Ida Applebroog (November 11, 1929 – October 21, 2023) was an American multi-media artist who was best-known for her paintings and sculptures that explore the themes of gender, sexual identity, violence, and politics. Applebroog was the recipient of multiple honors including the

MacArthur Fellowship The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and colloquially called the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the MacArthur Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to typically between 20 and ...

"Genius Grant", the

College Art Association The College Art Association of America (CAA) is the principal organization in the United States for professionals in the visual arts, from students to art historians to emeritus faculty. Founded in 1911, it "promotes these arts and their understan ...

Distinguished Art Award for Lifetime Achievement, and an

Honorary Doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

Fine Arts In European academic traditions, fine art (or, fine arts) is made primarily for aesthetics or creativity, creative expression, distinguishing it from popular art, decorative art or applied art, which also either serve some practical function ...

from the

New School for Social Research The New School for Social Research (NSSR), previously known as The University in Exile and The New School University, is a graduate-level educational division of The New School in New York City, United States. NSSR enrolls more than 1,000 stud ...

Parsons School of Design The Parsons School of Design is a private art and design college under The New School located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 1896 after a group of progressive artists broke away from established Manhattan art ...

. Applebroog lived 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 is represented by

Hauser & Wirth Hauser & Wirth is a Swiss contemporary and modern art gallery. History Hauser & Wirth was founded in 1992 in Zurich by Iwan Wirth, Manuela Wirth, and Ursula Hauser, who were joined in 2000 by co-president Marc Payot. In 2020, Ewan Venters was ap ...

Life and work

Ida Applebroog was born as Ida Appelbaum on November 11, 1929, in the

Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, into an ultra-Orthodox Jewish family. Her sister was Gloria Bornstein, who also became an artist. From 1948 to 1950, she attended NY State Institute of Applied Arts and Sciences. At the Institute, she studied

graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art that involves creating visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdisciplinary branch of ...

rather than fine art. Applebroog stated that she, "couldn't make art without also making money." While studying at NY State Institute of Applied Arts and Sciences, she began to work at an advertising agency where she was the only woman. Applebroog later recounted, "In those days sexual harassment was a day-to-day event. I held out in the ad agency for six months, then resigned." After resigning from the advertising agency, Applebroog went on to work as a freelance illustrator for children's books and greeting cards. In 1950, she married Gideon Horowitz, her high school sweetheart. She took a job in the art division of the

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress a ...

. She also began to take night classes at

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...

during this time. By 1960, Applebroog had four children and in order for her husband to complete his doctorate, Applebroog and her family had to move to Chicago. After moving to Chicago Applebroog took courses at the

School of the Art Institute of Chicago The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a Private university, private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which gr ...

and made jewelry in her family's basement that her husband and children would sell at art fairs. In 1968 Applebroog and her family relocated again to

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

where her husband accepted an academic position. While living in San Diego, California, Applebroog began sketching close-ups of her own naked body, specifically her

crotch In humans, the crotch is the bottom of the pelvis (the region of the body where the legs join the torso) and is the part of the body that includes the groin and genitals. Etymology ''Crotch'' is derived from ''crutch''; it was first used in 1 ...

, while in the bathtub, a series of more than 150 works she would not exhibit until 2010. In 1969 Applebroog was briefly hospitalized for depression, during which time she began making bathtub sketches.Steinhauer, Jill
"The Drawings Ida Applebroog Made During a Breakdown"
Hyperallergic, Retrieved 13 January 2019. She was released by 1970 and promptly began to continue making art in her studio in

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

. Once she returned from her hospitalization, she began to create sculptures of " biomorphic forms made from fabric" amongst much other art. At the age of forty-four she participated in one of her earliest group exhibitions, entitled ''Invisible/Visible'' in 1972 at Long Beach Museum of Art. The following year Applebroog went to the Feminist Artists Conference at

California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a Private university, private art school in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for ...

, where she spoke with many women artists and was highly influenced by their enthusiasm toward social activism in art. Applebroog moved back to New York City in 1974. It was there, after changing her name from "Ida Horowitz" to "Ida Applebroog" (based on her maiden name, Applebaum), where she began to develop her own signature artistic style with a series of cartoonlike figures that merged the comic-strip format with the advertising industry's use of story-boards to explain a concept. Starting in 1977 she circulated a series of self-published books through the mail, and joined Heresies: A Feminist Publication on Art and Politics, alongside feminist curators and artists such as Lucy R. Lippard and

May Stevens May Stevens (June 9, 1924 – December 9, 2019) was an American feminist artist, political activist, educator, and writer. Early life and education May Stevens was born in Boston to working-class parents, Alice Dick Stevens and Ralph Stanle ...

, among others. In 1981 she showed ''Applebroog: Silent Stagings'', her first exhibition at Ronald Feldman Fine Arts in New York City, where she continued to show for over 20 years. Applebroog stated that the subject of her work is "how power works--male over female, parents over children, governments over people, doctors over patients." In 2005 she was profiled in the

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

documentary ''Art 21: Art in the Twenty-first Century''. In 2010, Applebroog's works on paper, including her 1969 sketches, were exhibited in a solo show entitled ''Ida Applebroog: Monalisa'' at

in New York City, and in 2011 at

in London. In 2016 Applebroog was the subject of the documentary ''Call Her Applebroog,'' directed by her daughter

Beth B Scott B and Beth B (also known as Scott and Beth B, Beth and Scott B or The Bs after B Movies) were among the best-known New York No Wave underground film makers of the late 1970s and early 1980s. They went on to form an independent film ...

. In 2020, Ida Applebroog's work was included in a major group show at the

Pérez Art Museum Miami Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM)—officially known as the Jorge M. Pérez Art Museum of Miami-Dade County—is a contemporary art museum that relocated in 2013 to the Maurice A. Ferré Park in Downtown Miami, Florida. Founded in 1984 as the Cent ...

, Florida. ''My Body, My Rules'', presented an investigation about the diverse artistic practices of 23 female-identified artists in the 21st-century.

Louise Bourgeois Louise Joséphine Bourgeois (; 25 December 191131 May 2010) was a French-American artist. Although she is best known for her large-scale sculpture and installation art, Bourgeois was also a prolific painter and printmaker. She explored a varie ...

Carolee Schneemann Carolee Schneemann (October 12, 1939 – March 6, 2019) was an American visual experimental artist, known for her multi-media works on the body, narrative, sexuality and gender. She received a B.A. in poetry and philosophy from Bard College and ...

Cindy Sherman Cynthia Morris Sherman (born January 19, 1954) is an American artist whose work consists primarily of photographic self-portraits, depicting herself in many different contexts and as various imagined characters. Her breakthrough work is often co ...

, Lorna Simpson,

Ana Mendieta Ana Mendieta (November 18, 1948 – September 8, 1985) was a Cuban-American performance artist, sculptor, painter, and video artist who is best known for her "earth-body" artwork. She is considered one of the most influential Cuban-American ar ...

, Wanguechi Mutu, Mickalene Thomas, and Francesca Woodman, were also among them. Ida Applebroog died on October 21, 2023, at the age of 93.

Selected works

Books

* ''Galileo Works'', 1977, Self Published * ''Dyspepsia Works'', 1979, Self Published * ''Blue Books'', 1981, Self Published

Images from exhibitions

* ''dOCUMENTA (13
Images from the exhibition

Select public collections

* The Corcoran Museum of Art *

The Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the third-largest museum in the world and the largest art museum in the Americas. With 5.36 million v ...

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

* Guggenheim Museum *

Whitney Museum of Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a modern and contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. The institution was foun ...

Awards and grants

* Artist's Fellowship,

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...

, 1980"Ida Applebroog"
Hauser & Wirth, Retrieved 13 January 2019. * Creative Artists in Public Service Program,

New York State Council on the Arts The New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) serves to foster and advance the arts, culture, and creativity throughout New York State, according to its website. The goal of the council is to allow all New Yorkers to benefit from the contribution ...

, 1983 * Artist's Fellowship,

, 1985 *

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

, 1990 * Milton Avery Distinguished Chair,

Bard College Bard College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains within the Hudson River Historic District ...

, 1991–92 * Lifetime Achievement Award,

, 1995 *

, New School University/

, 1997 *

MacArthur Foundation Fellowship The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and colloquially called the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the MacArthur Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to typically between 20 and ...

, 1998 *

Women's Caucus for Art The Women's Caucus for Art (WCA), founded in 1972, is a non-profit organization based in New York City, which supports women artists, art historians, students, educators, and museum professionals. The WCA holds exhibitions and conferences to promo ...

Lifetime Achievement Award, 2008 *

Anonymous Was A Woman Award The Anonymous Was A Woman Award is a grant program for women artists who are over 40 years of age, in part to counter sexism in the art world. It began in 1996 in direct response to the National Endowment for the Arts' decision to stop funding i ...

, 2009"Recipients to Date - Ida Applebroog"
Anonymous was a woman, Retrieved 13 January 2019.

References

External links

Official website

Ida Applebroog
at

Biography, interviews, essays, artwork images and video clips
from

series '' Art:21 -- Art in the Twenty-First Century'' - Season 3 (2005).
Ida Applebrog at the Brooklyn Museum

1978 23 minutes

1989, 12 minutes (with Beth B)

2005

Music b
Jim Coleman
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Applebroog, Ida 1929 births 2023 deaths American contemporary painters American feminist artists Jewish American painters MacArthur Fellows School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni Artists from the Bronx Painters from New York City 20th-century American painters 20th-century American women painters Franklin Furnace artists 21st-century American women painters 21st-century American painters Heresies Collective members 21st-century American Jews Neo-expressionist artists