Merrill Wagner (born 1935, Seattle) is an American visual artist. In 1957 Wagner graduated from

Sarah Lawrence College Sarah Lawrence College (SLC) is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York, United States. Founded as a Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in 1926, Sarah Lawrence College has been coeducational ...

. She settled in New York City where she studied with

Edwin Dickinson Edwin Walter Dickinson (October 11, 1891 – December 2, 1978) was an American painter and draftsman best known for psychologically charged self-portraits, quickly painted landscapes, which he called ''premier coups'', and large, hauntingly enigma ...

and attended 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 ...

. Wagner began her career working in the Minimalist style. Her later work incorporates representational painting executed on a variety of surfaces. Wagner is a member of

American Abstract Artists American Abstract Artists (AAA) was founded in 1937 in New York City, to promote and foster public understanding of abstract art. American Abstract Artists exhibitions, publications, and lectures helped to establish the organization as a major f ...

. Wagner's work was included in the 1971 exhibition ''

Twenty Six Contemporary Women Artists ''Twenty Six Contemporary Women Artists'' was an art exhibition held at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum from April 18 - June 13, 1971. It was the first show curated by Lucy R. Lippard. Lippard only included artists who had never had a solo ...

'' held at

The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum is located in Ridgefield, Connecticut. The Aldrich has no permanent collection and is the only museum in Connecticut that is dedicated solely to the exhibition of contemporary art. The museum presents the first ...

and the 2022 exhibition ''52 Artists: A Feminist Milestone'' also at the Aldrich. Her work is in the collection of the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

, the

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 ...

, and 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 ...

. Wagner was the second wife of fellow artist

Robert Ryman Robert Ryman (May 30, 1930February 8, 2019) was an American painter identified with the movements of monochrome painting, minimalism, and conceptual art. He was best known for abstract, white-on-white paintings. He lived and worked in New York ...

(1930 – 2019) whom she married in 1969, and with whom she had two children.

References

1935 births Living people Artists from Seattle 20th-century American women artists Sarah Lawrence College alumni {{US-painter-1930s-stub