Mavis Iona Pusey (September 17, 1928 – April 20, 2019) was a Jamaican-born American

abstract art Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a Composition (visual arts), composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. ''Abstract art'', ''non-figurative art'', ''non- ...

ist. She was a printmaker and painter who was well known for her

hard-edge Hard-edge painting (also referred to as Hard Edge or Hard-edged) is painting in which abrupt transitions are found between color areas. Color areas often consist of one unvarying color. The Hard-edge painting style is related to Geometric abstrac ...

, nonrepresentational images. Pusey drew inspirations from urban construction. She was a leading abstractionist and made works inspired by the constantly changing landscape.

Biography

Pusey was born on September 17, 1928, in Retreat, Jamaica, Her parents died when she was born. At the age of 9, Pusey learned how to sew and make dresses from her aunt. Her first job was at a clothing factory in

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the six most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

. At age 18, Pusey moved to New York City to pursue a fashion design degree at

Traphagen School of Fashion Traphagen School of Fashion was an art and design school in operation from 1923 to 1991, and was located at 1680 Broadway in New York City. The school was founded and directed by Ethel Traphagen Leigh (1883–1963) with a focus on the foundation ...

. After a couple of years of financial difficulties Pusey left school and worked at a bridal boutique. She then enrolled in fine art courses at the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school in the American Fine Arts Society in Manhattan, New York City. The Arts Students League is known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may study f ...

, an institution that worked with her work schedule and allowed her to financially support herself. At this institution Pusey earned a scholarship from the

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a $25,000 (about $550,000 in 2023) gift from Edsel Ford. ...

and was allowed to take courses and study under artists like artists

Harry Sternberg Harry Sternberg (1904–2001), was an American Painting, painter, printmaking, printmaker and educator. He taught at the Art Students League of New York, from 1933 to c. 1966. Biography Childhood, family life, and education Sternberg's parents h ...

and

Will Barnet Will Barnet (May 25, 1911November 13, 2012) was an American visual artist and teacher, known for his paintings, watercolors, drawings, and prints depicting the human figure and animals, both in casual scenes of daily life and in transcendent d ...

, a painter and

printmaker Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed technique ...

. She told The New York Amsterdam News in 1978, "Accidentally, I went into Will Barnet’s class of painting. After a month I said, ‘I think I’m in the wrong class.’ But by this time I had become so involved in my painting, I just stayed." After four years of study at the League, when her student visa expired, Pusey moved to England to live with her two brothers in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and continued her education. In London, she worked as pattern maker for

Singer Corporation Singer Corporation is an American manufacturer of consumer sewing machines, first established as I. M. Singer & Co. in 1851 by Isaac Singer, Isaac M. Singer with New York lawyer Edward Cabot Clark, Edward C. Clark. Best known for its sewing mac ...

. There she met Birgit Skiöld, a Swedish printmaker and modern artist. After spending a year in Paris in 1968, Pusey returned to New York City in 1969. She started working with Robert Blackburn and during this time created –''Broken construction at Noon'' (c. 1970), ''Decaying Construction'' (c. 1970), and ''Impact on Vibration'' (1968). At age 60, in 1988, a new owner purchased the building she had lived in for 16 years in the Chelsea neighborhood. Whereas many other tenants willingly left, Pusey held out, the landlord tried cutting off the electricity to push her out, and eventually paid her to leave. Pusey relocated to

Orange, Virginia Orange is a town and the county seat of Orange County, Virginia, United States. The population was 4,880 at the 2020 census, representing a 3.4% increase since the 2010 census. Orange is northeast of Charlottesville, southwest of Washington, ...

, where she taught painting at the

Woodberry Forest School Woodberry Forest School is a private, all-male boarding school located in Woodberry Forest, Madison County, Virginia, in the United States. Woodberry's current enrollment is 391. Students come from 34 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., and 36 coun ...

. At the time she was one of four women on faculty and the only Black faculty. In 2011, Pusey's health had declined and pieces of her art were auctioned off in a bankruptcy proceeding to support her care. She was put under the guardianship of the Orange County Department of Social Services. She died on April 20, 2019, in

Falmouth, Virginia Falmouth is a census-designated place (CDP) in Stafford County, Virginia, Stafford County, Virginia, United States. Situated on the north bank of the Rappahannock River at the falls, the community is north of and opposite the city of Fredericksb ...

, at the age of 90. Pusey is survived by her daughter Yvonne Palmer. Her works still live on in numerous collections throughout the United States.

Career

In 1968, Pusey moved to Paris and had her first solo exhibition in Galerie Louis Soulanges in Paris, France. While living in Paris, Pusey witnessed the 1968 student riots that would inspire many of her works and her most noteworthy print, ''Paris Mai Juin'' (1968). Pusey returned to the U.S. and her work was featured in a 1971 major group exhibition titled ''Contemporary Black Artists in America'' at the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

. One of the works from the 1971 exhibit, a large-scale painting ''Dejygea'' (1970), was among those also included in a 2017 exhibit, ''Magnetic Fields: Expanding American Abstraction, 1960s to Today'', at

Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art opened in 1994 in Kansas City, Missouri. With a $5 million annual budget and approximately 75,000 visitors each year, it is Missouri's first and largest contemporary museum. Founders The core of the museum's per ...

. During the 1970s, she participated in a community art space called Communications Village operated by printmaker

Benjamin Leroy Wigfall Benjamin Leroy Wigfall (1930–2017) was an American abstract-expressionist painter, printmaker, teacher, gallery owner, and collector of African art. He was the founder of a community art space called Communications Village as a hub for resident ...

in Kingston, NY. Andrews made prints with the help of printer assistants who had been taught printmaking by Wigfall. Pusey also became a teacher and taught at may places, including

The New School The New School is a Private university, private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for p ...

, the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts 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 ...

, and

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

. In 1988, Pusey moved to Pusey moved to

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower ** Orange juice *Orange (colour), the color of an orange fruit, occurs between red and yellow in the vi ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

and began teaching at

, an all-boys boarding school. Pusey's works are held in the permanent collections of the Cochran Collection in

LaGrange Joseph-Louis Lagrange (born Giuseppe Luigi LagrangiaGeorgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, the

Birmingham Museum of Art The Birmingham Museum of Art is a museum in Birmingham, Alabama. Its collection includes more than 24,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and decorative arts representing various cultures, including Asian, European, United States, Amer ...

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

, the

Studio Museum in Harlem The Studio Museum in Harlem is an African-American art museum at 144 West 125th Street in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States. Founded in 1968, the museum collects, preserves and interprets art created by African A ...

and 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. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

in New York, and the

National Museum of African American History and Culture The National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), colloquially known as the Blacksonian, is a Smithsonian Institution museum located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in the United States. It was established in 2003 an ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Pusey received awards and grants from the

Pollock-Krasner Foundation The Pollock-Krasner Foundation was established in 1985 for the purpose of providing funding to visual artists internationally to further their artistic practices. It was established at the bequest of Lee Krasner, who was an American abstract expr ...

and

The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation was founded in 1918 by Louis Comfort Tiffany to operate his estate, Laurelton Hall, in Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island. It was designed to be a summer retreat for artists and craftspeople. In 1946 the estate ...

, during her career.

Artistic development and influences

Pusey drew a lot of her inspiration from the constantly changing landscape of urban construction. A lot of her works were inspired by scenes of urban demolition and construction in the city. She gave her works titles like "Broken Construction at Dusk" and "Demolishment". Pusey had a great interest in design that led to her use of geometric lines and works like, ''Solitude'', a work she created in 1963. She had her first solo exhibition at Gallarie Louis Soulanges in 1968. In 1971, her work, ''Dejygea'' (1970), was featured in an exhibition titled ''Contemporary Black Artists in America'' at the

. this same work has been featured in a 2017 exhibit, ''Magnetic Fields: Expanding American Abstraction, the 1960s to today'', at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art. It traveled to places like Washington DC's

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 ...

to the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, Florida. Pusey says that color sets the "tempo" of her work, while the design is the "backbone" of her work. The inaugural art exhibition at the

(NMAAHC) in Washington D.C. featured Pusey.

Collections

Pusey has works in many different collections in museums across the United States, Including: *

, Birmingham, Alabama *

Cleveland Museum of Art The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Located in the Wade Park District of University Circle, the museum is internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian art, Asian and Art of anc ...

, Cleveland, Ohio *

Detroit Institute of Arts The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) is a museum institution located in Midtown Detroit, Michigan. It has list of largest art museums, one of the largest and most significant art collections in the United States. With over 100 galleries, it cove ...

(DIA), Detroit, Michigan *

Grand Rapids Art Museum The Grand Rapids Art Museum (GRAM) is an art museum located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States, with collections ranging from Renaissance to Modern Art and special collections on 19th and 20th-century European and American art. Its holdin ...

, Grand Rapids, Michigan *

(MoMA), Manhattan, New York *

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...

(NGA), Washington D.C. *

Sheldon Museum of Art The Sheldon Museum of Art is an art museum in the city of Lincoln, in the state of Nebraska in the Midwestern United States. Previously called the University of Nebraska Art Galleries and later the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, the institution ...

in Lincoln, Nebraska *

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; 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 one of the world's lar ...

, Washington D.C. * The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York *

Tougaloo College Tougaloo College is a private historically black college in the Tougaloo area of Jackson, Mississippi, United States. It is affiliated with the United Church of Christ and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). It was established in 1869 by ...

in Tougaloo,

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

References

External links

* Mavis Pusey Lecture (February 1981) at Maryland Institute College of Art {{DEFAULTSORT:Pusey, Mavis 1928 births 2019 deaths 20th-century American painters 20th-century American women painters 21st-century American painters 21st-century American women painters American abstract artists Art Students League of New York alumni Jamaican emigrants to the United States Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts faculty Rutgers University faculty The New School faculty 20th-century African-American painters 21st-century African-American artists African-American women artists 20th-century Jamaican painters 21st-century Jamaican artists Jamaican women artists Traphagen School of Fashion alumni American women academics 20th-century African-American women 21st-century African-American women 20th-century Jamaican women

Biography

Career

Artistic development and influences

Collections

References

Further reading

External links