Mary Frank

Experience Oil and acrylic on panel, 1999. Triptych, closed: 40 x 24 in. , open: 40 x 48 in. Private collection.

Experience triptych (continued)

Presence-Absence Oil, acrylic and collage on board, 1991-92. 48 x 96 in. Collection of Edward G. Shufro

Red Ship, oil and acrylic on board 1995. 24 x 30 in. Linda Lee Alter collection of Art by Women

Mary Frank in her studio, NYC, 1989

Known for her intensity of feeling and eloquence of expression, Mary Frank's work speaks to our deepest and broadest emotions. Having established her reputation in the late 1960s and 70s as a figurative sculptor in clay, the artist has increasingly turned to painting as her primary medium. The large-scale triptychs are reminiscent of the classic Christian altarpiece. For the past 30 years, Frank's work has had many lyrical and mythical figures, manifestations of the natural world and ambiguous spaces. (Linda Nochlin)

Mary Frank was born in London in 1933 - her mother was a painter and father was a musicologist. (Eleanor and Edward Lockspeiser) In 1940, she moved to the US (Brooklyn) with her mother. In the mid- 1940's she studied dance with Martha Graham. She studied drawing with Max Beckmann at the American Art School in NYC. She has been a prolific painter and exhibitor in the US. I joyfully discovered her art on a trip to the San Fransisco Museum of Modern Art several years back.