Martha Kantor (1896–1981) was an American glass painter. She was a member of the

art colony An art colony, also known as an artists' colony, can be defined two ways. Its most liberal description refers to the organic congregation of artists in towns, villages and rural areas, often drawn by areas of natural beauty, the prior existence o ...

New City, New York New City is a hamlet and census-designated place in the town of Clarkstown, Rockland County, New York, United States, part of the New York Metropolitan Area. An affluent suburb of New York City, the hamlet is located north of the city at its c ...

, and "recognized as a master" of painting on glass."

Early life

Kantor was born as Martha Ryther in 1896 in Boston, Massachusetts. Her mother, Martha Dickinson, was a painter and Kantor took painting lessons from

Maurice Prendergast Maurice Brazil Prendergast (October 10, 1858 – February 1, 1924) was an American artist who painted in oil and watercolor, and created monotypes. His delicate landscapes and scenes of modern life, characterized by mosaic-like color, are ...

at a young age. She subsequently studied under

Hugo Robus Hugo Robus (1885 – January 14, 1964) was an American sculptor. He co-founded an art colony in New City, New York. His sculptures are in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan ...

and

William Zorach William Zorach (February 28, 1889 – November 15, 1966) was an American sculptor, painter, printmaker, and writer. He won the Logan Medal of the arts. He is notable for being at the forefront of American artists embracing cubism, as well as for ...

at the Modern Art School in New York City.

Career

Kantor joined an

co-founded by her former teacher Hugo Robus and another artist,

Henry Varnum Poor Henry Varnum Poor (December 8, 1812 – January 4, 1905) was an American financial analyst and founder of H.V. and H.W. Poor Co, which later evolved into the financial research and analysis bellwether, Standard & Poor's. Biography Born in East A ...

in 1918. By the 1930s, she took up painting on glass, an old method of

folk art Folk art covers all forms of visual art made in the context of folk culture. Definitions vary, but generally the objects have practical utility of some kind, rather than being exclusively decorative. The makers of folk art are typically tr ...

. She painted

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mon ...

houses and

still life A still life (plural: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, m ...

s. Her work was exhibited at the

Zabriskie Gallery The Zabriskie Gallery was founded in New York City by Virginia Zabriskie in 1954. Early years Virginia Zabriskie started the art gallery with a one-dollar down payment. It had formerly been the Korman Gallery, a cooperative that included the pa ...

in New York City. According to ''The New York Times'', she became "recognized as a master of the medium." Kantor was the founder of the Rockland Foundation, later known as the Rockland Center for the Arts in

West Nyack, New York West Nyack is a hamlet and census-designated place in the town of Clarkstown, Rockland County, New York, United States. It is located north of Blauvelt, east of Nanuet, southwest of Valley Cottage, southeast of Bardonia, and west of Central Nyac ...

Personal life, death and legacy

Kantor was married twice. Her first husband was Jock Fulton. Her second husband,

Morris Kantor Morris Kantor ( be, Морыс Кантор) (1896-1974) was a Russian Empire-born American painter based in the New York City area. Life Born in Minsk on April 15, 1896, Kantor was brought to the United States in 1906 at age 10, in order to j ...

, was an artist. Kantor resided on

South Mountain Road South Mountain Road is a winding, two-lane historic road on the northern border of New City, New York, a hamlet in Rockland County. Historic High Tor State Park is an attraction on South Mountain Road. Also on the road is the Henry Varnum Poor ...

in New City, New York, and she summered in

Provincetown, Massachusetts Provincetown is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, in the United States. A small coastal resort town with a year-round population of 3,664 as of the 2020 United States Census, Provin ...

. Kantor died of cancer on January 10, 1981 in New City, New York, aged 84. She was the subject of a retrospective exhibition at the Rockland Center for the Arts in November 1981. One of her paintings, ''Reading In Bed'', is in the permanent collection of the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds ...

in Washington, D.C. The

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mil ...

holds a screen-printed silk work by her.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kantor, Martha 1896 births 1981 deaths People from Boston People from New City, New York Painters from New York (state) American women painters 20th-century American painters 20th-century American women artists