Sondra Lipton is a former fashion model from New York City, who found a second career as a painter.

Dancer

She attended Julia Richman High School and the

School of American Ballet The School of American Ballet (SAB) is the most renowned ballet school in the United States. School of American Ballet is the associate school of the New York City Ballet, a ballet company based at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New ...

founded by

George Balanchine George Balanchine (; Various sources: * * * * born Georgiy Melitonovich Balanchivadze; ka, გიორგი მელიტონის ძე ბალანჩივაძე; January 22, 1904 (O. S. January 9) – April 30, 1983) was ...

. While a pupil of ballet she danced in several

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

shows. In May 1948 Lipton was in the dance company of the Experimental Theatre which presented ''Ballet Ballads'' as one of a series of events performed at the

Maxine Elliott Theatre Maxine Elliott's Theatre was originally a Broadway theatre at 109 West 39th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Built in 1908, it was designed by architect Benjamin Marshall of the Chicago-based firm Marshall and Fox, ...

Fashion Model

At 19 she was 5'9" and felt herself too tall to be a dancer. Lipton applied at

Christian Dior Christian Ernest Dior (; 21 January 1905 – 24 October 1957) was a French fashion designer, best known as the founder of one of the world's top fashion houses, Christian Dior SE, which is now owned by parent company LVMH. His fashion houses a ...

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 ...

, and was quickly noticed by the French

couturier ''Haute couture'' (; ; French for 'high sewing', 'high dressmaking') is the creation of exclusive custom-fitted high-end fashion design that is constructed by hand from start-to-finish. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, Paris became th ...

. He suggested that she never alter her unusual appearance. She has red hair, amber eyes, an aquiline nose and large teeth. In January 1949 she modelled designs by

Fira Benenson Fira Benenson (14 April 1898 – 23 October 1977) was a Russian-born American fashion designer and dressmaker. After growing up in Baku and Saint Petersburg, her family left Russia at the end of World War I and relocated in London. Benenson gre ...

at the Pierre Hotel for a New York Heart Association Benefit. In November 1960 she was one of thirteen successful models selected to represent Mannequin, a new modelling agency in New York City. Lipton worked on fashion runways for twenty years. In 1964 she modelled a new

religious habit A religious habit is a distinctive set of religious clothing worn by members of a religious order. Traditionally some plain garb recognizable as a religious habit has also been worn by those leading the religious eremitic and anchoritic life, ...

Sybil Connolly Sybil Connolly (24 January 1921 – 6 May 1998) was a Dublin-based fashion designer who was known for creating fashion from Irish textiles, including finely pleated linen, wools such as Báinín, Limerick and Carrickmacross lace, and later for ...

at a

Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute of Catholic women founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. As of 2019, the institute had about 6200 sisters worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations. They a ...

convention. From

Dublin, Ireland Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 cen ...

, Connolly was one of the most prominent names in international

high fashion ''Haute couture'' (; ; French for 'high sewing', 'high dressmaking') is the creation of exclusive custom-fitted high-end fashion design that is constructed by hand from start-to-finish. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, Paris became th ...

. She worked on the project for two and a half years. To relax during her modelling career Lipton began to study sculpture at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

. Sculptor

Joe Eula Joseph Eula (January 16, 1925 – October 27, 2004) was an American fashion illustrator. He was a prominent illustrator in the 1960s and 70s, having held the post of creative director at Halston for ten years. Early life Eula was born Jo ...

once loaned her his studio but she began to find sculpting ''too difficult and lonely.''

Artist

In 1969 her husband was Jack Sahlman, a sales representative for California and European dress houses. Lipton was the mother of a 12-year-old son and resided in an

East Side (Manhattan) The East Side of Manhattan refers to the side of Manhattan which abuts the East River and faces Brooklyn and Queens. Fifth Avenue, Central Park from 59th to 110th Streets, and Broadway below 8th Street separate it from the West Side. The major ...

apartment. She began painting in 1963. A typical day for her was spent in her huge double bed, with her oil paints spread out around her. Her still lifes of flowers and fruits were purchased by Mrs.

Winthrop Rockefeller Winthrop Rockefeller (May 1, 1912 – February 22, 1973) was an American politician and philanthropist. Rockefeller was the fourth son and fifth child of American financer John D. Rockefeller Jr. and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller. He is one of the g ...

, Mrs. Gardner Cowles, Sir David Webster, and movie producer

Ross Hunter Ross Hunter (born Martin Terry Fuss; May 6, 1916 or 1920 – March 10, 1996) was an American film and television producer and actor. He is best known for producing light comedies such as ''Pillow Talk'' (1959), and the glamorous melodramas ''M ...

. President

Lyndon Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

and

Lady Bird Johnson Claudia Alta "Lady Bird" Johnson (''née'' Taylor; December 22, 1912 – July 11, 2007) was First Lady of the United States from 1963 to 1969 as the wife of President Lyndon B. Johnson. She previously served as Second Lady from 1961 to 1963 when ...

received one of Lipton's oils for Christmas in 1968. At an 8th floor gallery of

Lord & Taylor Lord & Taylor was the oldest brick and mortar department store in the United States, in business from 1826 to 2020. The brand was purchased during former owner Le Tote's 2020 liquidation bankruptcy and relaunched by new owner, Saadia Group, as ...

twenty of her paintings were displayed at prices ranging from $190 to $300, in 1969.''She Used to Model but Now She Paints'',

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

, November 6, 1969, Page 52. In 1976 she teamed with former fashion model, Claire Geiman, to design a line of table linens called Dining-In. There were five basic groups among their easy-care cotton collection. One was named Scarboro. Its floral motif featured combinations of lime and blue,

terracotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based ceramic glaze, unglazed or glazed ceramic where the pottery firing, fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, a ...

and peach, or chocolate and beige, all with designs in white. Introduced and sold by Lord & Taylor, prices varied from .60 for cocktail napkins to $44 for an 88-inch round cloth.''Shop Talk:Mix and Match Napery'', New York Times, January 30, 1976, Page 49.

References

External links

Sondra Lipton
Art.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Lipton, Sondra American female dancers Female models from New York (state) 20th-century American artists Models from New York City Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Dancers from New York (state) Julia Richman Education Complex alumni 20th-century American women 21st-century American women