Jane Teller (July 5, 1911 — December 23, 1990) was an American printmaker and sculptor.

Early life and education

Jane Simon was born in 1911, in

Rochester, New York Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...

. Simon attended

Rochester Institute of Technology The Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) is a private university, private research university in Henrietta, New York, a suburb of Rochester, New York, Rochester. It was founded in 1829. It is one of only two institute of technology, institut ...

and

Skidmore College Skidmore College is a Private school, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Saratoga Springs, New York. Approximately 2,700 students are enrolled at Skidmore pursuing a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Scien ...

, and earned a bachelor's degree from

Barnard College Barnard College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college affiliated with Columbia University in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a grou ...

in 1933. She pursued further art studies through

Works Project Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to c ...

classes in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, and in classes with

Aaron Goodelman Aaron Goodelman (1890 – 1978) was an American sculptor. He graduated from art school in Odessa, fleeing Eastern Europe for the United States in 1904 because of antisemitic violence.. He attended a number of major art schools in New York and Pari ...

, Karl Nielson, and

Ibram Lassaw Ibram Lassaw (May 4, 1913 – December 30, 2003) was an Egyptian-born American sculptor of Russian heritage, known for non-objective construction in brazed metals. Early life and education Lassaw was born on May 4, 1913, in Alexandria, Egypt, o ...

Career

Jane Teller taught sculpture at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

in the 1960s, and exhibited her sculptures through the 1980s. "The strong consistency of Mrs. Teller's vision," noted a ''New York Times'' reviewer, "is expressed through a few primary forms that recur with many variations. Cylinders and circles, always referring to an organic rather than a geometric form, are at the core of many pieces." Another ''Times'' reviewer, William Zimmer, assured readers that Teller was "practically an institution in New Jersey," though her work was not so well known beyond the Northeast during her lifetime. Teller won the Mary and Gustave Kellner Prize from the

National Association of Women Artists The National Association of Women Artists, Inc. (NAWA) is a United States organization, founded in 1889 to gain recognition for professional women fine artists in an era when that field was strongly male-oriented. It sponsors exhibitions, awards ...

in 1960, the Sculpture Prize from the Philadelphia Art Alliance in 1966, and a

Women's Caucus for Art Lifetime Achievement Award The Women's Caucus for Art Lifetime Achievement Award was established under the presidency of Lee Ann Miller (1978–80). Joan Mondale, artist and wife of vice-president Walter Mondale, helped to secure approval for a national award honoring women ...

in 1988.

Personal life and legacy

Jane Simon married author Walter Teller; together they had four sons. They lived on a farm at Plumsteadville, Pennsylvania, and in Lahaska, Pennsylvania, before settling in

Princeton, New Jersey The Municipality of Princeton is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton, New Jersey, Borough of Princeton and Pri ...

. One of her sons married film director

Claudia Weill Claudia Weill is an American film director best known for her film '' Girlfriends'' (1978), starring Melanie Mayron, Christopher Guest, Bob Balaban and Eli Wallach, made independently and sold to Warner Brothers after multiple awards at Cannes, ...

. Teller died in 1990. Her papers are part of the research collection at the

Archives of American Art The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washing ...

at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

. Her sculptures can be seen at Temple Judea in

Doylestown, Pennsylvania Doylestown is a borough (Pennsylvania), borough in and the county seat of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the borough population was 8,300. Doylestown is located northwest of Trent ...

, at Princeton's Unitarian Church, at the

Library, at

Princeton University Art Museum The Princeton University Art Museum (PUAM) is the Princeton University gallery of art, located in Princeton, New Jersey. With a collecting history that began in 1755, the museum was formally established in 1882, and now houses over 117,000 work ...

, and in the collection of the James A. Michener Art Museum. Her family provided funding in her memory, for an exhibit on women printmakers by the Arts Council of Princeton in early 2015.

Selected exhibition catalogs

*''Jane Teller: Retrospective'' (Schick Art Gallery, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs NY, October 9—November 2, 1986). *''Jane Teller: Powerful Presences/Tender Connections: A Retrospective Exhibition of Sculptures and Drawings'' (Noyes Museum, Oceanville NY, September 24—December 13, 1987). *''Art, Age, and the River: Jane Teller'' (Princeton NJ 1991).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Teller, Jane American women printmakers 20th-century American sculptors Artists from Rochester, New York Rochester Institute of Technology alumni Skidmore College alumni Barnard College alumni Princeton University faculty 1911 births 1990 deaths 20th-century American women sculptors 20th-century American printmakers Sculptors from New York (state) American women academics