Cynthia Mailman (born 1942 in

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New ...

, New York) is an American painter and educator. She is known for figurative and landscape works done in a "cool, pared-down" style. Her early paintings were presented from a perspective inside the artist's VW van, looking outward, and include mirrors, wipers or other interior elements against the exterior landscape. By doing this, Mailman put the observer in the driver's seat, which is also the artist's point of view. According to

Lawrence Alloway Lawrence Reginald Alloway (17 September 1926 – 2 January 1990) was an English art critic and curator who worked in the United States from 1961. In the 1950s, he was a leading member of the Independent Group in the UK and in the 1960s was an in ...

, "The interplay of directional movement and expanding space is a convincing expansion of the space of landscape painting".

Education

Mailman graduated with an academic diploma in Advertising Art and Illustration from the School of Industrial Art (SIA), earned a BS in Fine Art and Education from

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York. It has a satellite campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The school was founded in 1887 ...

, and received an MFA in painting from the Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University.

Feminism

Cynthia Mailman was an active participant in the

feminist art movement The feminist art movement refers to the efforts and accomplishments of feminists internationally to produce art that reflects women's lives and experiences, as well as to change the foundation for the production and perception of contemporary ar ...

. She was an original member of SOHO20 Artists (est. 1973), often called SOHO20 Gallery, a feminist, artist-run exhibition space. Mailman also participated in ''The Sister Chapel'', a collaborative installation that celebrated female role models, which premiered at P.S.1 in January 1978. For ''The Sister Chapel'', Mailman painted ''God'', a monumental painting of the supreme deity in the form of a powerful nude woman.

Commissions

In 1979, Mailman was commissioned to create a mural for the

PATH A path is a route for physical travel – see Trail. Path or PATH may also refer to: Physical paths of different types * Bicycle path * Bridle path, used by people on horseback * Course (navigation), the intended path of a vehicle * Desire ...

concourse at the original World Trade Center station. The commission was by the

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ, is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate compact authorize ...

through the CETA Artist Project. The 8-by-54-foot mural was entitled ''Commuter Landscape'', a view of the Pulaski Skyway as seen through the train windows. It was seen by over 100,000 people a day. It was destroyed in the first terrorist attack on the WTC in 1993. Other commissions came from City Walls, Inc. for a 24-by-26-foot wall mural in Staten Island, and from

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

for the 2000 Cow Parade in NYC

Collections

Mailman has had over 20 solo exhibitions and has participated in numerous group shows. Her work is in the permanent collections of the

Everson Museum Everson may refer to: People with the surname * Ben Everson (born 1987), English footballer * Bill Everson (1906–1966), Welsh international rugby union player * Cliff Everson, a New Zealand car designer and manufacturer * Corinna Everson (born ...

, the

Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum 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 ...

, the

Staten Island Museum Staten Island Museum (officially the Staten Island Institute of Arts & Sciences) is Staten Island’s oldest cultural institution, and the only remaining general interest museum in New York City. Founded in 1881 by fourteen of New York City’s ...

, as well as the Sylvia Sleigh Collection at the Rowan University Art Gallery. Her work is also in numerous private collections. Mailman has received grants from the

New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a U.S. state, state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the List of U.S. ...

(1976, 1987) and Staten Island, NY (1987) art council, as well as from the NJ Committee on the Humanities (1979) and a CAPS grant (1976). Her work has been reviewed and discussed in many major newspapers and art journals.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mailman, Cynthia 1942 births Living people 20th-century American painters American women painters Artists from the Bronx Painters from New York City 21st-century American painters 20th-century American women artists 21st-century American women artists Pratt Institute alumni Mason Gross School of the Arts alumni American muralists Women muralists