Perle Fine facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Perle Fine
Born	1905 Boston, Massachusetts
Died	1988 East Hampton, New York
Nationality	American
Known for	Painting
Movement	Abstract expressionism

Perle Fine (born Poule Feine) (1905–1988) was an American Abstract Expressionist painter. Her art was known for mixing smooth, brushy paint with shapes that looked like living things. These shapes were often wrapped around or tangled with other geometric forms.

Biography of Perle Fine

Perle Fine was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1905. She was one of six children. Her parents had recently moved from Russia. Perle became interested in art when she was very young. She said she started doing posters and winning small prizes in grammar school. This encouraged her to become an artist.

After high school, Fine briefly attended the School of Practical Art in Boston. There, she learned about illustration and graphic design. She designed newspaper ads to pay for her classes. Later, she moved to New York City to study fine art. She went to the Grand Central School of Art. There, she met Maurice Berezov, whom she married in 1930.

Fine also studied at the Art Students League in New York. In the late 1930s, she began learning from Hans Hofmann. He was a famous art teacher. In 1943, she received a special grant. This allowed her to show her art in important galleries. These shows helped her get noticed by art critics.

In 1945, Fine joined a group called American Abstract Artists. This group supported her artistic ideas. By the mid-1940s, her art was bought by important collectors. These included Frank Lloyd Wright and Alfred Barr, who directed the Museum of Modern Art. She was even asked to create two paintings inspired by a famous unfinished work by Piet Mondrian.

Early Career and Recognition

Perle Fine managed an art gallery from 1936 to 1938. She opened her own gallery in 1940. In 1945, she had her first solo art show. It was at the Willard Gallery in New York City. The next year, she worked for another gallery, which helped her paint full-time.

An art critic named Edward Alden Jewell praised Fine's work. He had not liked abstract art before. But he admired her "aplomb" and "native resourcefulness." In 1947, Fine was featured in an art magazine. It showed that her art was unique, even among other abstract artists.

In 1950, she joined the "Artists' Club" on 8th Street. Willem de Kooning, another famous artist, nominated her. Around the mid-1950s, Fine's painting style changed. She started using thick, heavy paint. Her brushstrokes were rough and jagged. She focused on the surface and texture of her large paintings. Her colors became more serious.

The Ninth Street Show

Fine was chosen by other artists to be part of the Ninth Street Show. This important show took place in New York City in 1951. It was held in a building that was about to be torn down. This show was a big deal for the artists. It brought together many artists and helped them get noticed. It also showed the strength of their art community.

Perle Fine was one of only 24 artists who participated in all the annual New York Painting and Sculpture shows from 1951 to 1957. These shows were special because artists chose who would participate. Other women artists in these shows included Elaine de Kooning and Grace Hartigan.

Moving to East Hampton

In the 1950s, Fine moved to Springs, a part of East Hampton on Long Island. Many other New York School artists lived there. These included Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner.

In 1958, her paintings started to show "abstract intimations of nature." This meant her abstract art hinted at natural forms. She was included in an exhibition called Nature in Abstraction.

Later Career and Teaching

The 1960s brought many changes to the New York art scene. Fine had four solo shows at the Graham Gallery. Her style changed again, bringing back horizontal and vertical lines. She wanted to show "an emotion about color."

Fine also started teaching in 1961. She was a visiting critic at Cornell University. Soon after, she taught privately at Hofstra University from 1962 to 1973.

In 1965, she became very ill. Around this time, she started making collages from wood. She used curved shapes in these works. In 1978, she won an award at an art exhibition.

Perle Fine passed away on May 31, 1988, in East Hampton, New York. She was 83 years old.

The Prescience Series: 1950s

In the 1950s, Perle Fine was inspired by Hans Hofmann's ideas. She explored how colors and shapes could create harmony and tension. She learned to use color to express feelings. Fine experimented with staining and different levels of see-through paint. She also played with positive and negative space in her art. Her paintings from this time look similar to those of her friend, Mark Rothko. This series was known for its open feel and the way colors were layered subtly.

The Cool Series: 1961-1963

Her "Cool series" marked a change from her earlier Abstract Expressionist works. Fine said these paintings were a "growth" in her art, not a complete break. She felt a need to express more in her paintings.

Fine created the Cool series while living alone in East Hampton. The name "Cool" came from her understanding that it was a new art trend. Artists were moving away from showing deep personal feelings in their art. Instead, they wanted their images to speak for themselves. This new approach focused on how the viewer felt when looking at the colors and space. It was about creating a "visceral, spiritual experience" just through these elements. Fine's Cool series focused on rectangles and squares. She placed them side by side, often using mostly one color.

The Accordment Series: 1969–1980

The "Accordment series" brought together all of Fine's previous styles. The word "accordment" means agreement or acceptance. These works have a clear connection to Minimalism. This art style uses very simple forms and colors. Kathleen Housley, an art writer, said that Fine's art from this time was often called "atmospheric and classic." Fine's style stood out with its colorful lines, flat areas of color, and clear, sweeping brushstrokes.

Fine worked on this series while teaching at Hofstra University. In 1978, she had a special exhibition at the Guild Hall Museum. It showed works from this series. A curator named David Dietcher said her Accordment series used "bands of color" to create a glow that seemed to come from inside the painting itself.

Challenges as a Female Artist

Perle Fine and other women artists faced many challenges. They had fewer chances to show their art because of their gender. The art world often saw the typical Abstract Expressionist painter as a white man. This art movement, which was supposed to be about freedom, made it hard for women to join. This was true no matter how good their art was. Some gallery owners, like Samuel Kootz, openly said they would not show women artists. But Fine strongly believed, "I know I was as good as anybody else in there."

Despite these difficulties, Fine had many solo and group shows in the late 1940s. Her success in these shows suggested she was about to become very famous. However, she never reached the same level of commercial success as some of her male artist friends. As the 1950s began, there was less competition among artists. But when art started to make a lot of money, gender became a bigger issue.

Perle Fine herself did not focus much on gender as a reason for her success. She believed the painting itself was the most important thing, not whether she was a woman. Any problems she faced only pushed her to become a better artist. She always worked hard to solve problems in every painting. Her talent and determination were clear. An art historian, Ann Eden Gibson, said that by the early 1950s, Fine was "right in the middle of Abstract Expressionism."

Over her 50-year career, Perle Fine kept trying new things. She refused to copy other artists. For Fine, Abstract Expressionism was not a rebellion. It was a beautiful, unexplored world of art. More recently, her work is getting new attention. It has been shown in important exhibitions like "Women of Abstract Expressionism."

Selected Collections

• Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Massachusetts
• Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock
• Ball State Museum of Art, Muncie, Indiana
• Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts
• Brooklyn Museum, New York
• Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art, Nashville, Tennessee
• Guild Hall, East Hampton, New York
• Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
• Hofstra University Museum, Hempstead, New York
• Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indiana
• Indiana University Art Museum, Bloomington
• Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• Museum of Fine Art, St. Petersburg, Florida
• Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Utica, New York
• National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
• New York University Art Collection
• Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, New York
• Principia College, Saint Louis, Missouri
• Provincetown Art Association Museum, Massachusetts
• Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey
• Sheldon Art Museum, Lincoln, Nebraska
• Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts
• Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.
• Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
• University of California, Berkeley
• University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
• Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
• Weatherspoon Art Museum, University of North Carolina, Greensboro
• Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts

Selected Solo Exhibitions

• 1945: Marian Willard Gallery, NY
• 1946–47: Nierendorf Gallery, NYC
• 1947: M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, Ca
• 1949, 1951–53: Betty Parsons Gallery, NY
• 1955, 58: Tanager Gallery, NYC
• 1961, 63, 64, 67: Graham Gallery, NY
• 1972: Joan Washburn Gallery, NY
• 1978: "Major Works: 1954–1978: A Selection of Drawings, Paintings, and Collages," Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, NY
• 2009: "Tranquil Power: The Art of Perle Fine," Hofstra University Museum, New York
• 2015: "Perle Fine," Berry Campbell, New York
• 2017: "Perle Fine: Prescience Series," Berry Campbell, New York
• 2020: "Perle Fine: Accordment Series," Berry Campbell, New York

Selected Group Exhibitions

• 1943: The Art of This Century, NYC
• 1946, 47, 49, 51, 52, 54, 55, 58, 61, 72: Whitney Museum of American Art, Annuals and Biennials, NY
• 1947–52: Painting toward architecture, (Miller Company Collection of Abstract Art), 28(+) venues in US
• 1950: "American Painting Today 1950," The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC
• 1951, 1953–57: Ninth Street Exhibition, the first and subsequent 5 "New York Painting and Sculpture Annual," Stable Gallery, NY
• 1951–52: "Paintings from the Miller Company Collection". Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA. (December 3, 1951 – January 23, 1952)
• 1958: "Nature in Abstraction; The Relation of Abstract Painting and Sculpture to Nature in Twentieth-Century American Art," circ., Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC
• 1961–62: "The Art of Assemblage," circ., Museum of Modern Art, NY
• 1963–64: "Hans Hofmann and His Students," circ., Museum of Modern Art, NYC
• 1967: "Selection 1967: Recent Acquisitions in Modern Art," University Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley
• 1984: "The Return of Abstraction," Ingber Gallery, NY
• 1990: "East Hampton Avant-Garde; A Salute to the Signa Gallery," Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, NY
• 1994: "Reclaiming Artists of the New York School. Toward a More Inclusive View of the 1950s", Baruch College City University, New York City; "New York-Provincetown: A 50s Connection", Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown, Massachusetts
• 2004: "Reuniting an Era Abstract Expressionists of the 1950s.", Rockford Art Museum, Rockford, Illinois
• 2011: "Black And – -", Anita Shapolsky Gallery, New York City, NY
• 2016: "Women of Abstract Expressionism," Denver Art Museum, Colorado
• 2017: "Women in Abstract Expressionism", Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, California
• 2019: "Sparkling Amazons: Abstract Expressionist Women of the 9th St." The Katonah Museum of Art, Westchester County, NY
• 2019: "Postwar Women:alumnae of the Art Students League of New York 1945–1965", Phyllis Harriman Gallery, Art Students League of NY; curated by Will Corwin
• 2020: "9th Street Club", Gazelli Art House, London; curated by Will Corwin

See also

• Abstract expressionism
• Action painting
• New York School
• 9th Street Art Exhibition