Muriel Brunner Castanis (1926 – 2006) was an American

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 ...

best known for her

public art Public art is art in any Media (arts), media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and phy ...

installments involving fluidly draped figures.

Biography

Born as Muriel Brunner on September 27, 1926 in New York City, the youngest of six children. She was raised in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

and attended New York's High School of Music and Art. Castanis did not begin her art career until 1964 at the age of 38, she was self-taught. 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 ...

. Her 1980 exhibit at the OK Harris Works of Art in Manhattan led to her career breakthrough. Her work ''Corporate Goddesses'' (1982), features twelve fiberglass statues of faceless women standing 12 feet tall atop 580 California Street building, designed by architect

Philip Johnson Philip Cortelyou Johnson (July 8, 1906 – January 25, 2005) was an American architect best known for his works of modern and postmodern architecture. Among his best-known designs are his modernist Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut; the pos ...

, have stirred varying interpretations, as viewers try to understand the symbolism. She died on 22 November 2006 at age 80 from

lung failure Respiratory failure results from inadequate gas exchange by the respiratory system, meaning that the arterial oxygen, carbon dioxide, or both cannot be kept at normal levels. A drop in the oxygen carried in the blood is known as hypoxemia; a rise ...

neighborhood in New York City, and was survived by her husband George Castanis and their four children.

Works

References

External links

580 California Street Sculpture, San FranciscoOral history interview with Muriel Castanis, 1971

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 ...

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 ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Castanis, Muriel 1926 births 2006 deaths Sculptors from New York City Deaths from respiratory failure Artists from Greenwich Village 20th-century American sculptors 20th-century American women artists The High School of Music & Art alumni Sculptors from New York (state) 21st-century American women 20th-century American women sculptors