Martyl Suzanne Schweig Langsdorf (March 16, 1917 – March 26, 2013) was an American artist who created the

Doomsday Clock The Doomsday Clock is a symbol that represents the likelihood of a man-made global catastrophe, in the opinion of the members of the ''Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists''. Maintained since 1947, the clock is a metaphor for threats to humanity ...

image for the June 1947 cover of the ''

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists The ''Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists'' is a nonprofit organization concerning science and global security issues resulting from accelerating technological advances that have negative consequences for humanity. The ''Bulletin'' publishes conte ...

''.Yardley, William (April 10, 2013)
Martyl Langsdorf, Doomsday Clock Designer, Dies at 96.
''

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 ...

Life and career

Schweig Langsdorf was born in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

. Her mother was the painter Aimee Schweig and her father was the portrait photographer Martin Schweig, Sr. As a young woman she attended painting classes with her mother, first at the Provincetown Art Colony (

Provincetown, Massachusetts Provincetown is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, in the United States. A small coastal resort town with a year-round population of 3,664 as of the 2020 United States Census, Province ...

), and then at the Ste. Genevieve Art Colony. She earned a degree from

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

. In 1942 she married physicist

Alexander Langsdorf, Jr. Alexander Suss Langsdorf Jr. (May 30, 1912 – May 24, 1996) was an American physicist on the team that developed the atomic bomb and several devices related to nuclear physics. He was a vocal opponent of the use and proliferation of nuclear we ...

who worked on the

Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...

. They had two daughters, Alexandra and Suzanne. Alexander helped found the ''

'' in 1945 and in 1947 Martyl created the

image for their first June 1947. She thought a clock, set at seven minutes to midnight, would convey "a sense of urgency." The Doomsday Clock illustration was the only magazine cover she ever created. Both before and after that project, she painted abstract landscapes and

mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...

s. Her mural work includes an oil-on-canvas mural titled ''Wheat Workers'' for the

Russell, Kansas Russell is the most populous city in and the county seat of Russell County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 4,401. History In 1865, the Butterfield Overland Despatch established a short-lived st ...

post office, commissioned by the

Treasury Section of Fine Arts The Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture was a New Deal art project established on October 16, 1934, and administered by the Procurement Division of the United States Department of the Treasury. Commonly known as the Section, it was rena ...

, and completed in 1940. In 1956 Martyl and Alexander purchased The Schweikher House in Schaumburg, Illinois. Designed by

Paul Schweikher Robert Paul Schweikher (1903–1997) was a mid-century modern architect from Denver, Colorado. Biography Paul Schweikher was born in Denver, Colorado in 1903 to a family of musicians. He originally trained at the University of Colorado for a ...

and built in 1938, Schweig Langsdorf lived and worked there until her death. The house and studio are on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

. Schweig Langsdorf died of complications of a

lung infection Lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) is a term often used as a synonym for pneumonia but can also be applied to other types of infection including lung abscess and acute bronchitis. Symptoms include shortness of breath, weakness, fever, co ...

Schaumburg, Illinois Schaumburg ( ) is a village mostly in Cook County and partly in DuPage County in northeastern Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 Census, the population was 78,723. Schaumburg is around northwest of the Chicago Loop and northwest of O'Hare ...

.Kates, Joan Giangrasse (April 9, 2013)
Martyl Langsdorf: 1917-2013: Artist who designed Doomsday Clock.
''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

'' Her work is in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

, the

Saint Louis Art Museum The Saint Louis Art Museum (SLAM) is one of the principal U.S. art museums, with paintings, sculptures, cultural objects, and ancient masterpieces from all corners of the world. Its three-story building stands in Forest Park in St. Louis, ...

, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the

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 (1875–194 ...

. Her paper are in the collection of 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 ...

at the Smithsonian Institution.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Langsdorf, Martyl 1917 births 2013 deaths American women painters American muralists 20th-century American painters Section of Painting and Sculpture artists Artists from St. Louis Painters from Missouri Washington University in St. Louis alumni Respiratory disease deaths in Illinois Infectious disease deaths in Illinois Deaths from respiratory tract infection 20th-century American women artists Women muralists