Lisa Yuskavage facts for kids

Lisa Yuskavage (born 1962) is an American artist. She lives and works in New York City. Lisa is famous for her paintings of people. Her art often mixes old painting styles with ideas from popular culture. This creates a cool blend of classic and modern.

Early Life and Education

Lisa Yuskavage was born in 1962. Her hometown is Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She went to the Tyler School of Art at Temple University. During her studies, she spent a year in Rome. She earned her first art degree in 1984. Later, she received her master's degree from the Yale School of Art in 1986.

Lisa Yuskavage's Artworks

Since the early 1990s, Lisa Yuskavage has been known for bringing back paintings of people. Art critic Roberta Smith once wrote about her work. She noted the mix of hidden messages and bright colors. She also mentioned how Yuskavage's art blends different cultures.

Yuskavage's art often explores the history of painting. She especially focuses on paintings of the human form. Her works also include landscapes and still life scenes. Sometimes, all three types appear in one painting. She uses color in ways inspired by old Renaissance art. She also uses techniques from Color Field painting. Artists like Giovanni Bellini, Johannes Vermeer, and Edgar Degas inspire her.

Her paintings are often linked to ideas about how we see things. However, her art is complex and can have many meanings. As curator Christian Viveros-Fauné explained, her art works because it's hard to pin down. Yuskavage herself has said, "I only load the gun." This means she creates the art, but viewers decide what it means.

One of her New York art shows sold out very quickly. One of her paintings even sold for over $1 million at an auction.

Exhibitions and Collections

Lisa Yuskavage's art has been shown in many solo exhibitions. These shows took place in museums around the world. Some locations include the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia (2000). Others are the Centre d'Art Contemporain Genève in Switzerland (2001). She also had shows at the Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City (2006).

In 2015, a big show called Lisa Yuskavage: The Brood opened. It was at the Rose Art Museum in Waltham, Massachusetts. This exhibition showed her work from 25 years. Yuskavage also appeared in The Artist Project online series. In it, she talked about a painting by Édouard Vuillard.

In 2020, the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Aspen Art Museum worked together. They organized a show called Wilderness. This exhibition focused on how Yuskavage uses landscapes in her art. It started in Aspen in 2020 and moved to Baltimore in 2021. Her work was also part of the Women Painting Women exhibition in 2022. This show was at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.

Awards and Recognition

Lisa Yuskavage has received several awards for her art. In 2019, she won the Aspen Award for Art. She also received the Temple University Gallery of Success Award in 2005. Other honors include the Tiffany Foundation Grant in 1996. She also got the MacDowell Colony Fellowship in 1994.

Notable Works in Public Collections

Many of Lisa Yuskavage's paintings are in public art collections. This means people can see them in museums. Some of her famous works include:

• Helga (1993), at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
• The Bad Habits (1996), at the Rose Art Museum, Waltham, Massachusetts
• Foodeater (1996), part of The Bad Habits series, at the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut
• Red Head with Portraits (1996), at the Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, North Carolina
• Wrist Corsage (1996), at the Museum of Modern Art, New York
• Importance of Association II (1997), at the Denver Art Museum
• Importance of Association IV (1997), at the Denver Art Museum
• The Bad Habits series (1996-1998), found at the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, Buffalo, New York; Museum of Modern Art, New York; and Whitney Museum, New York
• Manifest Destiny (1997-1998), at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
• Night Flowers (1999), at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and Whitney Museum, New York
• Northview (2000), at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
• Northview (2000), at the Rubell Museum, Miami/Washington, D.C.
• Big Northview (2001), at the Whitney Museum, New York
• Kathy on a Pedestal (2001), at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; and Seattle Art Museum
• Kathy Thinking (2002), at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; and Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia
• Curlie G. (2003), at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
• Lupe & Lola II (2003), at the Rubell Museum, Miami/Washington, D.C.
• Angel (2004), at the Art Institute of Chicago
• Kingdom (2006), at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; and Whitney Museum, New York
• Persimmons (2006), at the Kunstmuseum Den Haag, The Hague, Netherlands
• Forces (2007), at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and Museum of Modern Art, New York
• Bonfire (2013-2015), at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• Night Classes at the Department of Painting Drawing and Sculpture (2018-2020), at the Art Institute of Chicago
• Pink Studio (Rendezvous) (2021), at the Museum of Modern Art, New York