Maxine Albro (January 20, 1893 – July 19, 1966) was an American painter, muralist, lithographer, mosaic artist, and sculptor. She was one of America's leading female artists, and one of the few women commissioned under the New Deal's
Federal Art Project
The Federal Art Project (1935–1943) was a New Deal program to fund the visual arts in the United States. Under national director Holger Cahill, it was one of five Federal Project Number One projects sponsored by the Works Progress Administrati ...
, which also employed
Jackson Pollock
Paul Jackson Pollock (; January 28, 1912August 11, 1956) was an American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. He was widely noticed for his " drip technique" of pouring or splashing liquid household paint onto a hor ...
,
Mark Rothko
Mark Rothko (), born Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz (russian: Ма́ркус Я́ковлевич Ротко́вич, link=no, lv, Markuss Rotkovičs, link=no; name not Anglicized until 1940; September 25, 1903 – February 25, 1970), was a Lat ...
, and
Willem de Kooning
Willem de Kooning (; ; April 24, 1904 – March 19, 1997) was a Dutch-American abstract expressionist artist. He was born in Rotterdam and moved to the United States in 1926, becoming an American citizen in 1962. In 1943, he married painter El ...
.
Life
Ethel Maxine Albro was born in 1893 in
Ayrshire, Iowa, the daughter of Frank Albro, a grain buyer
[1900 United States Federal Census] and piano salesman, and Cordelia Mead. She had an older brother, Francis, and a younger brother, Harold.
She spent part of her youth in
Estherville, Iowa
Estherville is a city in Emmet County, Iowa, United States. The population was 5,904 in the 2020 census, a decline from 6,656 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Emmet County.
History
Emmet County was initially created by an act of th ...
.
She grew up in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
. Her father's family came from England and settled in Rhode Island before moving west, and her mother's ancestors were of Irish-English descent.
In 1920, she moved to
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
where she studied at the
California School of Fine Arts
San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a private college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mississippi River. Approximatel ...
from 1923 to 1925. A year later, she enrolled in the
Art Students League of New York. In the early 1920s, she lived in
Burlingame, California. In 1927, she studied at
Académie de la Grande Chaumière
The Académie de la Grande Chaumière is an art school in the Montparnasse district of Paris, France.
History
The school was founded in 1904 by the Catalan painter Claudio Castelucho on the rue de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, near the Acad ...
in Paris, before embarking to Mexico, where she would study underneath one of Diego Rivera's assistants, and eventually make the acquaintance of
Diego Rivera
Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez, known as Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957), was a prominent Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the ...
.
Albro was one of the few women who were part of the
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...
's Federal Art Project, a program initiated under
President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. Due to the high rate of joblessness during the
Great Depression, these art programs were required to employ female artists, making this period the first time in history in which women were hired without discrimination in the United States.
Throughout the 1930s, Albro executed many commissions under the federal program, including murals at
Coit Tower
Coit Tower is a tower in the Telegraph Hill neighborhood of San Francisco, California, offering panoramic views over the city and the bay. The tower, in the city's Pioneer Park, was built between 1932 and 1933 using Lillie Hitchcock Coit's beq ...
and a mosaic at
San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different ...
.
None of the artists working on the mural had ever actually used mosaic as a medium before, and the WPA had to hire an Italian mosaic setter who had to teach the artists how to create and lay mosaic pieces.
In 1931, Albro had a major exhibition in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, in accord with the modern Mexican art renaissance that had been fostered in the city's galleries. Her first showing consisted of 30 paintings and 30 drawings, which the ''Art Digest'' called "a critical as well as a popular triumph."
[
A work of four nudes that Albro painted at the Ebell Women's Club in Los Angeles, titled ''Portly Roman Sybils'', offended the organization's members, and was destroyed in 1935. That year, several prominent art critics, including the young ]Arthur Miller
Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist and screenwriter in the 20th-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are ''All My Sons'' (1947), '' Death of a Salesman'' (1 ...
, rose to her defense.
"Personally I think they are beautiful decorations which deserve to live and which will be missed," Miller wrote.[
''The San Francisco News'' of May 25, 1935, printed the following:
Also destroyed was her mosaic of animals over the entrance to Anderson Hall at the University of California Extension in San Francisco.
On March 28, 1938, Albro married fellow artist Parker Hall in ]Pima, Arizona
Pima is a town in Graham County, Arizona, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population of the town was 2,387, up from 1,989 in 2000. The estimated population in 2018 was 2,512. Pima is part of the Safford Micropolitan Statistical Area ...
. They moved to Carmel, California
Carmel-by-the-Sea (), often simply called Carmel, is a city in Monterey County, California, United States, founded in 1902 and incorporated on October 31, 1916. Situated on the Monterey Peninsula, Carmel is known for its natural scenery and ric ...
, and together they would return to Mexico numerous times throughout their lives. There, Albro became an assistant to Rivera and studied with Pablo O'Higgins
Pablo Esteban O'Higgins (born Paul Higgins Stevenson; March 1, 1904 - July 16, 1983) was an American-Mexican artist, muralist and illustrator.
Early life and education
Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, O'Higgins was raised there and in San Diego, C ...
, with whom she painted frescoes. Upon her return to the United States, Albro had several large art commissions.
Albro was a member of the American Artists' Congress
The American Artists' Congress (AAC) was an organization founded in February 1936 as part of the popular front of the Communist Party USA as a vehicle for uniting graphic artists in projects helping to combat the spread of fascism. During World W ...
, California Society of Mural Artists, California Art Club
The California Art Club (CAC) is one of the oldest and most active arts organizations in California. Founded in December 1909, it celebrated its centennial in 2009 and into the spring of 2010. The California Art Club originally evolved out of The ...
, and the Carmel Art Association.[
Albro was 73 years old when she died in Los Angeles in 1966.
]
Style
Albro's artistic style is described as "clean, bright and clear with the strong rounded forms of this era, often depicting the women of Mexico, in particular those of the Tehuantepec region in Oaxaca."
Her mural titled ''California'' at San Francisco's Coit Tower
Coit Tower is a tower in the Telegraph Hill neighborhood of San Francisco, California, offering panoramic views over the city and the bay. The tower, in the city's Pioneer Park, was built between 1932 and 1933 using Lillie Hitchcock Coit's beq ...
, which depicts the bounty of California's agricultural industry, was produced under the Works Progress Administration program.
In 1934, the ''Literary Digest'' wrote about Albro's ''California'', comparing it to the other murals painted inside Coit Tower:
Two years earlier, following a successful Albro exhibition in San Francisco, art critic Junius Cravens wrote in the ''Argonaut'':
Outside of artwork commissioned for public buildings, Albro painted frescoes for many private homes.
Influences
Albro was most recognized for her frescoes and her characteristic treatment of Mexican and Spanish subject matter. The influence of Mexican art
Various types of visual arts developed in the geographical area now known as Mexico. The development of these arts roughly follows the history of Mexico, divided into the prehispanic Mesoamerican era, the colonial period, with the period after ...
is visible throughout her paintings, murals and lithographs. In an interview two years before her death, Albro said:
In particular, Albro was strongly influenced by Diego Rivera. "Watching Diego aint
The word "ain't" is a contraction for ''am not'', ''is not'', ''are not'', ''has not'', ''have not'' in the common English language vernacular. In some dialects ''ain't'' is also used as a contraction of ''do not'', ''does not'' and ''did not''. ...
was very beneficial to me," she said.
Impact
Albro's works can be found in the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 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 th ...
(MoMA), National Gallery of Art, National Museum of the American Indian
The National Museum of the American Indian is a museum in the United States devoted to the culture of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. It is part of the Smithsonian Institution group of museums and research centers.
The museum has three ...
, San Francisco's Coit Tower
Coit Tower is a tower in the Telegraph Hill neighborhood of San Francisco, California, offering panoramic views over the city and the bay. The tower, in the city's Pioneer Park, was built between 1932 and 1933 using Lillie Hitchcock Coit's beq ...
, 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 ...
, Allied Arts Guild, and in various galleries and private collections.[
Albro became a leader in the California muralist movement and was one of the first women to achieve such a prominent position.] Her work was also highlighted by numerous paintings and lithographs, which are becoming rare and valuable collection pieces. Although she specialized in Spanish and Mexican motifs, she also painted landscapes and street scenes that were inspired by her world travels.
The famed photographer Imogen Cunningham
Imogen Cunningham (; April 12, 1883 – June 23, 1976) was an American photographer known for her botanical photography, nudes, and industrial landscapes. Cunningham was a member of the California-based Group f/64, known for its dedication to t ...
took a hauntingly intimate portrait of a shrouded Albro in 1931, adding her to a collection of notable painters that she photographed, which included Frida Kahlo, Miguel Covarrubias
Miguel Covarrubias, also known as José Miguel Covarrubias Duclaud (22 November 1904 — 4 February 1957) was a Mexican painter, caricaturist, illustrator, ethnologist and art historian. Along with his American colleague Matthew W. Stirling, h ...
, and Lyonel Feininger
Lyonel Charles Feininger (July 17, 1871January 13, 1956) was a German-American painter, and a leading exponent of Expressionism. He also worked as a caricaturist and comic strip artist. He was born and grew up in New York City, traveling to Germa ...
.
See also
* Visual art of the United States
Visual art of the United States or American art is visual art made in the United States or by U.S. artists. Before colonization there were many flourishing traditions of Native American art, and where the Spanish colonized Spanish Colonial ar ...
* Public Works of Art Project
The Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) was a New Deal program designed to employ artists that operated from 1933 to 1934. The program was headed by Edward Bruce, under the United States Treasury Department with funding from the Civil Works Admin ...
* Federal Art Project
The Federal Art Project (1935–1943) was a New Deal program to fund the visual arts in the United States. Under national director Holger Cahill, it was one of five Federal Project Number One projects sponsored by the Works Progress Administrati ...
* List of Federal Art Project artists
The Federal Art Project (1935–1943) of the Works Progress Administration was the largest of the New Deal art projects. As many as 10,000 artists were employed to create murals, easel paintings, sculpture, graphic art, posters, photography, Inde ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Albro, Maxine
1893 births
1966 deaths
American muralists
People from Palo Alto County, Iowa
Artists from Iowa
Artists from the San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Art Institute alumni
Art Students League of New York alumni
American women painters
Alumni of the Académie de la Grande Chaumière
Fresco painters
20th-century American women artists
Women muralists
American women printmakers
Federal Art Project artists
Public Works of Art Project artists
20th-century American printmakers
People from Carmel-by-the-Sea, California