Mary Beth Edelson

Lugar: East Chicago

Nascido: 1933

Biografia:

Mary Beth Edelson is an American artist and pioneer in the Feminist art movement, deemed one of the notable "first generation feminist artists." She was also active in the civil rights movement. Edelson is a printmaker, book artist, collage artist, painter, photographer, performance artist, and author. Her works have been shown at museums such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Museum of Contemporary Art.
Mary Beth Johnson was born in East Chicago, Indiana, in 1933. Encouraged by her parents, she became interested in art and activism at about age 14.
She had two children: a daughter from her second marriage and a son from her third marriage to Alfred H. Edelson, the CEO of Rytex. Robert Stackhouse, also an artist, lived with Mary Beth Edelson for 27 years in her live/work loft in Soho following the end of her third marriage.
Mary Beth Edelson resided in New York during the mid-1950s. She later lived in Indianapolis, where she owned an art gallery, until 1968 when she moved to Washington, D.C. Edelson returned to New York in the 1970s.
From 1951 to 1955, Edelson attended DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, during which time she also studied at the School of The Art Institute of Chicago (1953–1954). Her works were exhibited in 1955 at an exhibition for senior-year students, 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.
After her School of the Art Institute graduation Edelson moved to New York, where she enrolled in a graduate program at New York University. In 1958 she received her Master of Arts degree.
During the second half of the 1950s Mary Beth Edelson became active in the emergent feminist movement as well as the civil rights movement. 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 ’68, Misses NYC.
Chrysalis and the Heresies Collective, including the Heresies publication, were founded in part due to Edelson's efforts. From 1992 and 1994 she was involved in the leadership of the Committee on Diversity and Inclusion and the Women's Action Coalition.
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 1964 Civil Rights Act that bans federally funded organizations from sex discrimination. The group, assembled in 1998, filed a complaint with the National Endowment for the Arts against the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Mary Beth Edelson's feminist and conceptual art consists of bronze sculptures, paintings, collages, prints, story gathering boxes, and sketches. She is also a photographer, book artist, and performance artist, and has lectured at museums and universities across North America.
Edelson is considered one of the "first-generation feminist artists," a group that also includes Rachel Rosenthal, Carolee Schneeman, and Judy Chicago. 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."
A.I.R. Gallery (Artists In Residence), founded in 1972, held exhibits of Edelson's work, including her participation in the Heresies Collective from its early days of operation. Edelson was herself a member of the feminist cooperative gallery, as well as a founding member of the Heresies Collective.
The artist was included in the 2007-2009 "WACK! Art of the Feminist Revolution" traveling exhibition, curated by Connie Butler.
Edelson's Some Living American Women Artists (1972) appropriated Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper, with the heads of notable women artists collaged over the heads of Christ and his apostles. John the Baptist's head was replaced with Nancy Graves, and Christ's with Georgia O'Keeffe. 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 acquired the original work along with four other original collage posters in the series.

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