biografía de Marguerite Thompson ZORACH (1887-1968)

Lugar de nacimiento: Santa Rosa, CA

Lugar de defunción: Brooklyn, NY

Direcciones: Greenwich Village, NYC; Brooklyn, NY/Robinhood, ME

Profesión: Painter, craftsperson, mural painter

Estudios: Stanford Univ., 1908; Grande Chaumière, Paris, with F. Auburtin, 1908; La Palette sch., with John Duncan Fergusson, Paris, 1908-11.

Exposiciones: Salon d'Automne, 1908, 1911; Soc. Indep. Artists, Paris, 1911; Soc. Indep. Artists, NYC, 1917-18, 1921-24, 1941; Royar Gals., Los Angeles, 1912 (solo); Armory Show, NY, 1913; Contemporaries, NYC, 1913 (solo); Playhouse, Cleveland, 1913; Daniel Gal., NYC, 1915, 1916, 1918 (embroideries); Pan-Pacific Expo, San Fran.,1915 (medal); Forum Exh., NYC, 1916 (only woman to exhibit); Soc. Indep. Artists, 1917, 1918; AIC, 1920 (Logan medal); Dayton MA, 1922; Salons of Am.; 1922-36; Montross Gal., NYC, 1923 (solo) (traveling); Downtown Gal., NYC, 1928 (solo), 1930 (solo), 1934 (solo); Corcoran Gal. biennials, 1930-45 (4 times); PAFA Ann., 1930-64 (12 times); Brummer Gal., NYC, 1935 (solo); Knoedler Gals., NYC, 1944 (solo); WMAA, 1932, 1940, 1951-52; Kraushaar Gals., NYC, 1953, 1957, 1962, 1968 (all solos); Zorach Day," Bowdoin College, 1958; Bates College, 1964; Maine Art Gal., Wiscasset, 1968 (traveling); Brummer Gal.; Colby College, 1968; CPLH, 1956, 1969 (solo); Nat. Coll. FA, Washington, DC, 1973-74; Farnsworth Lib. & Art Mus., Rockland, ME, 1980. Awards: hon. D.F.A."

Asociaciones: NY Soc. Women Artists (founder, 1st pres., 1925); Am. Soc. PS&G.

Obra: NMAA; MMA; WMAA; MoMA; Newark Mus.; BM; Colby College; Speed Mus.; Massillon Mus. WPA murals, USPO, Peterborough, NH; Ripley, TN; Monticello, IL.

Comentarios: Pioneer American modernist, one of the first to introduce Fauvist and Cubist styles in the U.S. between 1910-20. After studying in Paris (1908-11) and visiting Egypt, Palestine, India, and Japan (1911), she returned to her Fresno home, where she produced brilliantly colored Fauvist landscapes (some depicting the Sierras and Yosemite, a favorite subject throughout her career), using orange, crimson, and purple as her palette and enclosing her forms in thick black outlines. She married William Zorach in December of 1912 (they had met in Paris) and the couple moved to Greenwich Village. Marguerite continued painting in a Fauvist style until 1915 when she began imposing a Cubist structure on her landscapes. After the birth of her two children in 1915 (Tessim) and 1917 (Dahlov, who later became an artist ó see Dahlov Ipcar) she had less time for painting and began making embroideries in brilliant colors, often depicting stylized arcadian scenes (first shown in 1918 at the Daniel Gal.). These large tapestries became her main artistic focus after 1920, although she continued to paint and also assisted her husband on some of his large projects. In the 1930s, M. Zorach completed two WPA murals for the Fresno post office and court house, depicting farmworkers picking grapes; the murals were rejected, however, by officials who wanted something more traditional. Note: upon leaving Calif. in 1912, M. Zorach had thrown out a large group of drawings and paintings, bringing with her only a small group that remained rolled up until 1968 when she gave them to her son Tessim. These were subsequently restored and exhibited (see Tarbell, Marguerite Zorach). Author: newspaper articles, written and illustrated during her stay in Paris for her hometown newspaper.

Fuentes: WW66; WW47; W. Homer, Avant-Garde Painting and Sculpture in America; Rubinstein, American Women Artists, 172-76; A. Davidson, Early American Modernist Painting, 166-67, 249-51; Roberta Tarbell, Marguerite Zorach: The Early Years, 1908-1920 (Wash. DC: Natl Coll. of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Inst, 1973); P&H Samuels, 548; Petteys, Dictionary of Women Artists.