Lin Emery
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Lenore Emery (May 20, 1926 – March 11, 2021) was an American visual artist based in
New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
. She is primarily known for her large-scale wind-powered kinetic sculpture and public artworks that are inspired by the forces of nature. Since 1972, all of her art has been kinetic and activated by water, magnets, motors, and wind. In 1956, she was a charter member of the Orleans Gallery, located at 527 Royal Street, which was the city's first collective artist-run and operated contemporary art space.


Early life and education

Emery's father was Hungarian and died when she was three years old. Although the family home was based in
Larchmont, New York Larchmont is a village located within the Town of Mamaroneck in Westchester County, New York, approximately northeast of Midtown Manhattan. The population of the village was 5,864 at the 2010 census. In February 2019, Bloomberg ranked Lar ...
, Lin's mother spent the winter season in Florida. This meant shuttling between a fall and springtime school in suburban New York and a winter school in Florida. Between 1935 and 1942, her early childhood education included the Edgewood
Rudolf Steiner Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner (27 or 25 February 1861 – 30 March 1925) was an Austrian occultist, social reformer, architect, esotericist, and claimed clairvoyant. Steiner gained initial recognition at the end of the nineteenth century as ...
School, Rye Country Day School, Palm Beach private school, West Palm Beach public school and Ursuline Convent School. She received private lessons in drawing, French, Latin and German. By the age of sixteen, Emery legally changed her first name from "Leonor" to "Lin" and entered college. Her university-level studies between 1942 and 1945 took place 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 ...
, Syracuse University, University of Mexico, the Goodman School of Drama in Chicago, and
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...
. After that point she worked for ''Chicago Sun-Times'' newspaper. In 1945 she moved to New Orleans and worked as fashion copy writer.


Artistic training

Emery's studies moved overseas to Paris between 1947 and 1950 at Cours de la Civilisation Francaise at the Sorbonne. She also attended evening figure drawing sessions at la Grande Chaumière in the Montparnasse arts district. Around this time she visited New Mexico and exhibited paintings at Harwood Museum, Taos. She returned to Paris in 1949 and studied sculpture in the studio of
Ossip Zadkine Ossip Zadkine (russian: Осип Цадкин; 28 January 1888 – 25 November 1967) was a Belarusian-born French artist. He is best known as a sculptor, but also produced paintings and lithographs. Early years and education Zadkine was born on ...
. Afterward she returned to New Orleans and began working in clay and plaster. From 1951 to 1952 she is enrolled at the New York Sculpture Center, first working in clay and pewter along with classmates Dorothy Dehner and Louise Nevelson. She then learned welding and casting, and exhibited with Herbert Ferver, David Hare, Seymour Lipton and David Smith. Settling back into New Orleans in 1953, she turned her French Quarter apartment into a fully equipped metal working studio.


Career in the visual arts

Lin Emery's early work was figurative. She was commissioned to portray life sized religious figures for many churches in
Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
and the South. Gradually the inner supports of the figures (welded armatures) were more interesting to her than the representational surfaces, and she created a series of abstract welded sculptures. These were successful in New Orleans and New York, and encouraged her to explore further. Being free in New Orleans to develop in new ways, she began to experiment with motion. First she used water as the motive force, and her "aquamobiles" gained recognition across America. Twenty foot bronze aquamobiles were commissioned in
Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...
,
Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...
, New Orleans, New York, and smaller water-propelled works were exhibited in museums throughout the South. Later she used magnets to create motion, and finally chose wind as a more dependable source. Wind driven sculptures for public spaces were commissioned throughout the United States and the Far East.Palmedo, Philip. "Lin Emery." Hudson Hills Press, 2011. Between 1955 and 1970, Emery's work entered into wide national circulation. A 1955 feature in ''Art in America'' led to a traveling show in American museums in the South. During this period, the evolution of Emery's practice expanded to include magnets and ''Aquamobiles'', which were inspired while she washed a spoon doing the dishes. She also exhibited at the
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appa ...
, as well as venues in Hong Kong and Manila. During this time she also shared skills with other artists, and received her first major public fountain commissions, including the 1966 Morrison Memorial fountain at the New Orleans Civic Center. From 1969 to 1970, she taught at Tulane University School of Architecture, and received private instruction in the engineering department's water lab and machine shop. Emery organized the 1976 International Sculpture Conference in New Orleans, which included lectures by
Isamu Noguchi was an American artist and landscape architect whose artistic career spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Known for his sculpture and public artworks, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Graham productions, and severa ...
,
Yaacov Agam Yaacov Agam ( he, יעקב אגם) (born 11 May 1928) is an Israeli sculptor and experimental artist widely known for his contributions to optical and kinetic art. Biography Yaacov Gibstein (later Agam) was born in Israel, which, at that time ...
,
Hilton Kramer Hilton Kramer (March 25, 1928 – March 27, 2012) was an American art critic and essayist. Biography Early life Kramer was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and was educated at Syracuse University, receiving a bachelor's degree in English; ...
,
Beverly Pepper Beverly Pepper (née Stoll; December 20, 1922 – February 5, 2020) was an American sculptor known for her monumental works, site specific and land art. She remained independent from any particular art movement. She lived in Italy, primarily in ...
,
Irving Sandler Irving Sandler (July 22, 1925 – June 2, 2018) was an American art critic, art historian, and educator. He provided numerous first hand accounts of American art, beginning with abstract expressionism in the 1950s. He also managed the Tanager Ga ...
, Seymour Lipton and
George Sugarman George Sugarman (11 May 1912 – 25 August 1999) was an American artist working in the mediums of drawing, painting, and sculpture. Often described as controversial and forward-thinking, Sugarman's prolific body of work defies a definitive sty ...
. In 1984, she was commissioned by the World's Fair. Lin Emery is represented by the Arthur Roger Gallery.


Theft of Lin Emery sculpture

In 2010, thieves broke into Emery's studio, and "...stole some tools, copper pipe, and a huge 13-segment sculpture called the Morrison Aquamobile." It is likely that the thieves stole the materials and the sculpture to sell for scrap metal.


Selected honors and awards

2012 Opus Award,
Ogden Museum of Southern Art The Ogden Museum of Southern Art is located in the Warehouse Arts District of downtown New Orleans, Louisiana. Established in 1999, and in Stephen Goldring Hall at 925 Camp Street since 2003. The building The Ogden consists of two main buildin ...
, New Orleans, LA
2005 S. Simon Sculpture Award, National Academy Museum, NY
2004 Honorary Doctorate, Loyola University of the South
2001 Governor's Arts Award, Louisiana
1998 Osaka Prefecture, Japan: Grand Prize for Public Sculpture, Osaka, Japan
1990 Lazlo Aranyi Award of Honor for Public Art
1988 Distinguished Louisiana Artist Award, N.O.C.C.A., New Orleans, LA
1984 Louisiana Women of Achievement Award
1983 National Endowment for the Arts "Interarts" Grant
1980 Mayor's Award for Achievement in the Arts, New Orleans, LA


Museum retrospectives

2018 Louisiana Art and Science Museum, LA
2017 Hilliard University Art Museum, LA
1996
New Orleans Museum of Art The New Orleans Museum of Art (or NOMA) is the oldest fine arts museum in the city of New Orleans. It is situated within City Park, a short distance from the intersection of Carrollton Avenue and Esplanade Avenue, and near the terminus of the ...
, LA
2010
Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art The Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art (LRMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum located on the campus of St. Petersburg College in Tarpon Springs, Florida. The museum houses a permanent collection which includes paintings by Abraham Rattner and co ...
, FL


References


External links

* Artist's Websit

* Arthur Roger Galler

{{DEFAULTSORT:Emery, Lin 1926 births 2021 deaths 20th-century American sculptors 20th-century American women artists 21st-century American sculptors American women sculptors 21st-century American women artists American people of Hungarian descent Artists from New Orleans Kinetic sculptors American expatriates in Mexico National Autonomous University of Mexico alumni Columbia University alumni Syracuse University alumni University of Chicago alumni