Judith E. Stein (born 1943) is a Philadelphia-based art historian and curator, whose academic career has focused on the postwar New York art world. She has written a biography of the art dealer Richard Bellamy, as well as feature articles regarding artists including

Jo Baer Josephine Gail Baer (née Kleinberg; August 7, 1929 – January 21, 2025) was an American painter associated with minimalist art. She began exhibiting her work at the Fischbach Gallery, New York, and other venues for contemporary art in the mid- ...

Red Grooms Red Grooms (born Charles Rogers Grooms on June 7, 1937) is an American multimedia artist best known for his colorful pop-art constructions depicting frenetic scenes of modern urban life. Grooms was given the nickname "Red" by Dominic Falcone ( ...

, Lester Johnson,

Alfred Leslie Alfred Leslie (October 29, 1927 – January 27, 2023) was an American painter and filmmaker. He first achieved success as an Abstract Expressionist painter, but changed course in the early 1960s and became a painter of realistic figurative p ...

and Jay Milder.

Career

Stein earned a B.A. in Art History from

Barnard College Barnard College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college affiliated with Columbia University in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a grou ...

, New York City in 1965, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Art History from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

, Philadelphia in 1967 and 1981, respectively. She studied at the

Courtauld Institute of Art The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. The art collection is known particularly for ...

in London from 1967 to 1968. Between 1983 and 1995, Stein served as Contemporary Curator for the

Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1805, it is the longest continuously operating art museum and art school in the United States. The academy's museum ...

, where she organized traveling mid-career surveys for

and

Horace Pippin Horace Pippin (February 22, 1888 – July 6, 1946) was an American painter who painted a range of themes, including scenes inspired by his service in World War I, landscapes, portraits, and biblical subjects. Some of his best-known works address ...

, a site-specific installation by Bettye Saar; as well as exhibitions for Tom Butter, Louise Fishman, Mike Glier,

Lois Lane Lois Lane is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, she first appeared in ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1 (June 1938). Lois is an award-winning ...

Ray Metzker Ray K. Metzker (September 10, 1931 – October 9, 2014) was an American photographer known chiefly for his stark, experimental Black and White cityscapes and for his large assemblages of printed film strips and single frames, known as ''Composite ...

, Pepon Osorio,

Judy Pfaff Judy Pfaff (born 1946) is an American artist known mainly for installation art and sculptures, though she also produces paintings and prints. Pfaff has received numerous awards for her work, including a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Founda ...

, Jody Pinto, Raymond Saunders, Joyce Scott,

Judith Shea Judith Shea is an American sculptor and artist, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1948. She was awarded a degree in fashion design from the Parsons School of Design in 1969 and earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree there in 1975. This dual ...

and

Toshiko Takaezu Toshiko Takaezu (June 17, 1922 – March 9, 2011) was an American ceramic artist, painter, sculptor, and educator whose oeuvre spanned a wide range of mediums, including ceramics, weavings, bronzes, and paintings. She was noted for her pioneerin ...

. In 1994, she received a

Pew Foundation The Pew Charitable Trusts is an independent non-profit, non-governmental organization (NGO), founded in 1948. Pew's stated mission is to serve the public interest by "improving public policy, informing the public, and invigorating civic life". ...

Fellowship in the Arts in literary non-fiction for her art writing and was a scholar in residence at the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center. In 2008, the Warhol Foundation/Creative Capital awarded Stein an Arts Writers Book Grant.http://artswriters.org/index.php?action=grantee_detail&grantee_id=53&year=all. The International Art Critics Association awarded her book ''I Tell My Heart: The Art of Horace Pippin'' Best Exhibition Catalog for 1995. Stein has curated exhibitions for the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York City, NY; Slought Foundation, Philadelphia, PA; Brattleboro Museum, Brattleboro, VT and DC Moore Gallery, New York, NY. As the Consulting Curator for the

Pennsylvania Convention Center The Pennsylvania Convention Center is a multi-use public facility in the Market East, Philadelphia, Market East section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, designed to accommodate conventions, exhibitions, conferences and other events. The L-shaped ...

since 1995, she has supervised commissioned works by Jones and Ginzel, Mei-ling Hom, Judy Pfaff, John Scott, among others.

Work

With Paul Schimmel, Stein co-curated ''Figurative Fifties: New York Figurative Expressionism'' (1988) for the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA, which traveled to Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, CA and the McNay Museum, San Antonio, TX. The accompanying monograph featured her essay ''Figuring Out the Fifties: Aspects of Figuration and Abstraction in New York 1950-1962.''Judith Stein, "Figuring Out the Fifties: Aspects of Figuration and Abstraction in New York 1950-1962," ''The Figurative Fifties: New York Figurative Expressionism''. New York. Rizzoli International and Newport Harbor Art Museum. 1988. Her exhibition ''Jules Olitski, An Inside View: A Survey of Prints, 1954-2007'' (2008), which Stein curated for the Brattleboro Museum of Art, Brattleboro, VT, traveled to the Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC; Luther W. Brady Art Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Butler Institute of American Art, Youngtown, OH; and Everson Art Museum, Syracuse, NY.Judith Stein, "What Will it Look Like? Jules Olitski as Printmaker," ''Jules Olitski, An Inside View: A Survey of Prints, 1954-2007''. Brattleboro, VT. Brattleboro Museum of Art. 2008. ''I Tell My Heart: The Art of Horace Pippin'' (1993), which she curated for the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, traveled to the Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD; Chicago Art Institute, Chicago, IL; Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH; and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, NY.Judith Stein, "An American Original," ''I Tell My Heart: The Art of Horace Pippin''. New York. Universe. 1993. "Red Grooms: A Retrospective 1956-1984" (1985), which she curated for PAFA, traveled to Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA; Tennessee State Museum, Nashville, TN and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, NY.Judith Stein, "All Around the Cobbler's Bench with Red Grooms" and "Red Grooms: The Early Years (1937-1960)," ''Red Grooms: A Retrospective 1956-1984''. Philadelphia. Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. 1985. Stein has contributed essays to ''

Grandma Moses Anna Mary Robertson Moses (September 7, 1860 – December 13, 1961), or Grandma Moses, was an American folk artist. She began painting in earnest at the age of 78 and is a prominent example of a newly successful art career at an advanced age. M ...

in the Twenty-First Century'' (2001), ''Self-Taught Artists of the 20th Century'' (1998), ''The Power of Feminist Art'' (1995), ''Encyclopedia of African American Culture and History'' (1993) and ''Making Their Mark: Women Artists Move into the Mainstream 1970-1985'' (1989). Stein's articles have appeared in '' Art in America'', ''The Sienese Shredder'', ''Daidalos'', ''

Art News ''ARTnews'' is an American art magazine, based in New York City. It covers visual arts from ancient to contemporary times. It is the oldest and most widely distributed art magazine in the world. ''ARTnews'' has a readership of 180,000 in 124 co ...

'', ''Drawing'', ''Fiberarts'', as well as exhibition catalogs for

Saint Louis Art Museum The Saint Louis Art Museum (SLAM) is an art museum located in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. With paintings, sculptures, cultural objects, and ancient masterpieces from around the world, its three-story building stands in Forest Park in ...

, Philadelphia's Institute of Contemporary Art, Locks Gallery and Arcadia University Art Gallery; New York City's Francis M. Naumann Fine Arts, DC Moore Gallery, Steinbaum Krauss Gallery, June Kelly Gallery and Gallery Moos; New England Center for Contemporary Art; Pittsburgh Center for the Arts and Knoxville Museum of Art. She has taught at the

Maryland Institute College of Art The Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) is a Private university, private art school, art and design college in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1826 as the Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, it is regarded as one of ...

, Baltimore, MD; the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA; and

Tyler School of Art The Tyler School of Art and Architecture is part of Temple University, a large, urban, public research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Tyler currently enrolls about 1,350 undergraduate students and about 200 graduate st ...

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist ministe ...

, Philadelphia, PA. From 1979 to 1983, she reported on contemporary art exhibitions for

WHYY-FM WHYY-FM (90.9 MHz, "91 FM") is a public radio station licensed to serve Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its broadcast tower is located in the city's Roxborough section of the city at () while its studios and offices are located on Independence Ma ...

’s

Fresh Air ''Fresh Air'' is an American radio talk show broadcast on National Public Radio stations across the United States since 1985. It is produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The show's hosts are Terry Gross and Tonya Mosl ...

as well as

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

’s

Morning Edition ''Morning Edition'' is an American radio news program produced and distributed by NPR. It airs weekday mornings (Monday through Friday) and runs for two hours, and many stations repeat one or both hours. The show feeds live from 5:00 to 9:00 a ...

Books

Stein contributed essays to exhibition monographs that she edited, including * ''Jules Olitski, An Inside View: A Survey of Prints, 1954-2007'', * ''Picturing the Modern Amazon: The Hypermuscular Woman'',Judith Stein, "Object Lessons: Bodybuilding and Performance Art, 1970s-80s," ''Picturing the Modern Amazon: The Hypermuscular Woman''. New York. The New Museum of Contemporary Art. 2000. * ''Jacob Landau: Old Man Mad About Drawing'',Judith Stein, "Jacob Landau, Works on Paper, 1934-1995," ''Jacob Landau: Old Man Mad About Drawing''. Brandywine, PA. Brandywine Workshop. 1996. * ''I Tell My Heart: The Art of Horace Pippin'', * ''Figurative Fifties: New York Figurative Expressionism'' * ''Red Grooms: A Retrospective 1956-1984''. * ''Eye of the Sixties : Richard Bellamy and the transformation of modern art''. New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2016.

References

External links

Judith Stein Papers, 1974-2001
at

National Museum of Women in the Arts The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), located in Washington, D.C., is "the first museum in the world solely dedicated" to championing women through the arts. NMWA was incorporated in 1981 by Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay. Since openi ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stein, Judith E. 1943 births Living people Alumni of the Courtauld Institute of Art American art critics American art historians American women art historians American art curators American women curators Barnard College alumni Maryland Institute College of Art faculty Pew Fellows in the Arts University of Pennsylvania alumni University of Pennsylvania faculty Temple University faculty American women academics 21st-century American women