Dorothy Morang (1906–1994) was an American painter,

pastel A pastel () is an art medium that consists of powdered pigment and a binder (material), binder. It can exist in a variety of forms, including a stick, a square, a pebble, and a pan of color, among other forms. The pigments used in pastels are ...

ist, and active member of the Santa Fe art colony. Dorothy Alden Clark was born in

Bridgton, Maine Bridgton is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 5,418 at the 2020 census. A resort area in Maine's Lakes Region, Bridgton is home to Bridgton Academy, a private preparatory school, and the Four on the Fourth ...

on November 24, 1906. Her early formal study was in music at the

New England Conservatory of Music The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a Private college, private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. The conservatory is located on Huntington Avenue along Avenue of the Arts (Boston), the Avenue of the Arts near Boston Symphony Ha ...

in Boston and she taught piano throughout most of her life. She married artist/critic Alfred Morang June 13, 1930 and they moved to New Mexico in 1937 upon a doctor's recommendation that Alfred needed a higher, drier climate. Primarily self-taught, Morang painted abstract easel paintings with the WPA Art Project from 1939 to 1941 and later taught piano and music appreciation for the Music Project. She was associated with the Transcendental Painting Group, but was not an official member. Her artwork has been exhibited in New Mexico and nationally. Notably, her work was included in an exhibition at the

Guggenheim Museum in New York The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue between 88th and 89th Streets on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It hosts a permanent collection of Impressionist, ...

in 1940, and presented in solo exhibitions at Paneras Gallery, New York, New York, in 1963 and 1965.''Santa Fe New Mexican'', 08/09/1970 She also worked in a variety of positions at the New Mexico Museum of Art from 1942 through 1963, including Curator of Fine Arts. Her work can be found in the collections of the

New Mexico Museum of Art The New Mexico Museum of Art is an art museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Santa Fe governed by the state of New Mexico, United States. It is one of four state-run museums in Santa Fe that are part of the Museum of New Mexico. It is located one bloc ...

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; ) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1889 by the New Mexico Territorial Legislature, it is the state's second oldest university, a flagship university in th ...

Fine Art Museum and West Texas Teacher's College Museum. In 1949 she helped found the Santa Fe Women Artists Exhibiting Group. In 1950 Dorothy divorced Alfred Morang, and was remarried 15 years later to John C. Emmett. She died at the age of 88 on December 19, 1994.

References

''An Art Directory of New Mexico'', compiled and edited by Reginald Fisher, Museum of New Mexico and School of American Research, 1947 {{DEFAULTSORT:Morang, Dorothy Artists from New Mexico People from Bridgton, Maine 1994 deaths 1906 births American art curators American women curators Artists of the American West Painters from Maine New England Conservatory alumni 20th-century American painters 20th-century American women painters American pastel artists People of the New Deal arts projects 20th-century American women pianists 20th-century American pianists American women pastel artists