Elizabeth Peyton facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Elizabeth Peyton
Born	Elizabeth Joy Peyton 1965 (age 59–60) Danbury, Connecticut, U.S.
Education	School of Visual Arts, New York City
Known for	Painting

Elizabeth Joy Peyton, born in 1965, is a famous American artist. She creates paintings, drawings, and prints. Elizabeth Peyton is well-known for her portraits. She paints people from her own life, like friends. She also paints historical figures and popular cultural icons. Her art often shows artists, writers, musicians, and actors.

Growing Up and Learning Art

Elizabeth Joy Peyton was born in Danbury, Connecticut in 1965. She was the youngest of five children. From a young age, she loved drawing and painting people. Between 1984 and 1987, she studied fine arts. She went to the School of Visual Arts in New York City.

What Kind of Art Does She Make?

Peyton's art mostly shows people. Her work is often quiet but very strong. She paints subjects from her own life and from history. Her paintings feel immediate and have rich, textured surfaces.

She gets a lot of ideas from famous artists and writers. These include Gustave Flaubert and John Singer Sargent. Peyton feels connected to a long line of artists. These artists, like Balzac and Georgia O'Keeffe, show subjects simply. They aim to mix quiet feelings with strong emotions.

How She Creates Her Art

Peyton works from real life and from photographs. She mainly uses painting, drawing, or printmaking. Sometimes, she paints pictures of photographs of sculptures. This is how she painted Camille Claudel's sculptures. She said painting other artists' work helps her explore "harder-to-reach things inside herself." This is because the art's layout is already decided.

Peyton also likes to reuse images. She might crop them differently each time. This changes how much of the background you see. This change in context is important to her. It affects how close or personal the artwork feels.

Her Printmaking Work

Since 1998, Peyton has made many prints. These include monotypes, lithographs, and woodcuts. She started making prints when Parkett magazine asked her to create one. She tries out different methods. She also uses many kinds of handmade papers. She uses various colored and black inks.

Beyond Portraits: Still Life Art

Besides portraits, Peyton also creates still life art. These works often show cut-off portraits with flowers. They might also include statues and other objects. She started exploring still life around 2007. This shifted her focus from just the person. She began looking at the person's surroundings. This helped her show feelings in a new way.

Some examples of her still life works are:

• Pati (2007)
• Balzac + Roses (2008)
• Camille Claudel and Flowers (Still Life) (2009)
• Actaeon, Justin Bieber and Grey Roses (2010)
• Flowers, Lichtenstein, Parsifal (2011)
• Berlin, Hyacinth and Black Teapot (2014)
• Universe of the World-Breath (2018)

Working with Other Artists

In 2009, Peyton worked with Matthew Barney. They created Blood of Two, an art project. It was on the Greek island of Hydra. Later, she worked with Jonathan Horowitz. They made monotypes about plants and flowers. These works explored themes of love and death. This led to paintings, prints, drawings, sculptures, and photos. They also made a book together.

Where Her Art Has Been Shown

One of Peyton's first shows was in 1993. It was in a room at the Hotel Chelsea in New York City. People could ask for the key to Room 828 to see her drawings. These drawings included Napoleon and Marie Antoinette. This show helped her become known to the public.

Major Exhibitions

A big exhibition of her work began in 2008. It started at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York City. Then it traveled to other places. These included the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis and the Whitechapel Gallery in London. This show was the first big look at her work in an American museum. It included her newer portraits. These showed more about the feelings of people like Matthew Barney and John Giorno. After Barack Obama was elected president, a new painting was added. It showed Michelle Obama and her daughter at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

Her art has also been shown in solo exhibitions. These were at places like the Royal Academy in London (2002) and the Irish Museum of Modern Art (2009). In 2011, her prints were shown at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum. She also had shows at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

In 2017, the Villa Medici in Rome had a special show. It was called Elizabeth Peyton & Camille Claudel: Eternal Idol. It showed works by both artists together. They were born a century apart. This created a conversation between their different ways of painting portraits. The same year, the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art in Japan showed Elizabeth Peyton: Still Life. This was her first major art survey in Japan.

Most recently, a large show of her portraits was held. It was called Aire and Angels. It was at the National Portrait Gallery in London. This show ran from October 2019 to January 2020. Her first solo show in China was at UCCA Beijing in 2020.

Where Her Art is Kept

Many important museums own Peyton's artwork. These include:

• Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
• Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
• Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
• Museum of Modern Art, New York
• San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
• Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

The Museum of Modern Art in New York has bought about 30 of her drawings and paintings. These were collected over 25 years.

Awards and Honors

In 2006, Peyton received the 14th Annual Larry Aldrich Award. This award honors artists who have greatly impacted visual culture. In 2007, she was honored by amfAR. She received their Award of Excellence for Artistic Contributions to the Fight Against AIDS.

In 2011, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award. This was from Guild Hall's Academy of the Arts. It was for her work in Visual Arts. In 2018, the New Museum honored Peyton at their yearly Spring Gala.

Personal Life

Peyton was married to artist Rirkrit Tiravanija. She has also been in relationships with artist Klara Lidén and lawyer Pati Hertling. She lives in New York City’s West Village.

See also

In Spanish: Elizabeth Peyton para niños