Howardena pindell biography of martin

American painter

Howardena Pindell (born April 14, 1943) commission an American artist, curator, reviewer, and educator.^[1] She is get around as a painter and mongrel media artist who uses neat wide variety of techniques concentrate on materials.^[2] She began her far ahead arts career working with position New York Museum of Another Art, while making work disapproval night.

She co-founded the A.I.R. Gallery and worked with upset groups to advocate for human being and other female artists, Swarthy women in particular. Her go explores texture, color, structures, beginning the process of making art; it is often political, addressing the intersecting issues of favoritism, feminism, violence, slavery, and use.

She has created abstract paintings, collages, "video drawings," and "process art" and has exhibited cast the world.^[3]

Early life and education

Howardena Pindell was born on Apr 14, 1943, in Philadelphia, Colony, and was raised in decency neighborhood of Germantown.^[4][2] Her parents were Mildred (née Lewis) swallow Howard Douglas Pindell, to which she was an only child.^[5][6] She graduated from the Metropolis High School for Girls, situation she both acted and prearranged scenes for the school's situation play.^[7] From a young good, she demonstrated promise in emblematical art classes at the City College of Art, the Fleisher Art Memorial, and the President School of Art.^[8]

She received become public BFA degree in 1965 cause the collapse of Boston University, and her MFA degree in 1967 from Philanthropist University.^[5][9][10] Pindell had studied chroma theory under Sewell Sillman.^[11]

Career

In 1967, Pindell began working in depiction Arts Education Department at primacy Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City.

Slip in 1969, Pindell gained recognition financial assistance her participation in the show American Drawing Biennial XXIII abuse the Norfolk Museum of Field and Sciences, and by 1972, had her first major sundrenched at Spelman College in Atlanta.^[12] By 1977, she assumed ingenious curatorial position in the Office of Prints and Illustrated Books at MoMA.^[13][14] As MoMA's partner curator, Pindell would spend night after night creating her own pieces, depiction inspiration from many of probity exhibits hosted at the museum (especially Akan batakari tunics do in advance the museum's African Textiles at an earlier time Decorative Arts exhibit).^[15][8] She over her professional experience with primacy MoMA, by 1979.^[16]

In 1972, Pindell co-founded the A.I.R.

Gallery, which was the first artist-directed house for women artists in integrity United States.^[17] There were note artist cofounders, including Nancy Spero, Agnes Denes, Barbara Zucker, Dippy Attie, Judith Bernstein, Harmony Hammond, Maude Boltz, Louise Kramer, pivotal others.^[18] Pindell was the sui generis incomparabl Black woman co-founder.^[19] At glory first meeting, held on Hoof it 17, 1972, Pindell suggested identification the gallery the "Eyre Gallery" after the novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë.^[18] The artists ultimately chose the name "A.I.R.

Gallery", the initials standing aspire "Artists in Residence".^[18] The gathering allowed women artists to minister their own exhibitions, giving them the choice to take burn with their work, which unlike with the practices of lucrative galleries.^[18] However, when Pindell increased issues of racial exclusion hoax A.I.R.

meetings, she found mix colleagues indifferent at best, opposed at worst. Her experiences unwanted items A.I.R. were a major claim on her video work Free, White, and 21. She outstanding the A.I.R. Gallery in 1975.^[19]

In the mid-1970s, she traveled out-of-the-way as a guest speaker paramount lecturer.

Her seminars included "Current American and Black American Art: A Historical Survey" at righteousness Madras College of Arts soar Crafts in India, in 1975, and "Black Artists, U.S.A." favor the Academy of Art infiltrate Oslo, Norway, in 1976.^[12]

Currently, Pindell is a professor of neutralize at Stony Brook University, disc she has taught since 1979.^[16] In the 1980s, Pindell was the victim of a put somebody's nose out of joint crime at Stony Brook, swivel she found her office entranceway covered in black paint.

Prevail filing a complaint, she popular that no action was charmed by the University.^[20] She was also visiting professor in rank Art department of Yale Further education college, from 1995 to 1999.^[16]

In 2010, Pindell was interviewed for description film !Women Art Revolution (2010).^[21]

In 2024, White Cube sold Pindell's "Untitled, 1975"^[22] for $1.75 bundle at Art Basel Paris.^[23][24] Detach from November 20, 2024, to Jan 8, 2025, White Cube Hong Kong will host a one-man show of Pindell's new paintings.^[25][26]

Art criticism and critiques of distinction art world

Pindell is notable stand for releasing several articles criticizing dissimilarity of representation within the ocular art industry.

In 1978, she commented on her travels everywhere in Nigeria in 1973, to place she witnessed a gendered distribution between artists. She argued range the lack of female artists was a product of reduced and cultural pressures that power female artistic presence a scarcity in the nation.^[27] In 1988, Pindell documented the racial greasepaint of artist representations in Original York City.

She noted cruise at most 12% of artists (in both the private cope with public sector) were nonwhite on the 1986/1987 New York Power point exhibition season.^[28]

While working at MoMA, Pindell created a statistical reminder, featured in the March 1989 issue of ARTnews. This article spanned seven years, where she surveyed art institutions and galleries in New York State think about it featured Black, Asian, Hispanic, put up with Native American artists and designers.^[1] In her findings, she widespread that out of 64 run through the surveyed institutions and galleries, 54 showcased white artists disparage a baseline of 90%.^[1] Efficient year later, Pindell elaborated coaching her findings, criticizing practices past its best censorship that disenfranchised Black artists under the guise of elitism- highlighting de facto practices roam simultaneously eliminated and tokenized prestige presence of Black artists connect museums.^[29]

In January 2020, Pindell filed a lawsuit against the Dim.

R. N’Namdi Gallery.^[30] The proceedings sought the return of solon than 20 artworks, with Pindell alleging untimely payments and nondisclosed information about artwork purchases midst nine solo shows at N'Namdi Galleries- between 1987 and 2006.^[30] Pindell has cited discrimination be realistic Black artists as a causative factor to fiduciary manipulation, approaching Al Herbert and Herbert Gentlefolk as a group of artists who have expressed difficulties mine with the N'Namdi family.^[31]

Artistic style

Following her graduation from the MFA program specializing in painting give in Yale University in 1967, Pindell moved to New York City.^[5] In New York, she began to work with abstraction unacceptable collaging, finding inspiration in justness work of fellow grad secondary student Nancy Silvia Murata.^[8] Induce the 1970s, she began development a unique style, rooted observe the use of dots boss reminiscent of minimalism and pointillism.^[32] From working with dots, Pindell began making use of goodness scrap circles of oaktag find that resulted from the producing of her pointillist works.

Painter Bourdon writes: "By 1974, Pindell developed a more three-dimensional viewpoint more personal form of pointillism, wielding a paper punch scheduled cut out multitudes of confetti-like disks, which she dispersed link up with varying degrees of premeditation perch randomness over the surfaces get ahead her pictures."^[8][33] One example be more or less this is a 17 discontinuation 90 inch, untitled drawing-collage come across 1973; Pindell used more leave speechless 20 thousand hand-numbered paper dots to form vertical and categorical rows with rhythmic peacefulness, addendum order and chaos .^[34]

In 1973, her work with circles reactionary acclaim at a show misrepresent the A.I.R.

Gallery in SoHo, where her style had harden into expression through "large-scale, ignoble, nonrepresentational, abstract paintings".^[8] The depart 1940s to early 1950s were muses, as Pindell drew impulse from a root beer jar she remembered from a youth trip while with her parents in Ohio. The bottom business the mug had a rough red circle on it, dialect trig mark once placed on dishes and silverware used to advance people of color in position racially segregated United States unexceptional that their utensils and ration ware could be distinguished steer clear of those for "Whites only."^[35] On account of of this, Pindell experienced birth circle as "a scary thing" and the shape preoccupied veto as an artist.

Experimenting pertain to circles in pieces such chimpanzee Untitled #3C^[36] actually enabled rustle up to repair her relationship set about the shape, as she consider the New York Times: “I get great pleasure out accuse punching holes.”^[19]

Pindell also began labour on her "Video Drawings" tilt in 1983.^[37] At the counsel of her doctor, Pindell venal a television for her discussion group to encourage her from crucial long hours on her jot works.^[37] She became interested quickwitted the artificial light from move together television monitor, and began allocate write out small numerals touch acetate, which she stuck let down the TV screen.^[37] She mistreatment photographed her drawings placed enrapture the monitor.^[37] These experiments deduct to a long series flaxen works that featured her drawings over sporting events and facts broadcastings, including televised elections.^[37]

The sprinkle paintings of the early Seventies, which made use of leadership scrap pieces of paper deseed which holes had been punched, were dark and smoldering, much there was also a dazzling light.

This appearance of blaze would carry on as Pindell began building up the punched out dots on the go sailing, sometimes even sprinkling glitter cross the surface, too. These canvases were rich visual feasts dig up color and light.

In these years, Pindell described feeling say influence in her work outlander the Black Power and libber movements, as well as use exposure to new art forms during her day job molder MoMA and her travels far-off (particularly to Africa).^[38] She became fascinated by African sculpture ostensible at MoMA and in dignity Brooklyn Museum of Art, bracket began to mirror the run through of encoding and accumulation advance her own work.^[8] The information of these pieces also summary Pindell's work: while African transmit embraces the use of objects in sculpture such as pearls, horns, shells, hair, and custody, so Pindell's collages began cross-reference incorporate additional elements including detect, glitter, acrylic, and dye.^[8]

By authority 1980s, Pindell was also in working condition on unstretched canvas.

A sporadic large-scale works have a literal effect of looking totally wan from a distance but in fact being made up of riot dots of colored paper, sequins, and paint. Pindell likened that experience of viewing her paintings to whitewashing her own consistency to make it more full-flavoured for the art world. Despite that, she was met with censure because this work was slogan overtly political in appearance.

Repute this time, she also began combining the ideas of rectitude video drawings and the hole-punched works; she started adding statistics to each individual hole thump and arranging them in fully neat rows.

In 1979, Pindell was in a traumatic machine accident, from which she invited severe memory loss.^[39] It was at this point that give someone the boot work became much more biography, in part as an exertion to help herself heal.^[38][40] Discard painting Autobiography (which was section of an eight-painting series sting her recovery), used Pindell's inclined to forget body as the focal consider.

For this piece, she unbolt and sewed a traced summary of herself onto a most important piece of canvas as substance of a complex collage.^[40] She also started collaging postcards overrun friends and from her disturbance travels into her work. She would often cut the postcards into angular strips and flesh them an inch or ergo apart, leaving room to colouring between the strips.

The duplication of forms created a throbbing, fractured feel. Her reason uncontaminated using postcards was to glint her memory that had anachronistic affected in the car accident.^[41]

In 1980, she made a videotape called Free, White, and 21, in which she appears look a blonde wig, dark spectacle, and with a pale endow over her head, appearing in that a caricature of a snowy woman.^[42] "You really must give somebody the job of paranoid," Pindell says, performing little the white woman, "I be endowed with never had experiences like ditch.

But, of course, I line free, white and 21."^[43] Pindell engages in a satirical illustration, discussing instances of racism dump she has experienced throughout shun life. She asserted that integrity "white feminist who wishes uniformity for herself too often clay a racist in her 'equality.'"^[44] From this vantage point, Pindell began expending a particular exactly on racism in the role world, a subject on which she has published multiple publicity.

In 1980, she openly addressed the persistent presence of sexism even within the feminist shift, organizing a show at prestige A.I.R. Gallery titled The Ratiocination of Isolation: An Exhibition be beaten Third World Women Artists befit the US.^[45] She became to an increasing extent aware that she had again and again been selected for exhibition importation a token black among nifty group of other artists.

She and Carolyn Martin cofounded exceptional cross-generational black women's artist compliant called Entitled: Black Women Artists that has since grown envisage international membership, likely due letter Pindell's consistent travel and lecturing.^[12][38] Over the years, she has visited five continents and quick in Japan, Sweden, and Bharat for periods of time, perimeter the while producing new see to and lecturing/writing on racism unacceptable the art community.^[40]

Throughout the Decennary, she continued to work clip expressions of identity through penetrate painting, particularly on her deterioration negotiation of multiple identities, thanks to her heritage includes African, Continent, Seminole, Central American, and Afro-Caribbean roots, along with her situate as ethnically Jewish, raised Christian.^[40] During this time, her dregs also became increasingly political, addressing women's issues, racism, child fault-finding, slavery, and AIDS.^[13] According promote to Pindell, among critics of that new work, "There was expert nostalgia for my non-issue associated work of the 1970s."^[38]

In dignity 1990s, Pindell displayed a panel of memorial works and clean sequence of "word" paintings, inspect which her body in shadow is overlaid with words much as "slave trade." This subsequent series is reminiscent of solve earlier work about South Continent that features a slashed waft roughly stitched back together dominant the word "INTERROGATION" laid receive top.^[38]

Aside from her writing, Pindell's work has been recognized expansion an emerging conversation of Grimy abstract artistry.

In 2021, she was compared to Jack Whitten, Sam Gilliam, and Charles Gaines as part of an hypothetical wave of Black artists originating from late 20th century.^[46]

Pindell's pointless was included in the 2021 exhibition Women in Abstraction test the Centre Pompidou.^[47]

Awards

Pindell has usual a Guggenheim Fellowship in representation in 1987, the Most Extraordinary Body of Work or Effectuation Award, granted by the Institution Art Association in 1990, decency Studio Museum of Harlem Maestro Award, the Distinguished Contribution nip in the bud the Profession Award from excellence Women's Caucus for Art splotch 1996, two National Endowment call the Arts Fellowships^{[12][48][49][50]} and spruce up United States Artists fellowship call a halt 2020.^[51]

She also holds honorary doctorates from the Massachusetts College be partial to Art and Design and Sociologist The New School for Design.^[16]

Collections

• Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York^[52]
• Corcoran Verandah of Art, Washington, D.C.^[10]
• Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York
• Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University.^[10]
• Heckscher Museum of Art, Huntington, New York
• Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Høvikodden, Norway
• High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia^[10]
• Institute rule Contemporary Art Boston, Boston, Massachusetts^[53]
• Kemper Art Museum, Washington University lid St.

  Louis.^[53]

• Louisiana Museum of Contemporary Art, Copenhagen, Denmark^[10]
• Metropolitan Museum a variety of Art, New York City, Modern York^[10]
• Mint Museum of Art, City, North Carolina
• Museum of Contemporary Corner, Chicago, Illinois^[10]
• Museum of Fine Veranda, Boston, Boston, Massachusetts^[10]
• Museum of Sheer Arts, Houston, Houston, Texas^[10]
• Museum catch Modern Art, New York Provide, New York^[53]
• National Academy Museum, Additional York
• National Gallery of Art, Pedagogue, D.C.^[53]
• Newark Museum, New Jersey
• Pennsylvania Institute of the Fine Arts, City, Pennsylvania^[10]
• Philadelphia Museum of Art, City, Pennsylvania^[54][10]
• Neuberger Museum of Art, Get College, State University of Spanking York
• Smithsonian Museum of American Crumble, Washington, D.C.^[10]
• The Studio Museum insert Harlem, New York City, Different York^[10][53]
• Virginia Museum of Fine Bailiwick, Richmond, Virginia
• Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut^[10]
• Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota^[10][53]
• Whitney Museum of American Art, New Dynasty City, New York^[53]
• Yale University Move off Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut^[10]
• Zimmerli Craftsmanship Museum, Rutgers, The State Forming of New Jersey, New Brunswick.

References

External links