Mary Beth McKenzie, N.A. (born 1946) is an American

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

contemporary Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. Contemporary history is either a subset of the late modern period, or it is o ...

figures in the

realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *Classical Realism *Literary realism, a move ...

style. She was born in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

and currently resides 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 ...

where she teaches art at

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the fin ...

and the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may stu ...

. Her works of art are currently in the collections of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, the

National Museum of American Art 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

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 ...

, the

Museum of the City of New York A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these i ...

, the

National Museum of Women in the Arts The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), located in Washington, D.C., is "the first museum in the world solely dedicated" to championing women through the arts. NMWA was incorporated in 1981 by Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay. Since openin ...

, the

Butler Institute of American Art The Butler Institute of American Art, located on Wick Avenue in Youngstown, Ohio, United States, was the first museum dedicated exclusively to American art. Established by local industrialist and philanthropist Joseph G. Butler, Jr., the museum h ...

, the

New Britain Museum of American Art The New Britain Museum of American Art is an art museum in New Britain, Connecticut. Founded in 1903, it is the first museum in the country dedicated to American art. A total of 72,000 visits were made to the museum in the year ending June 30, 20 ...

, the

, and the

. In 2008 the

, purchased two monotypes, ''Front Porch Restaurant'' and ''Diner (2nd stage)'', as well as a plate for ''Front Porch Restaurant'' and ''Diner (2nd stage)''. The

permanent collection also includes thirteen monotypes from McKenzie's ''Circus'' as well as three oils and three sketch books also by McKenzie. McKenzie authored and provided artwork for the book, ''A Painterly Approach'', Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, October 1987. She has also contributed articles to several magazines. McKenzie was elected to the

National Academy A national academy is an organizational body, usually operating with state financial support and approval, that co-ordinates scholarly research activities and standards for academic disciplines, most frequently in the sciences but also the humanit ...

in 1994. She has won numerous awards. She was educated at the

Boston Museum of Fine Art The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the list of largest art museums, 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings ...

, and

, and the

Cooper School of Art The Cooper School of Art was a private art college located in Cleveland, Ohio. The school emphasized education and career preparation for the commercial art market. It operated from 1924 until 1981. Overview The Cooper School of Art featured a ...

in Cleveland, and has studied with

Robert Brackman Robert Brackman (September 25, 1898 – July 16, 1980) was an American artist and teacher, best known for large figural works, portraits, and still lifes. Biography Robert Brackman was born on September 25, 1898, in Odessa, Russian Empire (no ...

, Daniel Greene, and Burton Silverman, among others. Several of her works appear in the movie ''Flannel Pajamas''. She was interviewed by Ira Goldberg in the art journa
''LINEA''
McKenzie was featured in a solo show at the

Erie Art Museum Erie Art Museum is located in Erie, Pennsylvania. The Museum holds a collection of more than 8,000 objects, with strengths in American art pottery, American ceramics, Tibetan art, Tibetan paintings, Arts and entertainment in India#Sculpture, Indian ...

, "A Life in Art" from July 13 to September 24, 2018. See the External links for more details.

References

External links

Mary Beth McKenzie Official Site

* ttp://www.myfoxla.com/dpp/entertainment/television/Comedian_Richard_Lewis_on_GDLA_20090924/ Television interviewby

Richard Lewis Richard, Rich, Richie, Rick, Ricky or Dick Lewis may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Richard Field Lewis Jr. (1907–1957), American radio network owner * Dick "Rocko" Lewis (Richard Henry Lewis III, 1908–1966), American entertainer * Rich ...

on GDLA; at minute 4:34, mentions his painting of

Larry David Lawrence Gene David (born July 2, 1947) is an American comedian, writer, actor, and television producer. He and Jerry Seinfeld created the television sitcom ''Seinfeld'', on which David was head writer and executive producer for the first seve ...

by McKenzie.
Mary Beth McKenzie: An Interview

Mary Beth McKenzie: A Life in Art
{{DEFAULTSORT:McKenzie, Mary Beth Art Students League of New York faculty 1946 births Living people 20th-century American painters 21st-century American painters American women printmakers National Academy of Design faculty National Academy of Design alumni National Academy of Design members 20th-century American women painters 21st-century American women painters 20th-century American printmakers American women academics