Katja Oxman (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Katharina Protassowsky; born 1942) is a German-born American visual artist and educator. She is known for her

still life A still life (plural: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, m ...

work with assembled objects, created in color etching with aquatint. Oxman taught art for at the

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

; and lived in Silver Spring, Maryland and

Amherst, Massachusetts Amherst () is a New England town, town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Connecticut River valley. As of the 2020 census, the population was 39,263, making it the highest populated municipality in Hampshire County (althoug ...

, United States.

Early life and education

Katharina Protassowsky was born in 1942, in Munich, Germany. Her father Mischa Protassowsky was Russian and of the White movement, who fled during the Russian Civil War; and her mother Gretl Hell was German, however after their marriage her mother lost her citizenship. Her family moved to the United States in 1952. She started making artwork as a teenager. In 1966, she married artist Mark Oxman in England, and together they have children. Oxman attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) and graduated in 1965; she continued her studies for a year at Academy of Fine Arts, Munich in Germany; and attended the Royal College of Art in London, where she studied printmaking and graduated in 1967.

Career

Oxman started her teaching career at Bryn Mawr College in 1968, and at

Haverford College Haverford College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Haverford, Pennsylvania. It was founded as a men's college in 1833 by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), began accepting non-Quakers in 1849, and became coeducational ...

. In 1975, she was hired at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She worked from 1976 to 1985 at the

in Washington, D.C. Oxman creates still life compositions of indoors with assembled objects, she has stated this composition style came from living in New England, after she had her first child. Objects found in her work may include flowers, bird figurings, bird feathers, bird nests, a window, patterned textiles and Middle Eastern-style rugs, mirrors, and postcard references to 19th century art (like Paul Gauguin, and Japanese woodblock prints). For the addition of colors in her etchings, they often feature three or four printmaking plate layers. She produces only a few print editions per year. Her work can be found in museum collections including at the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...

; the

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. With the recent completion of an eight-year campus redevelopment project, including the opening of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Build ...

; the Minneapolis Institute of Art; the Woodmere Art Museum; the Portland Art Museum; the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts; the McNay Art Museum; the

Rhode Island School of Design Museum The Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD Museum) is an art museum integrated with the Rhode Island School of Design, in Providence, Rhode Island, US. The museum was co-founded with the school in 1877, and still shares multiple build ...

; the Cleveland Museum of Art; the Flint Institute of Arts; and the Detroit Institute of Arts.

References

External links

* Video:
FWMoA Presents: Katja Oxman: Master Printmaker
' (July 31, 2017) via YouTube {{DEFAULTSORT:Oxman, Katja 1942 births Living people 20th-century American women artists 21st-century American women artists 20th-century German women artists 21st-century German women artists Academy of Fine Arts, Munich alumni Alumni of the Royal College of Art American etchers American people of German-Russian descent American University faculty Artists from Munich Artists from Philadelphia Bryn Mawr College faculty German emigrants to the United States German people of Russian descent Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts alumni People from Amherst, Massachusetts People from Silver Spring, Maryland University of Massachusetts Amherst faculty