Lucy Fradkin (born 1953) is an American self-taught artist from

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

who paints portraits which often include

collage Collage (, from the french: coller, "to glue" or "to stick together";) is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole. ...

elements. She is inspired by Persian and Indian

miniature painting Miniature painting may refer to: * Miniature (illuminated manuscript), a small illustration used to decorate an illuminated manuscript * Persian miniature, a small painting on paper in the Persian tradition, for a book or album * Ottoman miniature, ...

s with bright

palette Palette may refer to: * Cosmetic palette, an archaeological form * Palette, another name for a color scheme * Palette (painting), a wooden board used for mixing colors for a painting ** Palette knife, an implement for painting * Palette (company), ...

s and flattened space as well as the ancient frescoes and mosaics of Etruria, Rome, and Byzantium. In addition, she visited the Brooklyn Museum as a young artist with her mother and was inspired by ''The Dinner Party'' by Judy Chicago, as a prominent piece of art by a living woman artist.

Biography

Early life

Lucy Fradkin was born in Brooklyn, New York. She was raised in Port Washington, on Manhasset Bay, on the north shore of Long Island. She spent many formative years in southern Vermont. Since the early 1990s, travels to other cultures have had a profound influence on her studies and artwork. She has found great inspiration from the art of ancient and indigenous cultures of Latin America, Italy and Greece. In 2002-2003, she spent a year living, working, exhibiting and lecturing in Italy. Based in Rome, she was able to travel extensively around the country further informing her work through a visual immersion into the art of ancient worlds.

Collections

Fradkin's work has been represented within the permanent collection of notable galleries and museums including: "Lucy Fradkin, Home is Where the Heart is" at the Nancy Margolis Gallery, New York, 2012. She is included in the Viewing Program Artist Registry at

The Drawing Center The Drawing Center is a Manhattan, New York, museum and a nonprofit exhibition space that focuses on the exhibition of drawings, both historical and contemporary. History The Drawing Center was founded by former assistant curator of drawings at ...

, New York; and her work "I Wish It Would Rain" was purchased by the

Weatherspoon Art Museum The Weatherspoon Art Museum is located at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and is one of the largest collections of modern and contemporary art in the southeast with a focus on American art. Its programming includes fifteen or more e ...

, at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, for their Dillard Collection of Art on Paper. Her work is in the University Hospitals Art Collection. Fradkin's works "An Awakening To Other Orders of Reality" and "Birds of a Feather" are in the private collection of

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 ...

, President Emerita of 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 ...

(MoMA) and were included in the movie "Aggie".

Notable Works

Notable among Fradkin's works are “Arthur Dreams of India” 2014, and “An Awakening To Other Orders Of Reality”, 2010. Like many of Fradkin's pieces, these paintings feature a full-frontal portrait of either an archetypal or actual individual. The subjects stand in the center of spaces that are described with flattened tiled floors or rugs, and patterned wall papers or curtains. Objects sit, hang and float in these spaces and interact with the figures both abstractly as well as pictorially, resulting in an intimate visual narrative. Fradkin's husband, the Jamaican-born artist Arthur Simms, features in many of Frandin's paintings, most notably “Arthur Dreams of India”. Included in the 2016 Outwin Boochever Portrait Exhibition at the

National Portrait Gallery (United States) The National Portrait Gallery is a historic art museum between 7th, 9th, F, and G Streets NW in Washington, D.C., in the United States. Founded in 1962 and opened to the public in 1968, it is part of the Smithsonian Institution. Its collections f ...

, this work in acrylic gouache, collage, pencil, and metallic thread on paper, has a flat, folk sensibility. In this portrait, Fradkin has drawn on the traditions of Indian miniature painting to honor Arthur's mother, Icema, who, like others from Jamaica, might have been of Indian descent. “An Awakening To Other Orders of Reality” (acrylic gouache on paper with collage and pencil) currently in the private collection of

, was included in the film Aggie. In this painting, two trays, one with a floral pattern and one with a portrait, are stacked behind and haloed around the head of the main figure. On either side of this totem are two squares that make window shapes and silhouette a house plant frond on one side and a Red-tailed Hawk on the other. An abundance of detail in the midst of "simply" rendered figures allows us to focus, play and ponder all the possible associations and rhythmic patterns between the various elements in the paintings.

Exhibitions

Fradkin's work in portraiture has won significant critical attention. She was a three-time finalist for the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition at the Smithsonian Museum

in Washington, DC (2016, 2013, 2006). Her portraits were included in the 2008-2009 exhibition "As Others See Us: The Contemporary Portrait" at the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, Brattleboro, VT. Frandkin's work was the subject of articles and reviews of the exhibition. The Nicolaysen Art Museum, Casper, WY, had a solo show of Lucy Fradkin's work in 2008-2009, which included the notable work "Teatime With Arthur" (2005). "Lucy Fradkin: A Brief History of Fashion and Friendship" (Kenise Barnes Fine Art, 2000) was the subject of a December 17, 2000,

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

Arts & Entertainment review.

Exhibitions List

; 2021 : Tenacity, Chautaqua Institution, Chautaqua, NY : 7 Years, La Nueva FÁBRICA, Antigua, Guatemala (postponed) ; 2020 : Still Utopia:Islands, MC Gallery, New York, NY ; 2019 : New Work by Lucy Fradkin, Alleghany Meadows and Trey Hill, Harvey Preston Gallery, ; Aspen, Colorado : Every Woman Biennial, La Mama Galleria, New York, NY ; 2018 : Untitled, Miami, Steve Turner Gallery, Miami, FL : Inside Out, Steve Turner, Los Angeles, CA : American Portraiture Today,

The Baker Museum The Baker Museum (formerly the Naples Museum of Art) is part of Artis–Naples, a multidisciplinary organization that also is the home of the Naples Philharmonic, located at 5833 Pelican Bay Boulevard, Naples, Florida, Naples, Florida. The museum, ...

, Naples, FL : American Portraiture Today,

Ackland Art Museum The Ackland Art Museum is a museum and academic unit of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It was founded through the bequest of William Hayes Ackland (1855–1940) to The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It is located a ...

, Chapel Hill, NC ; 2017 : American Portraiture Today,

Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art opened in 1994 in Kansas City, Missouri. With a $5 million annual budget and approximately 75,000 visitors each year, it is Missouri's first and largest contemporary museum. Founders The core of the museum's perm ...

, Kansas City, MO : American Portraiture Today,

Tacoma Art Museum The Tacoma Art Museum (TAM) is an art museum in Tacoma, Washington, United States. It focuses primarily on the art and artists from the Pacific Northwest and broader western region of the U.S. Founded in 1935, the museum has strong roots in the c ...

, Tacoma, WA : American Portraiture Today, Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, TX : Whitney Houston Biennial, 325 West Broadway New York, NY ; 2016 : American Portraiture Today, Smithsonian Museum

, Washington, DC : David Kimball Anderson, Elizabeth Ferrill, Lucy Fradkin & Michaelene Walsh, Harvey/Meadows Gallery, Aspen, CO ; 2014 : Lucy Fradkin and Arthur Simms: Intimate Worlds, Holter Museum of Art, Helena, MT : Art on Paper,

, Greensboro, NC : Rule of the Law, Athens School of Fine Arts Gallery, Athens, Greece : Flowering, Nancy Margolis Gallery, New York, NY ; 2013 : Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition, Smithsonian Museum National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC : Come Together: Surviving Sandy, Industry City, Brooklyn, NY : Congregation Annotated, 106 Green Gallery, Brooklyn, NY : Lucy Fradkin: Going To A Go-Go, “Harvey/Meadows Gallery, Aspen, CO : Lucy Fradkin Even Cowgirls Get the Blues,The Bellarmine Museum of Art (now Fairfield University Art Museum), Fairfield, CT ; 2012 : Lucy Fradkin-Home Is Where The Heart Is, Nancy Margolis Gallery New York, NY : Lucy Fradkin and Roxa Smith, Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Larchmont, NY ; 2011 : Lucy Fradkin, Tony Marsh, Sun Koo Yuh, Harvey/Meadows Gallery, Aspen, CO : Rock, Paper, Scissors, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA ; 2010 : Lucy Fradkin, Family Tree, Nancy Margolis Gallery New York, NY (solo) : It's A Wonderful 10th, Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn, NY ; 2009 : Lucy Fradkin Terra Cotta, Terra Firma, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA (solo) : Summer At The Paramount, Mulry Fine Art, Palm Beach, FL : Party At Chris's House JANET KURNATOWSKI GALLERY Brooklyn, NY : Flower Power, Clark Gallery Lincoln, MA ; 2008–2009 : Lucy Fradkin Nicolayson Museum, Casper, WY (solo) : As Others See Us, Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, Brattleboro, VT ; 2008 : Lucy Fradkin Terra Cotta, Terra Firma, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA : Family Portrait, Gallery San Angel, San Antonio, TX : Fifteen Artists Address The Issue Of Love, Harvey/Meadows Gallery, Aspen, CO : Rock, Scissors, Paper, Mulry Fine Art, West Palm Beach, FL ; 2007 : Lucy Fradkin: Works on Paper, Harvey/Meadows Gallery, Aspen, CO (solo) : Intricate Simplicity, Lucy Fradkin, Gallery San Angel, San Antonio, TX (solo) : Lucy Fradkin, Lesley Heller Gallery, New York, NY (solo) : Sugar Buzz, Lehman College of Art Gallery, Bronx, NY ; 2006 : Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition, Smithsonian Museum National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC : 3rd Wave, BAC Gallery Brooklyn, NY : Art Bar Artists, Art Bar Gallery, Ithaca, NY : Winter Salon, Lesley Heller Gallery, New York, NY : A Thing of Beauty, Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Larchmont, NY ; 2005 : Lucy Fradkin, Untold Stories” Kenise Barnes Fine Art Larchmont, NY (solo) ; 2004 : Roman Holiday-New Work From A Year Spent In Rome-Lucy Fradkin and Arthur Simms, Kenise Barnes Fine Art (solo) : ART Larchmont, NY (solo) ; 2003 : Lucy Fradkin-Spring Line, American Academy in Rome, Rome, Italy (solo)

Personal life

Fradkin is married to the Jamaican-born sculptor Arthur Simms.

: “American Portraiture Today”, SMITHSONIAN MUSEUM NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, 2016 : “Exploring Studio Materials”, Mary Hafeli, Oxford University Press : “Portrait Competition 2013”, SMITHSONIAN MUSEUM NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, 2013 : “ArtsObserver.com”, Lucy Fradkin Paints Charming Folk-Style Narrative Portraits, April 2012 : “ARTSlant”, Editor's Choice, Lucy Fradkin: Home Is Where The Heart Is, March 2012 : “Art in America” online, The Lookout, March 15, 2012 : “Hyperallergic”. A Wonderously Naïve Universe, March 20, 2012 : “ArtLog”, Pick of the Week, February 29, 2012 : “In the Morning” , Live Radio Interview, WLIU, Southampton, NY, July 21, 2009 : “Artists on the Subjectivity and Objectivity of Looking”, Southern Vermont Arts Magazine, Winter 2009 : “As Others See Us”, Yankee Magazine, December 2008 : “It's All In How Things Are Projected”, The Boston Globe , November 26, 2008 : “Spotlight Focus”, The Keene Sentinel , November 26, 2008 : “Weekender”, Casper Star Tribune , October 17, 2008 : “Lucy Fradkin”, Nicolaysen Art Museum, Lisa Hatchadoorian , October 2008 : “Sugar Buzz”, New York Times, May 11, 2007 : “Portrait Competition 2006”, SMITHSONIAN MUSEUM NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, 2006 : “Portrait 21” NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, Canberra, Australia Spring 2006 : “Images That Capture Romance of Europe”, New York Times, February 15, 2004 : “American Academy in Rome 2002-2003” (Video) Dantia MacDonald 2004 : “Biennale di Arte Contemporanea di Porto Ercole 2003” (Catalog) August 2003 : “Italian Works:Lucy Fradkin e Arthur Simms”, Exibart, May 22, 2003 ; : “Contemporary Views”, New York Times, January 27, 2002 ; : “Self Taught Artists”, Mutts Magazine (Japan), August 2001 ; : “Drawing On Language”, SPACES, May 2001 ; : 'Making Flat Statements', New York Times, December 17, 2000 ; : 'New American Painting Number 32' , THE OPEN STUDIOS PRESS , February 2001 ; : 'Through A Woman's Eyes',New York Times, November 19, 2000 ; : Cover , 'The Westchester County Times' , October 2000 ; : 'Art: Pick of the Litter:' New York Press , December 16, 1998 ; : 'Art Renaissance Speak Out', Channel 25, May 6, 1997 ; : 'Video: Jun Sakamoto Meets NY Artists', Saga TV, November 1996 ; : 'Pintura y collage de Lucy Fradkin', Siglo 21, 8 de Febrero 1996 ; : 'La exposición de Lucy Fradkin se inaugura esta noche', Siglo 21, 9 de Febrero 1996 ; : 'Bitácora de collages', Siglo 21, 9 de Febrero 1996 ; : 'Days Without Art', Village Voice, January 18, 1994 ; : 'Artistas en Residencia Otono '92', Fundacion Centro Cultural, 1992 ; : 'Eric is Homeless', Lerner Publications Co., 1992 ; : 'Dia de Los Muertos: Homelessness III' ALTERNATIVE MUSEUM, 1990 ; : 'The Best of Annual Juried', THE QUEENS MUSEUM, March 1989 ; : '3-D Collage', Bangor Daily News', July 26, 1989 ; : 'Review', New York Times, April 3, 1988 ; : 'Column One',New York Times, December 18, 1986 ; : 'Annual Juried', QUEENS MUSEUM, December 1985 ; : 'By Artists for Artists', Newsday, October 18, 1985 ; : 'Artists to Speak',Brattleboro Reformer, April 28, 1982 ; : 'Vermont Visions', BRATTLEBORO MUSEUM, April 1982 ; : 'Lucy Fradkin: Paper-Weavings', Art New England, February, 1982 ; : 'Fradkin's Paper-Weavings',Brattleboro Reformer, January 27, 1982

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fradkin, Lucy American women artists Living people 1953 births 21st-century American women