from 1955 to 1959, where she first met
Reuben Tam, and went on to receive a master's degree from the
Pratt Institute in 1962. It was Tam who first introduced Kornbluth to
Monhegan Island
Monhegan () is an island in the Gulf of Maine located in Lincoln County, Maine, United States. A plantation, a minor civil division in the state of Maine falling between unincorporated area and a town, it is located about off the mainland. Th ...
and helped define her as an artist. Kornbluth died on May 26, 2014 at the age of 93.
Works
The natural environment was the primary source of Kornbluth's inspiration, particularly that of Monhegan Island where she summered and painted from 1959 to 2013.
Harris, Patricia and David Lyon. "Painting on Maine's Monhegan Island." ''The Boston Globe'' August 27, 2006.
/ref> Kornbluth painted at her studio in Lobster Cove on Monhegan and at her studio in Northeastern Connecticut. She worked in oil, pastel, acrylic, watercolor, ink and mixed media collage. Her work continues to be exhibited in both galleries and museums. Recent exhibits include:
* "Collage: Piecing It Together" at the Portland Museum of Art
The Portland Museum of Art, or PMA, is the largest and oldest public art institution in the U.S. state of Maine. Founded as the Portland Society of Art in 1882. It is located in the downtown area known as The Arts District in Portland, Maine.
...
(2010)
* "On Island: Women Artists of Monhegan" at the University of New England (2007)
* "Monhegan: The Abstracted Island" at the Bates College Museum of Art
The Bates College Museum of Art (also known locally simply as the Museum of Art or MoA) is an art museum located on the campus of, and maintained by, Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. It holds various mediums of arts that showcase Maine and the gr ...
(2001)
* "Overview: Four Decades" at the University of Connecticut
The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from H ...
(1996)
Awards
* Lifetime Achievement Award, Brooklyn College (2000)
* Miriam E. Halpern Memorial Award, National Association of Women Artists
The National Association of Women Artists, Inc. (NAWA) is a United States organization, founded in 1889 to gain recognition for professional women fine artists in an era when that field was strongly male-oriented. It sponsors exhibitions, awards ...
(1992)
* John Carl Georgo Memorial Award, National Association of Women Artists
The National Association of Women Artists, Inc. (NAWA) is a United States organization, founded in 1889 to gain recognition for professional women fine artists in an era when that field was strongly male-oriented. It sponsors exhibitions, awards ...
(1989)
* Elizabeth Morse Genius Foundation Prize, National Association of Women Artists
The National Association of Women Artists, Inc. (NAWA) is a United States organization, founded in 1889 to gain recognition for professional women fine artists in an era when that field was strongly male-oriented. It sponsors exhibitions, awards ...
(1982)
* Helen Henningson Memorial Prize for Oil, National Association of Women Artists
The National Association of Women Artists, Inc. (NAWA) is a United States organization, founded in 1889 to gain recognition for professional women fine artists in an era when that field was strongly male-oriented. It sponsors exhibitions, awards ...
(1977)
* Charles H. Woodbury Prize for Landscape, National Association of Women Artists
The National Association of Women Artists, Inc. (NAWA) is a United States organization, founded in 1889 to gain recognition for professional women fine artists in an era when that field was strongly male-oriented. It sponsors exhibitions, awards ...
(1975)
* The Elizabeth Rungius Fulda Memorial Prize for Lyrical Landscape, National Association of Women Artists
The National Association of Women Artists, Inc. (NAWA) is a United States organization, founded in 1889 to gain recognition for professional women fine artists in an era when that field was strongly male-oriented. It sponsors exhibitions, awards ...
(1968)
* Medal of Honor, National Association of Women Artists
The National Association of Women Artists, Inc. (NAWA) is a United States organization, founded in 1889 to gain recognition for professional women fine artists in an era when that field was strongly male-oriented. It sponsors exhibitions, awards ...
(1968)
* Catherine & Henry J. Gaisman Prize for Watercolor, National Association of Women Artists
The National Association of Women Artists, Inc. (NAWA) is a United States organization, founded in 1889 to gain recognition for professional women fine artists in an era when that field was strongly male-oriented. It sponsors exhibitions, awards ...
(1961)
* Medal of Honor, National Association of Women Artists
The National Association of Women Artists, Inc. (NAWA) is a United States organization, founded in 1889 to gain recognition for professional women fine artists in an era when that field was strongly male-oriented. It sponsors exhibitions, awards ...
(1961)
References
External links
Website of Frances Kornbluth
Frances Kornbluth on AskART
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kornbluth, Frances
1920 births
2014 deaths
20th-century American painters
20th-century American women artists
21st-century American painters
21st-century American women artists
Abstract expressionist artists
Artists from New York (state)
Brooklyn College alumni
Pratt Institute alumni
National Association of Women Artists members
American women painters
Painters from Maine
Jewish women painters
Jewish painters