Polly Apfelbaum facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Polly Apfelbaum
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Polly Apfelbaum in 2021, at a studio in Switzerland.
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| Born | July 4, 1955 Abington, Pennsylvania, United States
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| Education | Tyler School of Art (BFA) SUNY Purchase College |
| Occupation | Visual artist |
| Known for | Sculpture, drawing, mixed media |
| Movement | Contemporary art |
Polly E. Apfelbaum (born July 4, 1955) is an American visual artist. She is famous for her bright and colorful art, especially her unique fabric pieces that lie on the floor. She calls these artworks "fallen paintings." Since 1978, she has lived and worked in New York City.
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Who is Polly Apfelbaum?
Polly Apfelbaum was born in Abington, Pennsylvania, in 1955. She loved art from a young age and decided to make it her career.
In 1978, she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree from the Tyler School of Art in Pennsylvania. She also studied at SUNY Purchase College in New York. After finishing school, she moved to New York City to become a full-time artist.
What are "Fallen Paintings"?
Apfelbaum became well-known in the 1990s for a special kind of art she created. Instead of hanging paintings on a wall, she arranged hundreds of hand-cut and dyed pieces of velvet fabric on the floor.
She calls these large floor installations "fallen paintings." They are a mix of painting and sculpture. They don't stand up like a traditional sculpture, but they also aren't flat on a canvas like a traditional painting. This unique style makes her work stand out. One art expert said her work is "both painting and sculpture, and perhaps photography and fashion and formless material process as well."
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Exhibitions and Recognition
Apfelbaum has shown her art all over the world since her first solo show in 1986. In 2003, the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia held a major exhibition that looked back at 15 years of her work. This show later traveled to museums in Ohio and Missouri.
Her art has been featured in many famous museums, including:
- The Museum of Modern Art in New York
- The Los Angeles County Museum of Art in California
- The Pérez Art Museum Miami in Florida
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York
Awards and Honors
Apfelbaum has received many awards for her creative work. These awards recognize her as one of the top artists in her field.
Some of her major honors include:
- An Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (2002)
- The Joseph H. Hazen Rome Prize (2012-2013), a special award for leaders in arts and humanities
- A Guggenheim Fellowship (1993)
- Grants from the Joan Mitchell Foundation and the Pollock-Krasner Foundation
Where is Her Art Now?
Polly Apfelbaum's art is part of the permanent collections of many museums. This means the museums own her work and can display it for everyone to see.
You can find her art in museums across the United States and in other countries, such as:
- Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York
- Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
- Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas
- Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel
- Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris, Paris, France
- Museum of Modern Art, New York
- National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.
- Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia
- Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
- Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven
