Martha Nilsson Edelheit (born September 3, 1931, in
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 ...
),
also known as Martha Ross Edelheit, is an American-born artist currently living in
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
. She is known for her
feminist art
Feminist art is a category of art associated with the late 1960s and 1970s feminist movement. Feminist art highlights the societal and political differences women experience within their lives. The hopeful gain from this form of art is to bri ...
of the 1960s and 1970s, which focuses on erotic
nudes.
Early life
She was born September 3, 1931, in New York City.
She always had a knack for creative endeavors, originally having been taught to be a musician. Edelheit's grandparents were immigrants from Romania who kept a kosher home and spoke Yiddish. She lived first in Queens and later at the age of 10 in the Bronx with her parents who were more secular in nature. She attended the High School of Music and Art with Joan Semmel. Edelheit subsequently studied at the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
from 1949 to 1951, at
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
in 1954 while concurrently studying art with
Michael Loew
Michael Loew (May 8, 1907 — November 14, 1985) was an American Abstract Expressionist artist who was born in New York City.
Career
In the late 1920s, Loew studied at the Art Students League with the Ashcan School and was a recipient of a Sadi ...
, and at
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 ...
in 1955 and 1956, where she studied
art history
Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...
with
Meyer Schapiro
Meyer Schapiro (23 September 1904 – 3 March 1996) was a Lithuanian-born American art historian known for developing new art historical methodologies that incorporated an interdisciplinary approach to the study of works of art. An expert on earl ...
.
In the mid-1950s she married psychoanalyst Henry Edelheit, when he was a medical student at University of Chicago.
Career
Known for her early works of
erotic art
Erotic art is a broad field of the visual arts that includes any Work of art, artistic work intended to evoke Sexual arousal, erotic arousal. It usually depicts human nudity or sexual activity, and has included works in various visual mediums, ...
, Edelheit was an early pioneer in the feminist art movement. Painting nude male subjects as early as the 1960s, Edelheit was a vanguard of the expression revolution that would gain attention in following decades.
Edelheit's career and array of works are diverse and impressive. She works in series in which her styles would change. The first one being her Abstract Works and Extension Paintings of 1958–1961. This is followed by her Children's Game series of 1960–1962. After which she began to focus on watercolors between the years of 1961–1962. She later returned to watercolors after she moved to Sweden in 2015. Her Watercolor series overlapped with her Flesh Wall series between 1960 and 1966 in which, she displayed a wide variety of themes from human bodies to interiors at the Byron Gallery. This art exposition was a culmination of her success and impact, making even seasoned art viewer such as Leo Castelli blush. During 1962, she began to work with tattooed figures in her works, demonstrating the flesh of the figures she depicts to the viewer to be where the figures dreams and fantasies emerge. Alongside her vast painting portfolio she began to work on body paint sculptures during the 1960s as well. Succeeding this was her Back Paint series between 1972 and 1975. In the year 1975, near the end of Back Paint series she experimented more with Self Portraits. She remarked that the first nude she ever painted with the intent to show anyone else was one of herself so during this time she likely came back to that sentiment. In 1978 she had a pencil on rag series she titled Flesh and Stone which was complete in Sweden. Between 1980 and 1985 she worked with cutouts which she painted on both sides. This coincided with her Paper Doll Book series of 1984 as well as her Tool Paintings. While in Sweden between 1983 and 1986 she worked with monoprints and oil pastels as well as colored pencils, ink and graphite. In 1988, she worked with bronze sculptures and string as her mediums. Following this she did a series of grief paintings; subsequently in 1991 she released ''Bateaux des Revés'' in Central Park. Her following works were all done in Sweden and are largely animal portraits due to the fact that she lives on a farm. She did however have her Ice Dancers series of 1998 as well as a series titled USA in 2016 depicting graphic harm done to animals.
Since 1961, Edelheit has participated in numerous group exhibitions, including ''11 from the Reuben'' (1965,
Guggenheim Museum
The Guggenheim Museums are a group of museums in different parts of the world established (or proposed to be established) by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.
Museums in this group include:
Locations
Americas
* The Solomon R. Guggenhei ...
), ''Three Centuries of the American Nude'' (1975,
New York Cultural Center
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
), ''BLAM!'' (1984,
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 (1875–1942), ...
), and ''Inventing Downtown: Artist-Run Galleries in New York City, 1952-1965'' (2017, Grey Gallery,
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
).
Throughout the 1970s, as the
women's art movement
The Women's Art Movement (WAM) was an Australian feminist art movement, founded in Sydney in 1974, Melbourne in 1974, and Adelaide in 1976 (as the Women's Art Group, or WAG).
Background
Such movements had already been created in other countries ...
flourished, Edelheit was an active participant in women-only group exhibitions, including ''Women Choose Women'' (1973,
New York Cultural Center
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
), ''Works on Paper—Women Artists'' (1975,
Brooklyn Museum
The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown H ...
), ''Sons and Others'' (1975,
Queens Museum of Art
The Queens Museum, formerly the Queens Museum of Art, is an art museum and educational center located in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in the borough of Queens in New York City, United States. The museum was founded in 1972, and has among its p ...
), and the traveling collaborative feminist installation ''
The Sister Chapel'' (1978–80).
''Womanhero'' (1977), Edelheit's painting for ''The Sister Chapel'', is a monumental female transmutation of
Michelangelo's ''David'', tattooed with images of
Nut
Nut often refers to:
* Nut (fruit), fruit composed of a hard shell and a seed, or a collective noun for dry and edible fruits or seeds
* Nut (hardware), fastener used with a bolt
Nut or Nuts may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Co ...
,
Kali
Kali (; sa, काली, ), also referred to as Mahakali, Bhadrakali, and Kalika ( sa, कालिका), is a Hinduism, Hindu goddess who is considered to be the goddess of ultimate power, time, destruction and change in Shaktism. In t ...
,
Athena
Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress of ...
,
Diana, and
Guanyin
Guanyin () is a Bodhisattva associated with compassion. She is the East Asian representation of Avalokiteśvara ( sa, अवलोकितेश्वर) and has been adopted by other Eastern religions, including Chinese folk religion. She ...
to symbolize women's shared power over the course of many centuries.
Edelheit has also done production design for smaller theaters in New York from 1971 to 1974, a number of own experimental art films in the 1970s, demonstrated in a number of contexts in the U.S. and Europe over the years, such as ''Hats, Bottles & Bones: A Portrait of Sari Dienes'' (1977) an artist portrait on
Sari Dienes
Sari Dienes (8 October 1898 – 25 May 1992) was a Hungarian-born American artist. During a career spanning six decades she worked in a wide range of media, creating paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, ceramics, textile designs, sets and c ...
, shown including the Museum of Modern Art and is included in collections at the Anthology Film Archives. She has taught in filmmaking 1976 to 1980 and has been invited as
artist in residence
Artist-in-residence, or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs which involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs which provide artists with space a ...
at
Wilson College located in
Chambersburg
Chambersburg is a borough in and the county seat of Franklin County, in the South Central region of Pennsylvania, United States. It is in the Cumberland Valley, which is part of the Great Appalachian Valley, and north of Maryland and the Mas ...
, Philadelphia in 1973,
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 ...
in 1975, the
University of Cincinnati
The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,00 ...
in 1975 and the
California Institute of the Arts
The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both ...
.
In 2023 her work was included in the exhibition ''
Action, Gesture, Paint: Women Artists and Global Abstraction 1940-1970'' at the
Whitechapel Gallery
The Whitechapel Gallery is a public art gallery in Whitechapel on the north side of Whitechapel High Street, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The original building, designed by Charles Harrison Townsend, opened in 1901 as one of the fir ...
in London.
Activism
Martha Edelheit was a member of Fight Censorship (est. 1973), founded by
Anita Steckel.
[Richard Meyer, "Hard Targets: Male Bodies, Feminist Art, and the Force of Censorship in the 1970s," in ''WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution'' (Los Angeles: Museum of Contemporary Art, 2007), 362–383.] Fight Censorship was composed of several women artists whose work focused on eroticism, including
Joan Semmel
Joan Semmel (born October 19, 1932) is an American feminist painter, professor, and writer. She is best known for her large scale realistic nude self portraits as seen from her perspective looking down.
Education and political involvement
Semmel ...
,
Judith Bernstein
Judith Bernstein (born October 14, 1942) is a New York artist best known for her phallic drawings and paintings. Bernstein uses her art as a vehicle for her outspoken feminist and anti-war activism, provocatively drawing psychological links betwee ...
,
Hannah Wilke
Hannah Wilke (born Arlene Hannah Butter; March 7, 1940 – January 28, 1993) was an American painter, sculptor, photographer, video artist and performance artist. Wilke's work is known for exploring issues of feminism, sexuality and femininity.
B ...
,
Juanita McNeely
Juanita McNeely (born 1936 in St. Louis, Missouri) is an American feminist artist known for her bold works that illustrate the nude female experience in her figurative paintings, prints, paper cut-outs and ceramic pieces. Feminist elements in her ...
,
Barbara Nessim Barbara Nessim (born 1939) is an American artist, illustrator, and educator.
Early life
Nessim was born in New York City in 1939. Motivated by art from a young age, she studied at the Pratt Institute in New York from 1956 to 1960. After graduat ...
, Eunice Golden, and Joan Glueckman.
They lectured and educated the public about erotic art and the negative effects of censorship.
[Carol Jacobsen, "Redefining Censorship: A Feminist View," ''Art Journal'' 50, no.4 (Winter 1991): 42–55.]
In 1977, Edelheit became an associate of the
Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press
Women’s Institute for Freedom of the Press (WIFP) is an American nonprofit publishing organization that was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1972. The organization works to increase media democracy and strengthen independent media. Mo
Basic infor ...
(WIFP).
Edelheit was a member of Women/Artist/Filmmakers, Inc, the
Women's Caucus for Art
The Women's Caucus for Art (WCA), founded in 1972, is a non-profit organization based in New York City, which supports women artists, art historians, students, educators, and museum professionals. The WCA holds exhibitions and conferences to promo ...
(WCA) and an associate member of
Soho20 Chelsea
SOHO20 Artists, Inc., known as SOHO20 Gallery, was founded in 1973 by a group of women artists intent on achieving professional excellence in an industry where there was a gross lack of opportunities for women to succeed. SOHO20 was one of the fi ...
Gallery.
Her image is included in the iconic 1972 poster
Some Living American Women Artists by
Mary Beth Edelson
Mary Beth Edelson (born Mary Elizabeth Johnson) (6 February 1933 - 20 April 2021) was an American artist and pioneer of the feminist art movement, deemed one of the notable "first-generation feminist artists." Edelson was a printmaker, book art ...
.
Sweden
Since 1993 Martha Edelheit has been a resident of Sweden. She lives on a farm in
Svartsjölandet outside Stockholm after her marriage to her childhood sweetheart Sam Nilsson.
Before moving to Sweden, she painted the human form, drawing on erotic imagery with a mixture of realism and abstraction, but after leaving New York and coming to the Swedish nature-oriented way of life, her work shifted towards animal motifs; something she sees as a manifestation of hope to a wounded world.
Theatre sets
* ''The Wonderful Adventures of Tyl'', Jonathan Levy] Triangle Theatre, 1971
* ''Message from Garcia'' + ''Was I Good?'', two-act play by
Rosalyn Drexler
Rosalyn Drexler (born November 25, 1926) is an American visual artist, novelist, Obie Award-winning playwright, and Emmy Award-winning screenwriter, and former professional wrestler. Although she has had a polymathic career, Drexler is perhap ...
, New Dramatists Workshop, 1971
* ''The Whore and the Poet'', by Sandra Hochman + ''Break A Leg'', by
Ira Levin
Ira Marvin Levin (August 27, 1929 – November 12, 2007) was an American novelist, playwright, and songwriter. His works include the novels ''A Kiss Before Dying (novel), A Kiss Before Dying'' (1953), ''Rosemary's Baby (novel), Rosemary's Baby'' ...
, Urgent Theater, 1974
References
External links
Byron Gallery Records, Archives of American Art (digitized exhibition announcement and installation photographs)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edelheit, Martha
Living people
1931 births
Artists from New York City
University of Chicago alumni
20th-century American women artists
Feminist artists
American emigrants to Sweden