Joan Snyder
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Joan Snyder (born April 16, 1940) is an American
painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...
from
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 is a MacArthur Fellow, a
Guggenheim Fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...
, and a
National Endowment for the Arts Fellow National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...
(1974). Snyder first gained public attention in the early 1970s with her gestural and elegant "stroke paintings," which used the grid to deconstruct and retell the story of
abstract painting Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th ...
. By the late seventies, Snyder had abandoned the formality of the grid. She began more explicitly incorporating symbols and text, as the paintings took on a more complex materiality. These early works were included in the 1973 and 1981
Whitney Biennial The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art, typically by young and lesser known artists, on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, United States. The event began as an annual exhibition in ...
s and the 1975 Corcoran Biennial. ''"The functions of Ms. Snyder's art, first and foremost, are to further the tradition of painting and to explore the most serious aspects of the human condition; to connect us not only to one another and to nature but to ancient rites and myths. She reminds us that no matter how modern and civilized we are, art can still be raw, primitive and talismanic. Without apologies or decorum, Ms. Snyder's work awakens all of the things still wild within us."'' – Lance Esplund, Wall Street Journal Often referred to as an autobiographical or confessional artist, Snyder's paintings are narratives of both personal and communal experiences. Through a fiercely individual approach and persistent experimentation with technique and materials, Snyder has extended the expressive potential of abstract painting, inspiring generations of emerging artists. Snyder currently lives and works in
Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
and Woodstock, NY. She is represented b
Canada
in New York, NY
Franklin Parrasch Gallery
in New York, NY
Parrasch Heijnen Gallery
in Los Angeles, CA
Elena Zang Gallery
in Woodstock, NY, an
Anders Wahlstedt Fine Art
in New York, NY.


Early life and education

Joan Snyder was born on April 16, 1940, in Highland Park, New Jersey. She received her BA in Sociology, from Douglass College in 1962 and her MFA from Rutgers University in 1966.


Personal life

In 1969, Snyder married photographer
Larry Fink Laurence Douglas Fink (born November 2, 1952) is an American billionaire businessman. He is the chairman and CEO of BlackRock, an American multinational investment management corporation. BlackRock is the largest money-management firm in the wor ...
. She gave birth to their daughter, Molly, in 1979. They were divorced in 1985. Her grandson Elijah was born in 2012. In 2011, Snyder married her partner of 28 years, Margaret Cammer, a retired New York State Acting Supreme Court Judge and the former NY Deputy Administrative Judge of The New York City Civil Court.


Work

While living on a New Jersey farm in 1962, Snyder worked in a studio on the Raritan River in New Brunswick, creating some of her earliest paintings of farm and landscape scenes, as well as expressionist portraits. In the mid to late 60's she was working explicitly with the idea of female sensibility, using materials in her paintings such as lentil seeds, flocking, thread, glitter and gauze. Snyder describes her processes involving non-art materials as a type of ritual act for the painting. Snyder's ideas often take form in her paintings through other means other than paint such as music, poetry and words to further push the intent of her pieces. These works eventually led to Snyder's seminal stroke paintings in the late 60's and early '70's. Snyder worked alongside artists such as
Mary Heilmann Mary Heilmann is an American painter based in New York City and Bridgehampton, NY. She has had solo shows and travelling exhibitions at galleries such as 303 Gallery (NY, NY) and Hauser & Wirth Hauser & Wirth is a Swiss contemporary and modern a ...
, Jennifer Bartlett and
Harriet Korman Harriet Korman (born 1947) is an American abstract art, abstract painter based in New York City, who first gained attention in the early 1970s.Yau, John"Harriet Korman's Formal Mastery,"''Hyperallergic'', November 18, 2018. Retrieved July 23, 20 ...
during the 1960s, all of whom were attempting to bring more process into their art making.


Stroke paintings

In the early 1970s, Snyder began to explore paint as subject, reconstructing abstract painting through gestural strokes on canvas over a gridded background. These paintings, more commonly known as her 'stroke' paintings, were included in the 1973 and 1981
Whitney Biennial The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art, typically by young and lesser known artists, on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, United States. The event began as an annual exhibition in ...
s as well as the Corcoran Biennial in 1975. Following the stroke paintings in the mid 70s, Snyder's work once again revisited female sensibility and the work more vigorously explored materiality. By the late 70s she abandoned the formality of the grid and began to more explicitly incorporate symbols and text in her paintings.


The feminist movement

In 1971, Snyder founded the Mary H. Dana Women Artist Series, "the oldest continuous running exhibition space in the United States dedicated to making visible the work of emerging and established contemporary women artists." She became a contributing member of '' Heresies, a Feminist Publication On Art and Politics'', alongside artists and critics including Ida Applebroog, Joyce Kozloff, Lucy Lippard,
Nina Yankowitz Nina Yankowitz is an American visual artist known for her work in new media technology, site specific public works, and installation art. She is a National Endowment for the Arts fellow, and a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Award recipient. Biograp ...

Joan BradermanSue Heinemann
and Miriam Schapiro, among many others.


Awards

Snyder is the recipient of a 1974
National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...
, a 1983 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, a 2007 MacArthur Fellowship, and
2016 Arts & Letters Award in Art
from the
American Academy of Arts & Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqua ...
.


Collections

Snyder's work can be found in many public collections including: *
Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...
, Chicago, IL *
Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown H ...
, Brooklyn, NY * Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX * Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY * Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, MA * High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA *
The Jewish Museum The Jewish Museum is an art museum and repository of cultural artifacts, housed at 1109 Fifth Avenue, in the former Felix M. Warburg House, along Museum Mile on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City. The first Jewish museum in the Unit ...
, New York, NY * The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY * Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA * The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY *
National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...
, Washington, DC *
National Museum of Women in the Arts The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), located in Washington, D.C., is "the first museum in the world solely dedicated" to championing women through the arts. NMWA was incorporated in 1981 by Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay. Since openin ...
, Washington, DC *
Neuberger Museum Neuberger Museum of Art is located in Purchase, New York, United States. It is affiliated with Purchase College, part of the State University of New York system. It is the nation's tenth-largest university museum. The museum is one of 14 sites on ...
, State University of New York at Purchase, NY * The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC * Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham MA * San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA * Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA *
Speed Art Museum The Speed Art Museum, originally known as the J.B. Speed Memorial Museum, now colloquially referred to as the Speed by locals, is the oldest and largest art museum in Kentucky. It was established in 1927 in Louisville, Kentucky on Third Street ...
, Louisville, KY * Tang Museum, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY * Tate Modern, London, England * University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ * Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA * Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY * Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, KA *
Zimmerli Art Museum Zimmerli is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Patrick Zimmerli * Sandra Zimmerli (born 1965), Swiss ski mountaineer and radio journalist * Walther Zimmerli (1907–1983), Swiss academic theologian See also *Zimmerli Art Museum a ...
, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ


Exhibitions

* 1976: Portland Center for the Visual Arts (Portland, Oregon) mounted an exhibition titled ''Recent Paintings''. * 1977: Wake Forest University hosted a solo exhibition of her work. * 1978: ''Seven Years of Work'',
Neuberger Museum Neuberger Museum of Art is located in Purchase, New York, United States. It is affiliated with Purchase College, part of the State University of New York system. It is the nation's tenth-largest university museum. The museum is one of 14 sites on ...
, Purchase, N.Y. (catalogue) * 1978: solo exhibition, Women's Art Registry of Minneapolis * 1979: solo exhibition, San Francisco Art Institute * 1981: ''Resurrection and Studies'', Matrix Gallery, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut * 1994: ''Joan Snyder, Painter: 1969 to Now'' was displayed at Parrish Art Museum in Southampton, L.I. It was an exhibition made up of the first 25 years of her life's work up until that point in her career. * 2005:
The Jewish Museum The Jewish Museum is an art museum and repository of cultural artifacts, housed at 1109 Fifth Avenue, in the former Felix M. Warburg House, along Museum Mile on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City. The first Jewish museum in the Unit ...
in New York City presented a 35-year survey of Snyder's work that traveled to th
Danforth Museum of Art
in Framingham, Massachusetts. The exhibition was accompanied by a monograph, ''Joan Snyder,'' with an introduction by
Norman Kleeblatt Norman L. Kleeblatt is a curator, critic, and consultant based in New York City. A long-term curator at the Jewish Museum in New York, he served as the Susan and Elihu Rose Chief Curator from 2005 to 2017. Kleeblatt has published in ''Art in Amer ...
and essays by
Hayden Herrera Hayden Herrera (née Philips; born November 20, 1940) is an American author and historian. Her book '' Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo'' was turned into a movie in 2002 and Herrera's biography ''Arshile Gorky: His Life and Work'' was named a fin ...
and
Jenni Sorkin Jenni Sorkin (born August 29, 1977) is an American art historian, curator, and educator. She is best known for her writing in art criticism, and for highlighting work by feminist artists and artists working in fiber and associated crafts. B ...
. * 2011: ''Dancing With The Dark: Joan Snyder Prints 1963-2010'' opened at the
Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University The Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum (known popularly as the Zimmerli Art Museum) is located on the Voorhees Mall of the campus of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The museum houses more than 60,000 works, including Russian and ...
, New Brunswick, NJ, and traveled t
Boston University Art Gallery
Boston, MA
University of Richmond Museums
Richmond, VA
University of New Mexico Art Museum
Albuquerque, NM accompanied by a comprehensive exhibition catalogue with an essay by the curator, Marilyn Symmes. * 2015: ''Sub Rosa'' opened at Franklin Parrasch Gallery in Manhattan NY, an exhibition of recent work. An exhibition catalogue with an essay by Joan Snyder was published in conjunction with the exhibition. * 2018: her painting ''Smashed Strokes Hope'' (1971) was included in ''Epic Abstraction: Pollock to Herrera'', a major exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY. * 2019: Blain, Southern presente
''Rosebuds & Rivers''
, Joan Snyder's first solo exhibition in the UK, composed of new and recent paintings. A monograph, ''Joan Snyder: Rosebuds & Rivers,'' was published on the occasion of the show, and features essays by Craig Burnett, art critic Rhonda Lieberman and an artist interview with Mary Schneider Enriquez, Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at Harvard Art Museums.


References


External links


Joan Snyder Website
at ArtCyclopedia
Joan Snyder
at
Artnet Artnet.com is an art market website. It is operated by Artnet Worldwide Corporation, which has headquarters in New York City, in the United States, and is owned by Artnet AG, a German publicly traded company based in Berlin that is listed on t ...

Interview with Phong BuiOral history interview with Joan Snyder, 2010 February 25-26
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution {{DEFAULTSORT:Snyder, Joan 1940 births Living people American contemporary painters Bisexual women Bisexual artists Jewish American artists Jewish painters LGBT artists from the United States MacArthur Fellows Artists from New York (state) 20th-century American painters 21st-century American painters American women painters LGBT people from New York (state) LGBT people from New Jersey 20th-century American women artists 21st-century American women artists Heresies Collective members 21st-century American Jews