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Mary Beth Edelson (born Mary Elizabeth Johnson) (6 February 1933 - 20 April 2021) was an American artist and pioneer of the feminist art movement, deemed one of the notable "first-generation feminist artists." Edelson was a printmaker, book artist, collage artist, painter, photographer, performance artist, and author. Her works have been shown at the
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. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, ...
, 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 ...
, and the
Museum of Contemporary Art Museum of Contemporary Art (often abbreviated to MCA, MoCA or MOCA) may refer to: Africa * Museum of Contemporary Art (Tangier), Morocco, officially le Galerie d'Art Contemporain Mohamed Drissi Asia East Asia * Museum of Contemporary Art Shangha ...
in Chicago. She began her studies at 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 ...
and continued as she pursued her
Bachelor's A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...
and
Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts a ...
degrees. She taught art at the college level, including School of Art and the
Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
in Washington, D.C. and at the
Corcoran Gallery of Art The Corcoran Gallery of Art was an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, that is now the location of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, a part of the George Washington University. Overview The Corcoran School of the Arts & Desi ...
's Dupont Center for Advanced Studies. Inspired by
Henri Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, and sculptur ...
, Paul Cézanne and Édouard Manet, she made paintings of mothers and children in the 1960s. During that decade, she owned a gallery in Indianapolis. Her art changed markedly in the 1970s when she shifted to performance and other forms of art, as well as how women are depicted in art. Her studies of philosophy and psychology greatly influenced her art, both in terms of content and medium. Important works of the early 1970s are representations of goddesses, which Edelson used as a contrast against established, patriarchal viewpoints of women. In ''Some Living American Women Artists / Last Supper'', the faces of the disciples are replaced with noted women artists, and ''Story Gathering Boxes'' explored stories of the feminine experience. Other notable works include ''The Negotiation'' and ''Kali Bobbitt''. She worked to increase the rate at which works of art by women are among museum collections. She helped found and was an active member of the
Heresies Collective The Heresies Collective was founded in 1976 in New York City, by a group of feminist political artists. The group sought to, among other goals, examine art from a feminist and political perspective. In addition to a variety of actions and cultural o ...
, which published the ''
Heresies Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important relig ...
'' journal, to show and promote art made by women. She also joined the feminist cooperative gallery, A.I.R. Gallery (Artists In Residence), which held exhibits of Edelson's work, including ''The Memorial to the 9,000,000 Women Burned as Witches in the Christian Era''. In that exhibit, the intention was to empower women attendees. She was also active in the
civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...
.


Personal life


Early life and education

Mary Beth Edelson was born Mary Elizabeth Johnson in
East Chicago, Indiana East Chicago is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 29,698 at the 2010 census. The city is home of the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal, an artificial freshwater harbor characterized by industrial and manufacturing ac ...
, in 1933. She was the eldest of three children born to Mary Lou and A. M. Johnson, a dentist. Her siblings are Jayne and Allan. Encouraged by her parents, she became interested in art and activism in her early teens. Upon learning that a German family had escaped from a labor camp (
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
: ''
Arbeitslager ''Arbeitslager'' () is a German language word which means labor camp. Under Nazism, the German government (and its private-sector, Axis, and collaborator partners) used forced labor extensively, starting in the 1930s but most especially dur ...
''), Edelson organized a group, called a "peace cell", which supports people who have experienced trauma. She was 13 years old. She started taking classes at 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 ...
during the weekends when she was around 13 years of age. She developed an interest in creating large works of art when she created stage flats for Washington High School's theater. From 1951 to 1955, Edelson studied at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, where she majored in art and minored in philosophy and speech. Her works were exhibited in 1955 at a solo senior-year exhibition, where one of her paintings was deemed unseemly for "ministers and small children." Angry faculty members demanded the works to be pulled from the show, which resulted in protest at the university. She studied during the summers at the
School of the Art Institute of Chicago The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a 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 grew into the museum an ...
(1953–1954). She received her
Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts a ...
degree in 1958 from the
New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, ...
.


Relationships and children

Edelson resided in New York during the mid-1950s. She married a lawyer, Jerome M. Strauss, on June 5, 1959 and then lived as Mary Beth Strauss in Indianapolis. By 1961, she was president of the 1444 Gallery. They had a daughter, Lynn. In 1972, a custody battle over Lynn ensued and her ex-husband was granted primary custody. Her experience is told in Phyllis Chesler's book, '' Mothers on Trial: The Battle for Children and Custody.'' She married Alfred H. Edelson, the CEO of Rytex Stationery, in 1965 and became Mary Beth Edelson. He purchased Talbot Gallery as a wedding present for her. He was the president of the Democratic council of Indiana and on the board of the Fletcher National Bank. Al Edelson and MaryBeth have one child in 1966 named Nick. In 1968, she left Indianapolis for Washington, D.C. with her husband, Alfred H. Edelson. They later divorced. By 1972, Edelson was living with artist Robert Stackhouse in her Washington, D.C. house. The couple moved to New York in 1976. They lived in
Soho Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was develo ...
in a loft with a living area and two studios, one for each artist. Edelson and Stackhouse were together for 27 years.


Early career

During the second half of the 1950s, Edelson became active in the emergent
feminist movement The feminist movement (also known as the women's movement, or feminism) refers to a series of social movements and political campaigns for radical and liberal reforms on women's issues created by the inequality between men and women. Such i ...
and the
civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...
. Her work in the 1960s—inspired by
Henri Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, and sculptur ...
, Paul Cézanne and Édouard Manet—were made of scenes of mothers and children. Edelson's feminist and
conceptual art Conceptual art, also referred to as conceptualism, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic, technical, and material concerns. Some works of conceptual art, sometimes called inst ...
consists of bronze sculptures, paintings, collages, prints, story gathering boxes, and sketches. She is also a photographer, book artist, and
performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...
ist. She taught art at Park School in Indianapolis, Montclair State College in New Jersey, and, after 1968, at the School of Art in Washington, D.C. She taught at the
Corcoran Gallery of Art The Corcoran Gallery of Art was an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, that is now the location of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, a part of the George Washington University. Overview The Corcoran School of the Arts & Desi ...
's Dupont Center for Advanced Studies and at the Smithsonian for a nine-week women's study course in art.


Feminist art movement

Edelson is considered one of the "first-generation feminist artists," a group that also includes Rachel Rosenthal, Carolee Schneemann, and
Judy Chicago Judy Chicago (born Judith Sylvia Cohen; July 20, 1939) is an American feminist artist, art educator, and writer known for her large collaborative art installation pieces about birth and creation images, which examine the role of women in history ...
. In 1968, she established the country's first Conference for Women in the Visual Arts in Washington, D.C. Edelson presented her first feminist speech at the Herron Art Museum in 1968. She began a protest after an "all-male biennial" and "all man traveling art show" at the
Corcoran Gallery of Art The Corcoran Gallery of Art was an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, that is now the location of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, a part of the George Washington University. Overview The Corcoran School of the Arts & Desi ...
. They were not billed as all male, but no women were represented. Fueled by her frustration, she picketed with other women artists. Women's art groups were established after the event. She became active in the feminist art movement and created performance art that glorified women after she moved to Washington, D.C. Working within the larger conceptual framework of the 1970s feminist art movement, Edelson's paintings, collages, and performances challenged hegemonic patriarchal values. Common themes in Edelson's work from this period include: ancient goddess figures, such as "the enigmatic Baubo, the trickster Sheela-na-gig, an Egyptian bird goddess, and Minoan snake goddesses"; references to popular culture; and subversions of art historical scenes. Lucy Lippard describes Edelson's approach to her artmaking: "Mary Beth Edelson's work arises from Feminism’s double strength. Like the great Goddess to whom she has dedicated her art, she has (at least) two aspects—political rage and life-giving affirmation. The two merge in an individual identification with the collective ego: 'Women exploring who "we are" and not who "I am"'." Edelson joined the feminist cooperative gallery, A.I.R. Gallery (Artists In Residence), which held exhibits of Edelson's work, including ''The Memorial to the 9,000,000 Women Burned as Witches in the Christian Era''. In that exhibit, she used fire circles and fire ladders as rituals in 1977. The intention was to empower women attendees. She was an active participant in the
Heresies Collective The Heresies Collective was founded in 1976 in New York City, by a group of feminist political artists. The group sought to, among other goals, examine art from a feminist and political perspective. In addition to a variety of actions and cultural o ...
from its early days of operation. Chrysalis and the Heresies Collective, including the ''
Heresies Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important relig ...
'' publication, were founded in part due to Edelson's efforts. She was a leader of the Committee on Diversity and Inclusion and the Women's Action Coalition from 1992 and 1994, respectively. Edelson was a member of the Title IX Task Force, a group formed to increase the presence of women's painting and sculpture in museums in accordance with the Title IX amendment to the
Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. It prohibits unequal application of voter registration req ...
that bans federally funded organizations from sex discrimination. The group, assembled in 1998, filed a complaint with the
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 federa ...
against the
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. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, ...
, the Guggenheim Museum, and the
Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–194 ...
. The complaint addressed the underrepresentation of works of art by women in these museums, which in turn has the effect of restricting art dealers ability to sell art made by women. The artist was included in the 2007-2009 "WACK! Art of the Feminist Revolution" traveling exhibition, curated by
Connie Butler Cornelia H. "Connie" Butler (born 1 February 1963) is an American museum curator, author, and art historian. Since 2013, Butler is the Chief Curator at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. Career Butler is a 1980 graduate of Marlborough School, and ...
. It was removed from the exhibition, though, because audiences were not interested in the art of the 1970s, focused on the feminine body and spirituality. She was interviewed for the film '' !Women Art Revolution''. Edelson was interviewed for the Archives of American Art Oral History Program in the first half of February 2009 at her New York studio by former Independent Curators International (ICI) executive director Judith Olch Richards. The program has interviewed artists, critics, historians, and others since 1958 to record visual arts history. Over her career, she has lectured at museums and universities across the United States and internationally. Edelson's personal archives are held by the Fales Library and Special Collections at
New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, ...
.


Notable works


''Some Living American Women Artists / Last Supper''

''Some Living American Women Artists / Last Supper'' (1972) appropriated
Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially re ...
's '' The Last Supper,'' with the heads of notable women artists collaged over the heads of Christ and his apostles.
Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religi ...
's head is overlaid with that of
Georgia O'Keeffe Georgia Totto O'Keeffe (November 15, 1887 – March 6, 1986) was an American modernist artist. She was known for her paintings of enlarged flowers, New York skyscrapers, and New Mexico landscapes. O'Keeffe has been called the "Mother of Ame ...
. The artists collaged over the apostles include Lynda Benglis, Louise Bourgeois, Elaine de Kooning,
Helen Frankenthaler Helen Frankenthaler (December 12, 1928 – December 27, 2011) was an American abstract expressionist painter. She was a major contributor to the history of postwar American painting. Having exhibited her work for over six decades (early 1950s ...
, Nancy Graves, Lila Katzen, Lee Krasner,
Georgia O'Keeffe Georgia Totto O'Keeffe (November 15, 1887 – March 6, 1986) was an American modernist artist. She was known for her paintings of enlarged flowers, New York skyscrapers, and New Mexico landscapes. O'Keeffe has been called the "Mother of Ame ...
,
Louise Nevelson Louise Nevelson (September 23, 1899 – April 17, 1988) was an American sculptor known for her monumental, monochromatic, wooden wall pieces and outdoor sculptures. Born in the Poltava Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Kyiv Oblast, ...
,
Yoko Ono Yoko Ono ( ; ja, 小野 洋子, Ono Yōko, usually spelled in katakana ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono grew up i ...
,
M. C. Richards Mary Caroline Richards (July 13, 1916, Weiser, Idaho – September 10, 1999, Kimberton, Pennsylvania) was an American poet, potter, and writer best known for her book ''Centering: in Pottery, Poetry and the Person''.Smith, Roberta ''The New York ...
, Alma Thomas, and June Wayne. As well, other women artists have their image shown in the border of the piece; in all eighty-two women artists are part of the whole image. This image, addressing the role of religious and art historical iconography in the subordination of women, became "one of the most iconic images of the feminist art movement." ''Proposals for: Memorials to the 9,000,000 Women Burned as Witches in the Christian Era,'' a 1977 performance piece, had the same objective. New York's
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. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, ...
acquired the original work ''Some Living American Women Artists / Last Supper'' along with four other original collage posters in the series. Among the works in the ''22 Others'' exhibitions in 1973 and 2013, it is declared her "most famous work" by Karen Rosenberg of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''.


''Story Gathering Boxes''

''Story Gathering Boxes'', an ongoing participatory artwork, was initiated in 1972 and exhibited though at least 2014, when it was shown at Aldridge Contemporary Art Museum in Hartford, Connecticut. The purpose of the exhibit is to question long-held beliefs and myths by learning and sharing stories with others. Paper cards contains a prompt inviting viewers to share personal stories on various topics, such as gender, childhood, and immigration. ''Story Gathering Boxes'' allows all viewers to participate in the creation of a collective narrative. The project was funded by the
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 federa ...
, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and The Florsheim Foundation.


''Kali Bobbitt''

Edelson's life-size monument to
Lorena Bobbitt Lorena may refer to: *Lorena (name), a given name *Lorena (footballer), Brazilian footballer *Lorena (singer), Spanish pop singer In arts and entertainment * ''Lorena'' (album), a 2007 album by Spanish singer Lorena * "Lorena" (song), an 1856 so ...
, who famously castrated her abusive husband in 1993, is entitled ''Kali Bobbitt'' (1994). It was included in MoMA PS1's 2015 survey show ''Greater New York''. The sculpture reimagines Bobbitt as the warrior goddess Kali, mounted on a
ziggurat A ziggurat (; Cuneiform: 𒅆𒂍𒉪, Akkadian: ', D-stem of ' 'to protrude, to build high', cognate with other Semitic languages like Hebrew ''zaqar'' (זָקַר) 'protrude') is a type of massive structure built in ancient Mesopotamia. It has ...
plinth, adorned with knives, and grasping a severed penis. Edelson explains:


Other works

''The Negotiation'', made in the 1980s on a 10 foot by 18 foot canvas, depicts a man and a woman in an embrace and seems to reflect self-insight. In 1980, she created ''Shaking the Grass,'' gelatin silver print mounted on board and ''Seven Cycles: Public Rituals,'' offset lithograph on paper, both of which are at the
Walker Art Center The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in the Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is one of the most-visited modern and contemporary art museums in the United States and, to ...
.


Inspiration


Goddess metaphor

During the 1970s Edelson aligned herself with the feminist neopaganist
goddess movement The Goddess movement includes spiritual beliefs or practices (chiefly Neopagan) which emerged predominantly in North America, Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand in the 1970s. The movement grew as a reaction to perceptions of predominant o ...
. She refers to
Great Goddess Great Goddess is the concept of an almighty goddess or mother goddess, or a matriarchal religion. Apart from various specific figures called this from various cultures, the Great Goddess hypothesis, is a postulated fertility goddess supposed to h ...
theory throughout her work. Primordial archetypes, like the goddess, warriors, and tricksters that she invokes, represent a contrast to women of formalized, patriarchal societies. As Edelson states in 'Male Grazing: An Open Letter to Thomas McEvilley', published in the April 1989 '' New Art Examiner'', her enduring interest has been in "destabilizing preexisting representations of masculine desire and privilege in relationship to the female body." She continues: "My rituals also provided resistance to the mind/body split, by acknowledging sexuality in spirituality, thus reconciling the experience of a united spirit, body, and mind." According to Lucy Lippard, ritual is Edelson's "prime form." The
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 ope ...
' biography of Edelson states: "Her site-specific performances or 'rituals' ��strove to create a new feminine spirituality with its own values and iconography." Recurring "esthetic talismans" in her iconography are stone and fire, substances "at the heart of the Great Goddess myths that she is adapting to contemporary needs." For example, Edelson invited visitors to ritually enter through a flaming ladder installation titled ''Gate of Horn'' for her 1977 show at A.I.R. Gallery memorializing the ''9,000,000 Women Burned as Witches in the Christian Era.'' On Halloween, adopted as the ''Woman’s New Year,'' another public ritual took place in the gallery and outside street. The artist's own naked body acts as a stand-in for the divine feminine in ''Women Rising'' (1973), ''Moon Mouth Series'' (1973-4), and later ''Goddess Head'' (1975) photomontages, for which the artist documented herself performing private rituals in nature and altered the images with a grease pencil to resemble mythological women such as
Wonder Woman Wonder Woman is a superhero created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton), and artist Harry G. Peter. Marston's wife, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byrne, are credited as being ...
, Kali, the
Wicca Wicca () is a modern Pagan religion. Scholars of religion categorise it as both a new religious movement and as part of the occultist stream of Western esotericism. It was developed in England during the first half of the 20th century and w ...
n Spiral Goddess, and Sheela-na-gig. She explains her conception of the goddess as "an internalized, sacred metaphor for an expanded and generous understanding of wisdom, power and the eternal universe." Her perspective is derived from her studies and research of philosophy, mythology, and psychology. She is particularly influenced by
Carl Jung Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, phil ...
.


Nude women's bodies

Edelson draws attention to the female nude to address the ways in which women have been "exploited and underrepresented in the history of art." She has used black-and-white photographs of her own naked body in both indoor and outdoor spaces as a ground for her paintings. "By presenting herself so self-possessed and unapologetically unclothed, she hoped to help loosen the centuries-old grip that male artists held on the passive female body," wrote the !Women Art Revolution. She created performance art using photographic works that involved body art, including ''O’Kevelson'', shown in 1973, where her self-portraits were revised with a grease pencil until they resembled
Louise Nevelson Louise Nevelson (September 23, 1899 – April 17, 1988) was an American sculptor known for her monumental, monochromatic, wooden wall pieces and outdoor sculptures. Born in the Poltava Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Kyiv Oblast, ...
or
Georgia O'Keeffe Georgia Totto O'Keeffe (November 15, 1887 – March 6, 1986) was an American modernist artist. She was known for her paintings of enlarged flowers, New York skyscrapers, and New Mexico landscapes. O'Keeffe has been called the "Mother of Ame ...
.


Collections

Among the noteworthy museums with Edelson's work are: Guggenheim Museum, Guggenheim Museum, and
MoMA PS1 MoMA PS1 is a contemporary art institution located in Court Square in the Long Island City neighborhood in the borough of Queens, New York City. In addition to its exhibitions, the institution organizes the Sunday Sessions performance series, the ...
in New York. In Washington, D.C., they are among the collections of Corcoran Gallery and National Museum of American Art. Her works are at the
Museum of Contemporary Art Museum of Contemporary Art (often abbreviated to MCA, MoCA or MOCA) may refer to: Africa * Museum of Contemporary Art (Tangier), Morocco, officially le Galerie d'Art Contemporain Mohamed Drissi Asia East Asia * Museum of Contemporary Art Shangha ...
in Chicago,
Walker Art Center The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in the Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is one of the most-visited modern and contemporary art museums in the United States and, to ...
in Minneapolis and at the Seattle Art Museum. Her art is found in the Malmö Art Museum in Sweden and at
Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery located in London. It houses the United Kingdom's national collection of international modern and contemporary art, and forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It ...
in London.


Exhibitions (selection)

Mary Beth Edelson's work has recently been the subject of various museum, gallery, and art fair exhibitions, including: * 2018–2019 — ''Feminist Avant-garde / Art of the 1970s SAMMLUNG VERBUND Collection, Vienna'', The Brno House of Arts, Brunn, Cech Republic. * 2018 — ''Greater New York'' at
MoMA PS1 MoMA PS1 is a contemporary art institution located in Court Square in the Long Island City neighborhood in the borough of Queens, New York City. In addition to its exhibitions, the institution organizes the Sunday Sessions performance series, the ...
, ''Mary Beth Edelson, Feminist Humor as Political Device'' at
Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the n ...
's Bernstein Gallery, ''The Devil Giving Birth to the Patriarchy'' at David Lewis Gallery, and ''Sex Work: Feminist Art & Politics'' at Frieze London. In March 2018, the entirety of Edelson's
SoHo Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was develo ...
loft was digitally archived by The Feminist Institute (TFI), an online repository for feminist artwork overseen by
Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also adm ...
. * 2017–2018 — ''Feministische Avantgarde der 1970er-Jahre aus der Sammlung Verbund, Wien''. ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany. * 2017 — ''WOMAN. Feministische Avantgarde der 1970er-Jahre aus der Sammlung Verbund'', MUMOK, Vienna, Austria. * 2015–2017 — ''The Devil Giving Birth to the Patriarchy'' (2017) also prominently featured Edelson's ''Kali Bobbitt'' sculpture, previously exhibited at MoMA PS1 in 2015. * 2017 — In March, Edelson's 1973 hand-painted silver gelatin prints––collectively titled ''Woman Rising––''were exhibited in the show ''The Devil Giving Birth to the Patriarchy'' at David Lewis Gallery. This was the first exhibition to focus on the series, selections from which were later presented at Frieze London in a new section curated by Alison Gingeras titled ''Sex Work: Feminist Art & Politics''. The ''Woman Rising''—of a woman "standing staunchly, feet outspread, arms flung open to the sky, head thrust upwards. It is woman triumphant" is a motif that appears throughout Edelson's work. * 2017 — In October, the
Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery located in London. It houses the United Kingdom's national collection of international modern and contemporary art, and forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It ...
accessioned Edelson's ''Selected Wall Collages'' (1972–2011). The collages, made between 1972 and 2011, vary in size with the smallest measuring approximately 100 millimeters in height and the largest about one meter in height and width. They depict imagined
chimerical The Chimera ( or ), also Chimaera (''Chimæra'') (Ancient Greek: , ''Chímaira'' means 'she-goat'), according to Greek mythology, was a monstrous fire-breathing hybrid creature, composed of different animal parts from Lycia, Asia Minor. It is us ...
beings derived from “ancient mythology, art history, popular culture, nature and photographs of the artist and her peers.” * 2015 — ''Feministische Avantgarde der 1970er-Jahre. Werke aus der Sammlung Verbund, Wien'', Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany. * 2013 — ''Making Eye Contact'', a performance art experience and workshop where participants make eye contact with others, was held by Edelson at the School of Art and Design of
Southern Illinois University Carbondale Southern Illinois University (SIU or SIUC) is a public research university in Carbondale, Illinois. Founded in 1869, SIU is the oldest and flagship campus of the Southern Illinois University system. The university enrolls students from all 50 ...
. * 2013 — ''22 Others'' was held at The Suzanne Geiss Company, SoHo, New York City. It was a restaged exhibition that of the same name that was held in 1973 at the Corcoran Gallery of Art and the Henri Gallery in Washington, D.C. * 2006 — A Life Well Lived: A Retrospective of Mary Beth Edelson's Work" was assembled at the Malmo and traveled to the Migros Museum in Zurich.


Books

The book ''The Art of Mary Beth Edelson'' (2002) includes information and images of her works, as well as conversations with artists and essays by her colleagues. In her essay about Edelson, "Shifting Signs," Laura Cottingham described "her engagement in producing images of female representation that seek to disrupt and transform the patriarchal pictorial codes that define and limit female identity." The National Museum of Women in the Arts, in Washington, D.C., has held exhibitions of the artist books Edelson has made in ''Book as Art'' shows. In 1993, ''The Last Temptation of Lorena Bobbitt'' was an example of the way that Edelson created dramatic images of women. ''Firsthand: Photographs by Mary Beth Edelson, 1973-1993 and Shooter Series'' was published in 1993 at the time of two exhibitions. Many of the books that bear her name are exhibition books.


Awards

DePauw University gave her an
Honorary An honorary position is one given as an honor, with no duties attached, and without payment. Other uses include: * Honorary Academy Award, by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, United States * Honorary Aryan, a status in Nazi Germany ...
Doctorate of Fine Arts in 1993. She received grants from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation in 2000, and the
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 federa ...
in 2000 and 2006. She received a residency to Yaddo, which offers live-in programs on a 400-acre estate in
Saratoga Springs, New York Saratoga Springs is a city in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 28,491 at the 2020 census. The name reflects the presence of mineral springs in the area, which has made Saratoga a popular resort destination for over ...
for 200 writers, visual artists, and musicians each year.


Notes


References


Further reading

* M. S. Armstrong, A. Conley, K. C. H. Nahum. ''Original Visions: Shifting the Paradigm, Women’s Art 1970-1996.'' Exhibition catalog. Chestnut Hill, MA: McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, 1997. . * G. Battcock and R. Nickas. ''The Art of Performance: A Critical Anthology.'' New York: E.P. Dutton 1984. . * N. Broude and M. D. Garrard, ed. ''The Power of Feminist Art: The American Movement of the 1970s.'' Harry N. Abrams, 1996. . * B. Bickel and M. Sims. "Making Eye Contact: The Performance Art of Mary Beth Edelson as Public Pedagogy." "Journal of Arts & Communities." 5(1) 2013, pp. 41–53. * E. Heartney. "Mary Beth Edelson at A/C Project Room and Nicole Klagsbrun." Exhibition review. ''Art in America.'' 81 October 1993, pp. 128–129. * M. Bunz; M. E. Buszek; K. Deepwell; A. Jones; H. Munder; J. Rumball; B. Hess; Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst. ''It's Time for Action (There’s no Option) About Feminism,'' Migros Museum, Zurich. Distributed Art Pub Incorporated, 2007. . * G. Kimball. ''Women's Culture in a New Era: A Feminist Revolution.'' Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. 2005. . * L. Lippard: Overlay. ''Contemporary Art and the Art of Prehistory.'' New York: Pantheon Books, 1983. . * Percy Martin; Washington Project for the Arts (D.C.); Mary Beth Edelson. ''Dream on: Three Contemporary Artists Working with Myth: Mary Beth Edelson, Judy Jashinsky, Percy Martin''. Washington Project for the Arts; 1989.
OCLC OCLC, Inc., doing business as OCLC, See also: is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It wa ...
79042743. * H. Robinson. ''Feminism-Art-Theory: An Anthology 1968-2000.'' Malden, MA: Wiley, 2001. . * C. Spretnak, ed. ''The Politics of Women's Spirituality: Essays on the Rise of Spiritual Power Within the Feminist Movement.'' New York: Anchor Books, 1982. . * ''WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution.'' Los Angeles, Museum of Contemporary Art, 2007. * J. Wark. ''Radical Gestures: Feminism and Performance Art.'' Montreal:McGill-Queen's Press, 2006. . * J. Wark. ''Gender Battles.'' Santiago da Compostela, Centro Galego de Arte Contemporanea, 2007. {{DEFAULTSORT:Edelson, Mary Beth American feminists 1933 births 2021 deaths DePauw University alumni School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development alumni Feminist artists People from East Chicago, Indiana 20th-century American women artists Heresies Collective members 21st-century American women