Mary Beth Edelson
- Introduction
- Mary Beth Edelson (born Mary Elizabeth Johnson; 1933) is an American artist and pioneer of the feminist art movement, deemed one of the notable "first-generation feminist artists." Edelson is a printmaker, book artist, collage artist, painter, photographer, performance artist, and author. Her works have been shown at the Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. She began her studies at the Art Institute of Chicago and continued as she pursued her Bachelor's and Master of Fine Arts degrees. She has taught art at the college level, including School of Art and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. and at the Corcoran Gallery of Art's Dupont Center for Advanced Studies. Inspired by Henri Matisse, Paul Cézanne and Édouard Manet, she made paintings of mothers and children in the 1960s. During that decade, she owned a gallery in Indianapolis. Her art changed markedly in the 1970s when she shifted to performance and other forms of art, as well as how women are depicted in art. Her studies of philosophy and psychology greatly influenced her art, both in terms of content and medium. Important works of the early 1970s are representations of goddesses, which Edelson used as a contrast against established, patriarchal viewpoints of women. In Some Living American Women Artists / Last Supper, the faces of the disciples are replaced with noted women artists, and Story Gathering Boxes explored stories of the feminine experience. Other notable works include The Negotiation and Kali Bobbitt. She worked to increase the rate at which works of art by women are among museum collections. She helped found and was an active member of the Heresies Collective, which published the Heresies journal, to show and promote art made by women. She also joined the feminist cooperative gallery, A.I.R. Gallery (Artists In Residence), which held exhibits of Edelson's work, including The Memorial to the 9,000,000 Women Burned as Witches in the Christian Era. In that exhibit, the intention was to empower women attendees. She was also active in the civil rights movement.
- Wikidata
- Q16095250
- Nationality
- American
- Gender
- Female
- Roles
- Artist, Performing Artist, Artiste, Installation Artist, Painter, Photographer
- Names
- Mary Beth Edelson, Mary Beth Johnson
- Ulan
- 500021115
Exhibitions
-
415: Idea Art
Through fall 2021
MoMA
Collection gallery
-
Greater New York
Oct 11, 2015–Mar 7, 2016
MoMA PS1
-
Pictures by Women: A History of Modern Photography
May 7, 2010–Apr 18, 2011
MoMA
-
Committed to Print
Jan 31–Apr 19, 1988
MoMA
-
Special Projects (Spring 1986)
Apr 13–Jun 15, 1986
MoMA PS1
-
Mary Beth Edelson has
7 exhibitionsonline.
-
Mary Beth Edelson Some Living American Women Artists 1972
-
Mary Beth Edelson Bringing Home the Evolution 1976
-
Mary Beth Edelson Death of Patriarchy / A.I.R. Anatomy Lesson 1976
-
Mary Beth Edelson Death of Patriarchy / Heresies 1976
-
Mary Beth Edelson Happy Birthday America 1976
-
Various Artists, Emma Amos, Eleanor Antin, Nancy Azara, Betsy Damon, Mary Beth Edelson, Lauren Ewing, Harmony Hammond, Joyce Kozloff, Diane Neumaier, Faith Ringgold, Miriam Schapiro, Carolee Schneemann, Joan Semmel, Sylvia Sleigh, Joan Snyder, Nancy Spero, May Stevens, Athena Tacha, June Wayne, Martha Wilson Femfolio 2009
-
Mary Beth Edelson Goddess Head/Soft from Femfolio 2007, published 2009
If you would like to reproduce an image of a work of art in MoMA’s collection, or an image of a MoMA publication or archival material (including installation views, checklists, and press releases), please contact Art Resource (publication in North America) or Scala Archives (publication in all other geographic locations).
All requests to license audio or video footage produced by MoMA should be addressed to Scala Archives at [email protected]. Motion picture film stills or motion picture footage from films in MoMA’s Film Collection cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. For licensing motion picture film footage it is advised to apply directly to the copyright holders. For access to motion picture film stills please contact the Film Study Center. More information is also available about the film collection and the Circulating Film and Video Library.
If you would like to reproduce text from a MoMA publication, please email [email protected]. If you would like to publish text from MoMA’s archival materials, please fill out this permission form and send to [email protected].
This record is a work in progress. If you have additional information or spotted an error, please send feedback to [email protected].