Mary Frank (née Mary Lockspeiser; born 4 February 1933) is an English visual artist who works as a

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

, painter, printmaker, draftswoman, and illustrator.

Biography

Frank was born in London, the only child of Eleanore Lockspeiser (1909–1986), an American painter, and Edward Lockspeiser (1905–1973), English musicologist and art critic. In 1939, at the beginning of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, she left London for a series of boarding schools and then was sent in 1940 to live with her maternal grandparents, Gregory and Eugenie Weinstein in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. She studied modern dance with Martha Graham from 1945 to 1950 and was admitted to the

High School of Music & Art The High School of Music & Art, informally known as "Music & Art" (or "M&A"), was a public specialized high school located at 443-465 West 135th Street in the borough of Manhattan, New York, from 1936 until 1984. In 1961, Music & Art and the High ...

in New York in 1947. In 1949 she transferred to the Professional Children's School, where she majored in dance. While in high school, she met Robert Frank, a Swiss photographer, whom she married in 1950. About this time she studied wood carving at Alfred van Loen's studio. She also studied drawing with

Max Beckmann Max Carl Friedrich Beckmann (February 12, 1884 – December 27, 1950) was a German painter, draftsman, printmaker, sculptor, and writer. Although he is classified as an Expressionist artist, he rejected both the term and the movement. In the 1920s ...

at the Brooklyn Museum Art School in New York and briefly with Hans Hofmann in 1951 and 1954 at Hofmann's Eighth Street School. By this time she had two children: Pablo (named after Picasso), born February 7, 1951, and Andrea, born April 21, 1953. After her husband, Robert Frank, gained a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1955 she travelled with him and the children the following two years across the United States. Frank first exhibited her drawings in 1958 at the Poindexter Gallery in New York City. In 1969 Frank began her relationship with the Zabriskie Gallery in New York. Inspired by the sculpture and pottery of Margaret Ponce Israel, she began working in clay. It was also in that year that Frank illustrated the children's book, ''Buddha'', by the author Joan Lebols Cohen. In 1969 she also divorced Robert Frank. She purchased a summer home in Lake Hill, New York in 1973, and built her first kiln. Frank has been advocate of the solar cooking and solar water pasteurization movement. On December 28, 1974, her 21-year-old daughter, Andrea, was killed in a plane crash in Guatemala. About a year later her son Pablo, who suffered from schizophrenia, also developed

Hodgkin's lymphoma Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is a type of lymphoma, in which cancer originates from a specific type of white blood cell called lymphocytes, where multinucleated Reed–Sternberg cells (RS cells) are present in the patient's lymph nodes. The condition w ...

and died on November 11, 1994, in Pennsylvania. Frank currently lives and works in Lake Hill and New York City. Since 1995, she has been married to

Leo Treitler Leo Treitler (born January 26, 1931) is an American musicologist born in Dortmund, Germany. He is distinguished professor at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Treitler studied at the University of Chicago under Grosvenor Coop ...

, a pianist and music scholar. Mary Frank's career spans five decades. She is largely self-taught and never had any formal training as a sculptor. She was elected to the

American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headq ...

in 1984, the recipient of numerous awards and honors including two Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship Awards in 1973 and 1983, the

Lee Krasner Lenore "Lee" Krasner (born Lena Krassner; October 27, 1908 – June 19, 1984) was an American abstract expressionist painter, with a strong speciality in collage. She was married to Jackson Pollock. Although there was much cross-pollination be ...

Award of the

Pollock-Krasner Foundation The Pollock-Krasner Foundation was established in 1985 for the purpose of providing financial assistance to individual working artists of established ability. It was established at the bequest of Lee Krasner, who was an American abstract expressio ...

in 1993 and the

Joan Mitchell Joan Mitchell (February 12, 1925 – October 30, 1992) was an American artist who worked primarily in painting and printmaking, and also used pastel and made other works on paper. She was an active participant in the New York School of artis ...

Grant Award in 1995. In 1990 she was elected into the

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 f ...

as an Associate member, and became a full Academician in 1994. Working as a professor at

Bard College Bard College is a private liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic District—a National Historic Landmark. Founded in 1860, ...

, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, Frank was honored with the title of Milton Avery Chair, Distinguished Professor. Currently she has works included in the permanent collections of the

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall, in Washington, D.C., the United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was desig ...

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

Minneapolis Institute of Art The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) is an arts museum located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Home to more than 90,000 works of art representing 5,000 years of world history, Mia is one of the largest art museums in the United State ...

, 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 ...

, 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 ...

, the Brooklyn Museum, the

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is a museum of American art in Bentonville, Arkansas. The museum, founded by Alice Walton and designed by Moshe Safdie, officially opened on 11 November 2011. It offers free public admission. Overview ...

, 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 ...

at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

, the

Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appa ...

, the

Princeton University Art Museum The Princeton University Art Museum (PUAM) is the Princeton University gallery of art, located in Princeton, New Jersey. With a collecting history that began in 1755, the museum was formally established in 1882, and now houses over 113,000 works o ...

, the

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 ...

, the

Grounds For Sculpture Grounds For Sculpture (GFS) is a sculpture park and museum located in Hamilton, New Jersey. It is located on the former site of Trenton Speedway. Founded in 1992 by John Seward Johnson II, the venue is dedicated to promoting an understanding ...

, 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 ...

, the

Everson Museum of Art Everson may refer to: People with the surname * Ben Everson (born 1987), English footballer * Bill Everson (1906–1966), Welsh international rugby union player * Cliff Everson, a New Zealand car designer and manufacturer * Corinna Everson (born ...

, the

University of Michigan Museum of Art The University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor, Michigan with is one of the largest university art museums in the United States. Built as a war memorial in 1909 for the university's fallen alumni from the Civil War, Alumni Memorial Hall ori ...

, the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Art at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

, the

Jewish Museum A Jewish museum is a museum which focuses upon Jews and may refer seek to explore and share the Jewish experience in a given area. List of Jewish museums Notable Jewish museums include: *Albania ** Solomon Museum, Berat *Australia ** Jewish Mu ...

the Whitney Museum 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), ...

, Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, the

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), comprising the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, is the largest public arts institution in the city of San Francisco. The permanent collection of the ...

Works

* ''Persephone'' (Ceramic sculpture, 1989) * ''Messenger'' (Cast bronze sculpture, 1991–92) * ''What Color Lament?'' (Oil and collage on board, 1991–93) * ''Knowing by Heart'' (closed) (Acrylic, oil, and collage on panel, 1997) * ''Knowing by Heart'' (open) (Acrylic, oil, and collage on panel, 1997) * ''This is the Remembering'' (closed) (Oil and acrylic on panel, 1996–97) * ''This is the Remembering'' (open) (Oil and acrylic on panel, 1996–97) * ''Migration'' (closed) (Acrylic, oil, and collage on panel, 1998–99) * ''Migration'' (open) (Acrylic, oil, and collage on panel, 1998–99) * ''Where or When?'' (closed) (Acrylic, oil and collage on panel, 1998–99) * ''Where or When?'' (open) (Acrylic, oil and collage on panel, 1998–99) * ''Ballad'' (closed) (Acrylic, oil and collage on panel, 1997–99) * ''Ballad (''open) (Acrylic, oil and collage on panel, 1997–99) * ''Creature'' (Oil on panel, 1999)

Bibliography

Rosen, Randy, and Catherine C. Brawer. ''Making Their Mark: Women Artists Move into the Mainstream, 1970-85''. New York: Abbeville Press, 1988.Mary Frank: Recent Paintings and Pastels
1996 (exhibition catalogue), DC Moore Gallery, 1996
Mary Frank: Recent Paintings and Pastels
1998 (exhibition catalogue), DC Moore Gallery, 1998 *
Mary Frank: Experiences
2003 (exhibition catalogue), DC Moore Gallery, 2003
Mary Frank: Paintings and Works on Paper
2006 (exhibition catalogue), DC Moore Gallery, 2006
Nochlin, Linda, and Maura Reilly. ''Women Artists: The Linda Nochlin Reader'', 2015.

References

Sources

* Davenport, Ray
"Davenport's Art Reference and Price Guide, Gold Edition"
(

Ventura, California Ventura, officially named San Buenaventura (Spanish for "Saint Bonaventure"), is a city on the Southern Coast of California and the county seat of Ventura County. The population was 110,763 at the 2020 census. Ventura is a popular tourist des ...

, 2005) ISSN 1540-1553; OCLC 18196910 * Nochlin, Linda; Mary Frank; and Judy Collischan
''Mary Frank : encounters''
( Purchase, NY: Neuberger Museum of Art,

Purchase College Purchasing is the process a business or organization uses to acquire goods or services to accomplish its goals. Although there are several organizations that attempt to set standards in the purchasing process, processes can vary greatly betwee ...

, State University of New York; New York : Harry N. Abrams, 2000) ; ; OCLC 4370850

External links

* *''

The New York Sun ''The New York Sun'' is an American online newspaper published in Manhattan; from 2002 to 2008 it was a daily newspaper distributed in New York City. It debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of the earlier New Yor ...

''
"Frank's Fearless Exertion,"
January 24, 2008.
Brooklyn Rail Mary Frank with John Yau

Askart.com on Mary Frank, including Images of several works

*
DC Moore Gallery artist page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frank, Mary 1933 births 20th-century American sculptors 21st-century American sculptors 20th-century American painters 21st-century American painters 20th-century American women artists 21st-century American women artists 20th-century American printmakers American women sculptors Living people American illustrators Jewish American artists Jewish painters Jewish sculptors American women painters American women illustrators American women printmakers The High School of Music & Art alumni 21st-century American Jews Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters

Biography

Works

Bibliography

See also

References

Sources

External links