Sheila Levrant de Bretteville (born 1940) is an American graphic designer, artist and educator whose work reflects her belief in the importance of feminist principles and user participation in
graphic design. In 1990 she became the director of the
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 ...
Graduate Program in Graphic Design and the first woman to receive tenure at the
Yale University School of Art. In 2010 she was named the Caroline M. Street Professor of Graphic Design.
[
]
Early life and education
Sheila Levrant de Bretteville was born in 1940 in Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...
, New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
. She graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in 1959. At Lincoln, she studied under Leon Friend
Leon Friend (February 22, 1902 – June 11, 1969) was a graphic design educator.
Biography
Leon Friend was born in Warsaw, Poland on February 22, 1902, later immigrating to Schenectady, New York in 1905. He married Ann Bickel and together ha ...
who first exposed her to modern graphic design and the social responsibility of designers.
De Bretteville holds degrees from Barnard College
Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Col ...
and 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 ...
and has been awarded Honorary Doctorates from the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), the Moore College of Art
Moore College of Art & Design is a private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its undergraduate programs are available only for female students, but its other educational programs, including graduate programs, are co-educational.
Hist ...
and California College of the Arts
California College of the Arts (CCA) is a private art school in San Francisco, California. It was founded in Berkeley, California in 1907 and moved to a historic estate in Oakland, California in 1922. In 1996 it opened a second campus in San ...
.
Career
In 1971, de Bretteville founded the first design program for women at the California Institute of the Arts
The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of bo ...
, and two years later co-founded the Woman's Building, a public center in Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...
dedicated to women's education and culture. In 1973, de Bretteville founded the Women's Graphic Center and co-founded the Feminist Studio Workshop (along with Judy Chicago
Judy Chicago (born Judith Sylvia Cohen; July 20, 1939) is an American feminist artist, art educator, and writer known for her large collaborative art installation pieces about birth and creation images, which examine the role of women in history ...
and Arlene Raven
Arlene Raven (Arlene Rubin: July 12, 1944, Baltimore, Maryland – August 1, 2006, Brooklyn, New York) was a feminist art historian, author, critic, educator, and curator. Raven was a co-founder of numerous feminist art organizations in Los ...
), both based at the Woman's Building.
She designed a necklace of an eye bolt
An eye bolt is a bolt with a loop at one end. They are used to firmly attach a securing eye to a structure, so that ropes or cables may then be tied to it.
Eye bolts
Machinery eye bolts are fully threaded and may have a collar, making them sui ...
on a chain, meant to represent "strength without a fist" as well as the biological symbol of women; she gave the first of these to Arlene Raven
Arlene Raven (Arlene Rubin: July 12, 1944, Baltimore, Maryland – August 1, 2006, Brooklyn, New York) was a feminist art historian, author, critic, educator, and curator. Raven was a co-founder of numerous feminist art organizations in Los ...
and Judy Chicago
Judy Chicago (born Judith Sylvia Cohen; July 20, 1939) is an American feminist artist, art educator, and writer known for her large collaborative art installation pieces about birth and creation images, which examine the role of women in history ...
when they started the Feminist Studio Workshop in 1972. Since then she has given them to other women with whom she shares a vision of the creation of women's culture.[ Members of the Feminist Studio Workshop of 1978–79 also made 500 of these necklaces to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the Woman's Building in Los Angeles.][ The feminist art group Sisters of Jam (Mikaela & Moa Krestesen) turned the necklace into a mobile monument; they see the eye bolt "as a symbol for the work already done but also as an encouragement for the work that is not yet completed."][ Sisters of Jam also did the installation "Hello Sheila", which features an eye bolt on a chain, at the Survival Kit Festival in ]Umeå
Umeå ( , , , locally ; South Westrobothnian: ;). fi, Uumaja; sju, Ubmeje; sma, Upmeje; se, Ubmi) is a city in northeast Sweden. It is the seat of Umeå Municipality and the capital of Västerbotten County.
Situated on the Ume River, U ...
in 2014.
In 1980 de Bretteville initiated the communication design program at the Otis College of Art and Design
Otis College of Art and Design is a private art and design school in Los Angeles, California. Established in 1918, it was the city's first independent professional school of art. The main campus is located in the former IBM Aerospace headquarte ...
.[
]
De Bretteville has had a lifelong interest in communal forms of art, which she believed were an essential component of the Feminist art movement in the United States
The feminist art movement in the United States began in the early 1970s and sought to promote the study, creation, understanding and promotion of women's art.
First-generation feminist artists include Judy Chicago, Miriam Schapiro, Suzanne Lacy ...
. In 1973, she created "Pink," a broadside meant to explore the notions of gender as associated with the color pink, for an American Institute of Graphic Arts exhibition about color. This was the only entry about the color pink. Various women including many in the Feminist Studio Workshop submitted entries exploring their association with the color. De Bretteville arranged the squares of paper to form a “quilt” from which posters were printed and disseminated throughout Los Angeles. She was referred to by the nickname "Pinky" as a result.
De Bretteville has worked extensively in the field of public art
Public art is art in any 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 physically acce ...
creating works embedded within city neighborhoods. One of her best-known pieces is "Biddy Mason's Place: A Passage of Time,” an 82-foot concrete wall with embedded objects in downtown Los Angeles that tells the story of Biddy Mason
Biddy Mason (August 15, 1818 – January 15, 1891) was an African-American nurse and a Californian real estate entrepreneur and philanthropist. She was one of the founders of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Los Angeles, Califor ...
, a former slave who became a midwife
A midwife is a health professional who cares for mothers and newborns around childbirth, a specialization known as midwifery.
The education and training for a midwife concentrates extensively on the care of women throughout their lifespan; ...
in Los Angeles and lived near the site. In “Path of Stars,” completed in 1994 in a New Haven
New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...
neighborhood, de Bretteville documented the lives of local citizens—past and present—with 21 granite stars set in the sidewalk.
She was interviewed for the film '' !Women Art Revolution''.
She is a member of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences
Awards
She has been honored with many awards such as a 2009 “Grandmaster” award from the New York Art Directors Club and several awards from the American Institute of Graphic Arts
The American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) is a professional organization for design. Its members practice all forms of communication design, including graphic design, typography, interaction design, user experience, branding and identity ...
, including a ”Design Legend Gold Medal” for 2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
, “Best Public Artwork” recognition for 2005 from Americans for the Arts
Americans for the Arts is a nonprofit organization whose primary focus is advancing the arts in the United States. With offices in Washington, D.C., and New York City, with more than 50 years of service. Americans for the Arts is dedicated to re ...
, and several honorary doctorates.
See also
* First Things First 2000 manifesto The First Things First 2000 manifesto, launched by '' Adbusters'' magazine in 1999, was an updated version of the earlier First Things First manifesto written and published in 1964 by Ken Garland, a British designer.
The 2000 manifesto was signed ...
, signed by de Bretteville (among others)
References
*
Bibliography
* De Bretteville, Sheila Levrant. "More of the Young Men Are Feminists: An Interview with Shiela Levrant de Bretteville" In ''Women in Graphic Design 1890–2012,'' edited by Gerda Breuer and Julia Meer, p. 236-241. Berlin: Jovis, 2012.
* Hale, Sondra, and Terry Wolverton (eds). ''From Site To Vision: The Woman's Building in Contemporary Culture''. Los Angeles, CA: Ben Maltz Gallery, Otis College of Art and Design, 2011.
* Redniss, L. "First Person: Three Styles." ''Print'' v. 58 no. 2 (March/April 2004) p. 56–61
* Close, J. A. "Reconcilable Differences." ''ID'' (v. 48 no. 1 (January/February 2001) p. 58
* Pou, A. "Exploding the Model: On Youth and Art." ''Public Art Review'' v. 9 no. 2 (Spring/Summer 1998) p. 4–11
* Betsky, A., et al., "The I.D. Forty: An Insider's Guide to America's Leading Design Innovators." ''ID'' (New York, N.Y.) v. 40 (January/February 1993) p. 45–67
* Brown, B. A. "Hope for the 90's" (What Feminist Art Movement Leaders Feel Today." ''Artweek'' v. 21 (February 8, 1990) p. 22-3
* Brumfield, J. "Sheila Levrant de Bretteville (interview with Yale's new director of the graduate program on graphic design)." ''Graphis'' v. 47 (March/April 1991) p. 30-5
* De Bretteville, Sheila Levrant. "Some aspects of design from the perspective of a woman designer." In ''Looking Closer 3: Classic Writings on Graphic Design,'' edited by Michael Bierut, et al., p. 238–245. New York: Allworth Press, 1999. Originally published i
''Icographic'' 6
(1973).
* De Bretteville, Sheila Levrant, and John Brumfield. "Sheila Levrant de Bretteville." ''Graphis'' 47, no. 272 (March–April 1991): 30–5.
* De Bretteville, Sheila Levrant, and Ellen Lupton. "Sheila Levrant de Bretteville." ''Eye'' 2, no. 8 (1993): 10–16.
* De Forest, A. "Sheila Levrant de Bretteville (the Biddy Mason Wall, Los Angeles." ''ID'' (New York, N.Y.) v. 37 (May/June 1990) p. 24
* Deneve, R. "A Feminist Option." ''Print'' 30, no. 3 (May–June 1976): 54–9, 88–90.
* Wallis, B. "Public Art Marks Historic L.A. Site." ''Art in America'' v. 78 (June 1990) p. 207
Further reading
Video Interview with Sheila de Bretteville 1990
Video Interview with Sheila de Bretteville 2008
AIGA Medalist, Sheila de Bretteville
* ''Emigre'' 51: First Things First, 1999
“Good Design Is Feminist Design”: An Interview with Sheila de Bretteville
Artist's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bretteville, Sheila Levrant de
1940 births
Living people
AIGA medalists
American graphic designers
American women graphic designers
American typographers and type designers
Barnard College alumni
Feminist artists
Artists from Brooklyn
Yale School of Art alumni
20th-century American artists
20th-century American women artists
21st-century American artists
21st-century American women artists