Fritzie Abadi (1915 – 2001) was an American painter,

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

, and collage artist. Born in Aleppo, which was then part of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

Biography

The daughter of a

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

, Abadi lived in Palestine until she was nine years old. She then emigrated to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

in 1924. She won a drawing competition while attending Bay Ridge High School, and this fostered an early interest in art. She married at eighteen and moved to

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...

, giving birth to two daughters and "forgot about art". In 1945 she returned to

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, and in 1946 she enrolled in the Art Students League of New York; there she studied under Nahum Tschacbasov. Her work is included in several museum collections such as the Butler Institute of American Art, the Evansville Museum of Arts and Science, the Slater Memorial Museum, and the

Georgia Museum of Art The Georgia Museum of Art is an art museum in Athens, Georgia, United States, associated with the University of Georgia (UGA). The museum is both an academic museum and, since 1982, the official art museum of the state of Georgia. The permanent co ...

. She has also exhibited in many venues throughout her career. She has also received several awards including the Acrylic Painting Award of the

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 ...

(1974) and the Box Assemblage Award from the American Society of Contemporary Artists (1979). She was a member of both institutions, serving on the board of the former in 1970 and as president of the latter from 1970 to 1972; she was on the board of the New York Society of Women Artists in 1980, and was also a member of Women in the Arts and the Hudson River Contemporary Artists. A small collection of documentary material is owned by 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 Washingt ...

Artworks

* ''Orange Sky'', acrylic, 20" x 16", 1974

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abadi, Fritzie 1915 births 2001 deaths 20th-century American painters 20th-century American sculptors 20th-century American women artists 21st-century American painters 21st-century American sculptors 21st-century American women artists American collage artists Women collage artists People from Aleppo American people of Syrian-Jewish descent Mandatory Palestine emigrants to the United States Painters from New York City Art Students League of New York alumni Sculptors from New York (state)