Mildred Constantine
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Mildred Constantine Bettelheim (June 28, 1913 – December 10, 2008) was an American
curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...
who helped bring attention to the posters and other graphic design in the collection of the
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
in the 1950s and 1960s


Biography

Constantine (she used her maiden name professionally) was born in 1913 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 ...
, New York. She received bachelor's and master's degrees from
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, th ...
and attended the graduate school of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. She worked for the
College Art Association The College Art Association of America (CAA) is the principal organization in the United States for professionals in the visual arts, from students to art historians to emeritus faculty. Founded in 1911, it "promotes these arts and their underst ...
from 1931 to 1937 as an editorial assistant on the journal ''Parnassus''. She met Rene d'Harnoncourt, her future boss as director of the Museum of Modern Art, while she was working in Washington, D.C. at the
Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs The Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, later known as the Office for Inter-American Affairs, was a United States agency promoting inter-American cooperation (Pan-Americanism) during the 1940s, especially in commercial and econ ...
. She also traveled to
Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
, in 1936, as part of the leftist Committee Against War and Fascism, where she developed an interest in Latin and Central American political graphics. A Latin American poster collection she organized was shown at the
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...
and later became part of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
's permanent collection. While in Washington, she met Ralph Bettelheim, a refugee from Austria and an economist. They were married in 1942. From 1943 through 1970, Constantine worked in the architecture and design department of the Museum of Modern Art, as associate curator and later as curatorial consultant, where she helped popularize collections that were hard to categorize or had been ignored, which she called "fugitive material". Her 1948 exhibition ''Polio Posters'' was the museum's first devoted to causes, and included works she commissioned to help spread awareness of various social issues. She organized solo exhibitions for
graphic Graphics () are visual images or designs on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, screen, paper, or stone, to inform, illustrate, or entertain. In contemporary usage, it includes a pictorial representation of data, as in design and manufacture, ...
and product designers including
Alvin Lustig Alvin Lustig (February 8, 1915 - December 5, 1955) was an American book designer, graphic designer and typeface designer. Lustig has been honored by the American Institute of Graphic Arts and the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame for his significan ...
,
Bruno Munari Bruno Munari (October 24, 1907 in Milan – September 29, 1998 in Milan) was an Italian artist, designer, and inventor who contributed fundamentals to many fields of visual arts (painting, sculpture, film, industrial design, graphic design) in ...
,
Massimo Vignelli Massimo Vignelli (; January 10, 1931 – May 27, 2014) was an Italian designer who worked in a number of areas including packaging, houseware, furniture, public signage, and showroom design. He was the co-founder of Vignelli Associates, with his ...
and
Tadanori Yokoo is a Japanese graphic designer, illustrator, printmaker and painter. Yokoo’s signature style of psychedelia and pastiche engages a wide span of modern visual and cultural phenomena from Japan and around the world. Career Tadanori Yokoo, bo ...
that were described by ''
The 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 ...
'' as "career-defining." Her broader-themed exhibitions in the applied and decorative arts included ''Olivetti: Design in Industry'' in 1952, ''Signs in the Street'' in 1954, and the 1962 exhibit of ''Lettering by Hand''. Constantine organized the 1968 exhibition titled ''Word and Image'', which was the first exhibition to focus on the posters in the museum's collection from the 20th century, and whose catalog is considered a major element documenting the history of the poster. In his January 1968 review of the exhibit, art critic
John Canaday John Edwin Canaday (February 1, 1907 – July 19, 1985) was a leading American art critic, author and art historian. Early life and education John Canaday was born in Fort Scott, Kansas, to Franklin and Agnes F. (Musson) Canaday. His family m ...
of ''The New York Times'' wrote:
"the Museum of Modern Art's new exhibition of posters, which opened yesterday under the title ''Word and Image,'' is so handsome that for a minute you wonder why billboards are disfigurements," noting that the museum had held 35 prior poster exhibitions but that this was its most comprehensive and that while most posters look dated after a few years, the items Constantine selected from the museum's collection of 2,000 posters "are as forceful as when they were issued."
Critic
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; ...
's review in The Times, described the exhibit as consisting of 300 posters from the period from 1879 to 1967, chosen by Constantine based on their "esthetic merit," though Kramer felt that the exhibit could not explain the late-1960s poster fad whose psychedelic designs he believed were no match for the graphic masterpieces of earlier days. Constantine died at age 95 on December 10, 2008 of heart failure in her home in
Nyack, New York Nyack () is a village located primarily in the town of Orangetown in Rockland County, New York, United States. Incorporated in 1872, it retains a very small western section in Clarkstown. It is a suburb of New York City lying approximately no ...
.Heller, Steve
"Mildred Constantine, 95, MoMA Curator, Is Dead "
''
The 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 ...
'', December 16, 2008.


Textiles

Constantine also curated and wrote about textiles. Along with
Jack Lenor Larsen Jack Lenor Larsen (August 5, 1927 – December 22, 2020) was an American textile designer, author, collector and promoter of traditional and contemporary craftsmanship. Through his career he was noted for bringing fabric patterns and textiles to ...
, Constantine curated wall hangings that toured 11 cities from 1968-1969 and wrote ''Beyond Craft: The Art Fabric'' in 1973. In 1972, Mildred Constantine reproduced Alice Adams’s 1966 Construction in her book Beyond Craft. She wrote the book in conjunction with
Jack Lenor Larsen Jack Lenor Larsen (August 5, 1927 – December 22, 2020) was an American textile designer, author, collector and promoter of traditional and contemporary craftsmanship. Through his career he was noted for bringing fabric patterns and textiles to ...
which was the first in-depth look of the emergent fiber art movement. This text spoke about how fiber art evolved, defined its aesthetic intentions, and defended work made of fiber as “fine art." Following her 1971 departure from the
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
, she produced exhibitions and books on the subjects of caricature, cartoons, decorative arts and photography, and also curated the 1988 ''Frontiers in Fiber: The Americans,'' and the 2002 exhibit ''Small Works in Fiber'', both of which drew attention to
textile Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...
and
fiber art Fiber art (fibre art in British spelling) refers to fine art whose material consists of natural or synthetic fiber and other components, such as fabric or yarn. It focuses on the materials and on the manual labor on the part of the artist as ...


Author

Constantine wrote or co-wrote many books on fiber arts and other subjects:. *1960 ''Art Nouveau: Art and Design at the Turn of the Century,'' editor (with
Peter Selz Peter Howard Selz (March 27, 1919 – June 21, 2019) was a German-born American art historian and museum director and curator who specialized in German Expressionism. Biography Peter Selz was born in Munich of Jewish parents. In 1936, aged 17, h ...
) *1969 ''Word And Image: Posters from the Collection of the Museum of Modern Art'' (with Alan M. Fern) *1973 ''Beyond Craft: The Art of Fabric'' (with
Jack Lenor Larsen Jack Lenor Larsen (August 5, 1927 – December 22, 2020) was an American textile designer, author, collector and promoter of traditional and contemporary craftsmanship. Through his career he was noted for bringing fabric patterns and textiles to ...
) *1974 ''Revolutionary Soviet Film Posters'' *1981 ''Art Fabric: Mainstream'' *1983 ''Tina Modotti: A Fragile Life'' *1986 ''The Art Fabric: Mainstream'' *1997 ''Whole Cloth'' *1999 ''25 for the 25th: Glancing Back, Gazing Ahead'' (with Lloyd Cotsen,
Jack Lenor Larsen Jack Lenor Larsen (August 5, 1927 – December 22, 2020) was an American textile designer, author, collector and promoter of traditional and contemporary craftsmanship. Through his career he was noted for bringing fabric patterns and textiles to ...
and Patricia Mal) *2000 ''Theo Leffmann'' (with
Mary Jane Jacob Mary Jane Jacob is an American curator, writer, and educator from Chicago, Illinois. She is a professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and is the Executive Director of Exhibitions and Exhibition Studies. She has held posts as Chief C ...
, Theo Leffmann and David Mickenberg) *2004 ''Jack Lenor Larsen: Creator and Collector'' (with David Revere McFadden)


See also

*
Women in the art history field Women were professionally active in the academic discipline of art history in the nineteenth century and participated in the important shift early in the century that began involving an "emphatically corporeal visual subject", with Vernon Lee as a ...


References


Further reading

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Constantine, Mildred 1913 births 2008 deaths American art curators American women curators People associated with the Museum of Modern Art (New York City) National Autonomous University of Mexico alumni New York University alumni People from Brooklyn People from Nyack, New York