Miriam Laufer facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Miriam Laufer
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| Born |
Miriam Ickowitz
November 15, 1918 |
| Died | October 6, 1980 (aged 61) |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Bezalel Art School, Brooklyn College |
| Known for | Painting |
| Movement | Abstract expressionism, Geometric Abstraction, and Pop Art |
Miriam Laufer (November 15, 1918 – October 6, 1980) was an American artist. She was known for her paintings of women. She also created art in different styles. These included abstract expressionism, geometric abstraction, and pop art. Miriam Laufer was also an early supporter of the feminist art movement in the 1960s. Besides painting, she worked as a calligrapher, illustrator, graphic designer, and teacher.
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Early Life and Artistic Training
Miriam Laufer was born in Lodz, Poland, on November 15, 1918. Her parents were Sara Perl Ickowitz and Heinrich Ickowitz. When she was three, her family moved to Berlin, Germany. Soon after, her father left the family.
Miriam and her brother went to a children's home in Berlin called Ahava. This home was very modern for its time. Miriam loved art there and helped design sets for plays. In 1934, a group called Youth Aliyah helped Jewish children, including Miriam, move to Haifa. At that time, Haifa was part of Palestine.
In Haifa, Miriam studied painting with Zvi Mairovich. She also learned graphic design from Hermann Struck. In 1938, she received a scholarship to the Bezalel Art School in Jerusalem. There, she studied graphics with Joseph Budko. She also learned painting from Mordecai Ardon, who had studied at the famous Bauhaus school.
After graduating from Bezalel in 1941, Miriam married Sigmund Laufer. He was an artist she met at the school. Miriam and Sigmund Laufer moved to New York City in 1947. They continued their art careers there. They had two daughters, Susan Bee (born 1952) and Abigail Laufer (born 1956).
Career and Artistic Work
In the mid-1940s, Miriam Laufer worked as a professional designer in Tel Aviv, Israel. She used her graphic design skills to create signs for the British Army. These signs were in many languages, including Hebrew, Polish, Arabic, and English.
After moving to America, Laufer used her art training in different jobs. She worked in illustration, graphic design, and calligraphy. From 1961 to 1963, she was a teaching assistant. She helped artists Samuel Adler and Leo Manso at New York University.
Exhibitions and Recognition
Miriam Laufer's art was shown in many places. Between 1959 and 2016, she had thirteen solo shows. These shows featured her paintings, prints, and drawings. Many of her shows were at the Phoenix Gallery in New York. She exhibited there for over twenty years.
In 2006, an exhibition called Seeing Double showed Laufer's paintings. It also featured paintings by her daughter, Susan Bee. This show was held at A.I.R. Gallery in New York. In 2016, the Provincetown Art Association and Museum held a special show. It was called Views and Vignettes, the Works of Miriam Laufer. Laufer spent many summers in Provincetown, Massachusetts, where she often showed her art.
Johanna Drucker, who helped organize the "Views and Vignettes" show, said this about Laufer's art: "The vivid, colorful, painterly work she produced until her death in 1980, resonate with the spirit of contemporary women's work. ..... Her engagement with autobiographical subject matter and frank depiction of the female body are unusual for a woman painter of her generation."
Laufer's artwork was praised by many art critics. Her work was featured in The New York Times, Art News, and Art in America. Her paintings are in many private collections. They are also part of the collections at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Connecticut and the Provincetown Art Association and Museum.
Later Life and Legacy
In the late 1960s, Miriam Laufer became involved in the women's movement. She was an early supporter of the feminist art movement. At 52 years old, she went back to school. She studied at Brooklyn College and earned her B.A. degree in 1973. She passed away from a stroke on October 6, 1980, in New York City.
