Beatrice Mandelman facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Beatrice Mandelman
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| Born | December 31, 1912 Newark, New Jersey
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| Died | June 24, 1998 (aged 85) Taos, New Mexico
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| Nationality | American |
| Education | George Pickens |
| Alma mater | Newark School of Fine and Industrial Art Art Student's League of New York |
| Known for | Painting, prints |
| Style | abstract |
| Movement | Modernism |
| Spouse(s) | Louis Ribak |
Beatrice Mandelman (born December 31, 1912 – died June 24, 1998), often called Bea, was an American artist. She was known for her abstract paintings and prints. She was part of a group called the Taos Moderns.
Beatrice was born in Newark, New Jersey. Her parents were immigrants who taught her about fairness and art. She studied art in New York City. Later, she worked for a government program called the Works Progress Administration Federal Arts Project (WPA-FAP).
In 1944, when she was 32, Beatrice moved to Taos, New Mexico. She moved there with her husband, who was also an artist, Louis Leon Ribak. Beatrice mostly made paintings, prints, and collages. Many of her works were abstract, meaning they didn't show real-life things exactly. But she also made abstract versions of city scenes, landscapes, and still lifes.
In the 1940s, her paintings had rich textures and soft, calm colors. When she moved to New Mexico, the landscape and culture changed her art. Her colors became brighter, her shapes more geometric, and her forms clearer. Some people said her art combined ideas from Cubism (using geometric shapes) and Expressionism (showing feelings). Her art is now in many big museums, including the University of New Mexico Art Museum and Harwood Museum of Art.
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Early Life and Art Dreams
Beatrice Mandelman was born on December 31, 1912, in Newark, New Jersey. Her parents were Jewish immigrants who believed in helping others and loved art. By the time she was 12, Beatrice was already taking art classes. She knew then that she wanted to be an artist.
As she grew up, Beatrice became interested in art from all over the world. She learned about different types of Modernism, which was a new way of making art. In 1924, a family friend named Louis Lozowick came back from Europe and Russia. He told Beatrice about Constructivism (an art style using geometric shapes) and other new art ideas from abroad. Beatrice also met a designer named Robert Jonas. He introduced her to famous New York artists like Willem de Kooning and Arshile Gorky.
Learning to Be an Artist
From 1930 to 1932, Beatrice went to New Jersey College for Women at Rutgers University. Then she studied at the Newark School for Fine and Industrial Art. There, she learned from a painter named Bernar Gussow. He had studied in Paris and taught Beatrice about Cubism and the School of Paris art movement.
Beatrice had planned to study art in Paris. But her father passed away in 1932, and the Great Depression made things hard. So, she couldn't go then. It wasn't until 1948 that she finally made it to Paris. There, she studied with the famous artist Fernand Léger. She also became friends with the Cubist painter Francis Picabia.
Art During the WPA Years (1935-1942)
Between 1935 and 1942, Beatrice worked for a government program called the Works Progress Administration's Federal Arts Project (WPA). This program helped artists find work during the Great Depression. First, she painted murals, and later she made prints.
In 1937-38, the WPA sent her to Butte, Montana. She taught art to children and adults there. When she returned to New York, she continued her studies at the Art Students League. She learned how to make prints and joined the WPA's printmaking group. She was one of the first artists to use a new printing method called silk screen for fine art. Her silk screen prints were very popular.
By 1941, her art was part of the early New York School movement. Her prints were bought by museums and shown in big exhibitions. These included shows at the Chicago Art Institute, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Beatrice worked for the WPA until it ended in 1942. Even though her art style changed over time, her early works showed her strong beliefs in social fairness. She later made collages against the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 70s.
Life in Taos
Beatrice Mandelman married fellow artist Louis Ribak in 1942. While they were still in New York, they were part of the early New York School art scene. They even went on vacation with famous artist Jackson Pollock in 1943.
In 1944, Beatrice and Louis visited artist John French Sloan in Santa Fe. They then traveled to Taos. They loved Taos so much that they decided to move there right away. When they arrived, the Taos art colony was already a well-known place for artists. Most artists there painted realistic pictures. But there were only a few artists, like Thomas Benrimo and Emil Bisttram, who made Modernist art.
Taos was a great place for artists. It was close to Native American culture at Taos Pueblo. It had beautiful nature and a low cost of living. It was also a good stop between the East and West Coasts and on the way to Mexico. Years earlier, in the 1920s, a wealthy art supporter named Mabel Dodge Luhan had moved to Taos. She hosted a salon that attracted many important Modernist artists, writers, and thinkers. She welcomed Beatrice and Louis and included them in her book "Taos and Its Artists" (1947).
Beatrice fit in well with the Taos art community. She and Louis connected with other modern artists who moved to Taos in the 1940s and 1950s. These included Edward Corbett and Agnes Martin. This group became known as the Taos Moderns.
In 1947, Beatrice and Louis started the Taos Valley Art School. They taught there until it closed in 1953. The school attracted artists from New York and the San Francisco Bay area. Many were World War II veterans using the G.I. Bill to study. The school closed when its funding ended. Beatrice and Louis then lived in New York from 1954-1956 before returning to Taos.
Her art was shown in the 1940 MoMA exhibition American Color Prints Under $10. This show aimed to make affordable art prints available to everyone. Beatrice's work was also in the 1947 and 1951 Dallas Museum of Fine Arts exhibitions by the National Serigraph Society.
Away from the strict rules of the main art world, Beatrice found the freedom to create her own unique style. She combined Abstract Expressionism with inspiration from the light, colors, and cultures of the American West. Beatrice also loved to travel. She visited South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. She often lived for long periods in Mexico to escape the cold New Mexico winters. Like many artists of her time, including her friend Alexander Girard, she loved and collected folk art.
The Taos Moderns (1950s)
In the 1950s, the art world was mostly led by men, and the Taos Art Colony was no different. When another abstract artist, Agnes Martin, arrived in Taos, she and Beatrice became close friends. Their friendship became difficult when Agnes moved back to New York in 1958 and became very famous. Beatrice stayed in Taos and felt her own work wasn't getting the same attention. Despite these tensions, Beatrice and Agnes became friends again in 1992 when Agnes returned to Taos. Agnes lived there until she passed away in 2004.
Beatrice and Louis Ribak's home was a meeting place for an informal group of artists who called themselves the Taos Moderns. Important members included Edward Corbett, Agnes Martin, Oli Sihvonen, and Clay Spohn. Beatrice's work was part of a 1952 group exhibition called "Taos Painting Yesterday and Today" at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. This was the first museum show to focus on the growth of Modernist art in Taos.
By the 1950s, Taos had over 200 artists and 18 art galleries. Beatrice and some other local artists started two cooperative galleries. The first was the Ruins Gallery in 1952, named after the old adobe building it was in. Then they helped create the Taos Artists' Association and its cooperative, the Stables Gallery. In 1955, Beatrice and Louis also opened Gallery Ribak. This was a gallery in their home where they sometimes showed their own art and the work of a few friends.
Later Years and Legacy
Beatrice liked to work in series, creating 33 different series of artworks from the 1940s until she passed away in 1998. She also made many lively collages, a type of art she started exploring in the 1950s and continued throughout her career.
After her husband Louis Ribak passed away in 1979, Beatrice continued to live in Taos.
In her final years, the 1990s, Beatrice kept painting even when she was very sick. In May 1998, just two months before she passed away, she was featured in Forbes magazine. This brought her international attention and helped her sell many paintings. Feeling encouraged by this recognition, Beatrice was able to create thirty-one new works, known as the Winter Series. She passed away from illness on June 24, 1998, at her home in Taos, at the age of 85.
The Mandelman-Ribak Foundation was created to keep the memory of Beatrice and her husband alive. This foundation has cataloged their artworks. In 2014, their art collection and personal papers were given to the University of New Mexico. This gift helps fund future exhibitions and studies of their work. It also led to the naming of the Mandelman-Ribak and Caroline Lee and Bob Ellis Galleries at the UNM Harwood Museum of Art in Taos. The University's Zimmerman Library Center for Southwest Research received many of their personal papers, including notes and poems Beatrice wrote over the years.
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Beatrice Mandelman
