Flora Blanc Reeder (November 14, 1916 – September 26, 1995) was an American drama teacher and painter. She was the director of the Reeder Children's School of Theater and Design in

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

. As a painter she was a member of the

Fort Worth Circle The Fort Worth Circle was a progressive art colony in Fort Worth, Texas. The colony was active during the 1940s and much of the 1950s and formed around younger artists, most of them native Texans under-30, who embraced themes not traditionally seen ...

, a group of artists active in the 1940s and 1950s.

Early life and education

The daughter of Edward Blanc and Martha Elliot King, Flora Blanc was born in New York in 1916. She received her formal art training at New York's Art Students' League as well as the elite

Brearley School The Brearley School is an American all-girls private school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City. It educates approximately 770 girls in grades K–12, with approximately 50 to 65 students per grade. In addition to being a member ...

, and in France, where she met Edward Dickson Reeder, a young artist from Fort Worth. The two went on to pursue their talents in New York and Paris, and studied at

Atelier 17 Atelier 17 was an art school and studio that was influential in the teaching and promotion of printmaking in the 20th century. Originally located in Paris, the studio relocated to New York City during the years surrounding World War II. It moved ...

under

Stanley William Hayter Stanley William Hayter (27 December 1901 – 4 May 1988) was an English painter and master printmaker associated in the 1930s with surrealism and from 1940 onward with abstract expressionism. Regarded as one of the most significant printmakers ...

. Blanc and Reeder married in New York in December 1937, and in 1940 the couple moved to Fort Worth, where Blanc painted and conducted acting classes for the Our Lady of Victory College. Blanc and Dickson performed with the Little Theater and forged close friendships with other local artists, eventually leading to the formation of the

, who would congregate at the Reeders' home on a regular basis to discuss their practices and engage in exchanges. In the spring of 1945, Blanc enrolled in a TCU course that explored multi-disciplinarity in the arts, taught by Lorraine Sherley. For the course's final assignment, Blanc produced the play ''

Aucassin and Nicolette ''Aucassin et Nicolette'' (12th or 13th century) is an anonymous medieval French fictional story. It is the unique example of a ''chantefable'', literally, a "sung story", a combination of prose and verse (similar to a ''prosimetrum''). Histor ...

,'' with a cast of twenty children from the neighbourhood. Dickson designed the sets, the artist Bror Utter designed the lighting, and Brooks Morris, Jr., conducted the score.

Career

This production led for the opening of the Reeder-Irwin School in August 1945, with a student body of thirty-five kids and Ike Horowitz serving as first board chairman. Zane Irwin taught dance and other instructors, including Blanc, taught drama, painting, and music. Tuition was levied through instruction/enrolment trades. The school changed its name to the Reeder Children's School of Theater and Design in 1948, and adopted a curriculum that was similar to New York's King-Coit School which Blanc attended in her youth. The Reeder school closed in 1958, after staging an additional thirteen plays, in order to provide the artist couple more time to focus on their respective practices.

Personal life

Blanc died in 1995 in Fort Worth.

References

External links

*
The Reeder Children's Theatre Presents...Memories of Fort Worth's Reeder School
'' presented by Special Collections,

The University of Texas at Arlington The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA or UT Arlington) is a public research university in Arlington, Texas, United States. It is the second oldest university in the University of Texas System and was founded in 1895. It was in the Texas A& ...

Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:Blanc Reeder, Flora 1916 births 1995 deaths 20th-century American painters American printers 20th-century American women painters Brearley School alumni American drama teachers Atelier 17 alumni