Nancy Ann Frankel (May 8, 1929 – July 28, 2021) was an American sculptor based in Washington, D.C. Her work explores "organic geometric" forms in a variety of media, including wood,

Plexiglas Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) belongs to a group of materials called engineering plastics. It is a transparent thermoplastic. PMMA is also known as acrylic, acrylic glass, as well as by the trade names and brands Crylux, Plexiglas, Acrylite, ...

Hydrocal Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for Molding (decorative), moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of ...

, design cast, and steel.

Biography and training

Frankel was born Nancy Ann Disbrow in Orange, N.J. She was raised in nearby

East Orange East Orange is a City (New Jersey), city in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 69,612. The city was List of municipalities in ...

by her maternal grandmother after her parents's divorce. She studied art at the

Tyler School of Art The Tyler School of Art and Architecture is based at Temple University, a large, urban, public research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Tyler currently enrolls about 1,350 undergraduate students and about 200 graduate students in a wid ...

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...

. Frankel earned her master's of fine arts degree at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. While living 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 ...

, Frankel took a painting course with

Hans Hofmann Hans Hofmann (March 21, 1880 – February 17, 1966) was a German-born American painter, renowned as both an artist and teacher. His career spanned two generations and two continents, and is considered to have both preceded and influenced Abstrac ...

, where she was exposed to

abstract impressionism Abstract Impressionism is an art movement that originated in New York City, in the 1940s.Eduoard Malingue Gallery. ''Impressionism to Modern Art.'' Hong Kong: Eduard Malingue Gallery, 2011. 10. It involves the painting of a subject such as real-li ...

. She moved to the

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

area in 1963.

Career and work

Frankel began sculpting while at Temple University. After earning her MFA, Frankel learned how to weld at the

SculptureCenter SculptureCenter is a not-for-profit, contemporary art museum located in Long Island City, Queens, New York City. It was founded in 1928 as "The Clay Club" by Dorothea Denslow. In 2013, SculptureCentre attracted around 13,000 visitors. History Fou ...

. Although she practiced regularly in the years following

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 opposin ...

, Frankel described herself and her work as "invisible" until her interaction with other women artists at the 1972

Conference of Women in the Visual Arts The Conference of Women in the Visual Arts was an event held on April 20, 1972, through 22, 1972 at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington DC. The conference was organized by Cynthia Bickley, Mary Beth Edelson, Barbara Frank, Enid Sanford, Su ...

, which was held at the

Corcoran Gallery of Art The Corcoran Gallery of Art was an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, that is now the location of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, a part of the George Washington University. Overview The Corcoran School of the Arts & Design ...

in Washington, D.C. This conference allowed women artists, including Frankel, to navigate professional vetting structures — known as slide registries — by which an artist's work became known to area galleries. In 2019, the Katzen Arts Center at

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

mounted a retrospective exhibition of Nancy Frankel's work - "Nancy at Ninety: A Retrospective of Form and Color."

Death

Frankel died at the age of 92 in her

Kensington, Maryland Kensington is a town in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. The population was 2,213 at the 2010 United States Census. Greater Kensington encompasses the entire 20895 ZIP code, with a population of 19,054. History The area around th ...

, home. Her 26-year-old roommate, Julia Birch, confessed to suffocating her and was charged with

first-degree murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the c ...

. Birch was known to Frankel’s family. According to police reports, their relatives had met through working with the Catholic church in Maryland.

Collections

* ''Conversation I''.

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

at the

Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center is a performing arts complex on the campus of the University of Maryland, College Park. The facility, which opened in 2001, houses six performance venues; the UM School of Music; and the UMD School of The ...

. College Park, Maryland. * ''Whimsey,'' 2009''.'' Embassy of Bulgaria. Washington, D.C. * ''Clarity'', 2010.

American University Museum The American University Museum is located within the Katzen Arts Center at the American University in Washington, DC. History and description The American University Museum consists of a three-story, museum and sculpture garden. The region’s ...

at the

Katzen Arts Center The Cyrus and Myrtle Katzen Arts Center is home to all of the visual and performing arts programs at American University and the American University Museum It is located at Ward Circle, the intersection of Nebraska Avenue and Massachusetts Avenue ...

. Washington, D.C.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frankel, Nancy 1929 births 2021 deaths 20th-century American sculptors 21st-century American sculptors American women sculptors Artists from Washington, D.C. People murdered in Maryland Columbia University School of the Arts alumni 20th-century American women 21st-century American women