Rosalyn Drexler
Encyclopedia
Rosalyn Drexler is a Pop artist, novelist, Obie Award
-winning playwright, and Emmy Award
-winning screenwriter. She is represented by Pace Gallery
.
for one semester only before leaving school to marry figure painter Sherman Drexler in 1946. She is the subject of many of her husband's paintings. They have a daughter and a son.
made a series of silkscreen paintings based on a Polaroid he took of Drexler dressed as a lady wrestler. Drexler's experience as Rosa Carlo later formed the basis of her 1972 critically acclaimed novel To Smithereens. The novel inspired the 1980 film Below the Belt.
where her husband was finishing his art degree. Made as amusements for display in her home, Drexler exhibited her work once she moved back to New York City
at the urging of dealer Ivan Karp. One critic called these early works "ridiculous and nutty" sculptures that revealed a "real beauty beneath their I-don't-care attitudes."
Drexler had her first solo exhibition in 1960 at New York's Reuben Gallery, a downtown cooperative that showed other emerging Pop artists such as George Segal
and Claes Oldenburg
, as well as Allan Kaprow
and other Fluxus
artists. The first Happenings also took place at the Reuben Gallery, in which Drexler participated. However, the Reuben Gallery closed after a year. While other artists had little difficulty finding representation elsewhere, Drexler struggled.
Despite encouragement from sculptor David Smith
to continue working in the same medium, Drexler switched her focus to painting in the early 1960s. Entirely self-taught, her process consisted of blowing up images from magazines and newspapers, collaging them on to canvas, and then painting over them in bright, saturated colors. Drexler started appropriating popular imagery in her art at the same time as Andy Warhol
and Roy Lichtenstein
were developing similar techniques, putting her at the forefront of the Pop art
movement.
Drexler eventually signed with Kornblee Gallery, where she had solo shows in 1964-1966. In January 1964 her work was included in the "First International Girlie Exhibit" at Pace Gallery
, New York. She and Marjorie Strider
were the only two women Pop art
ists included in this landmark exhibition, which otherwise featured a variety of male artists including Warhol, Lichtenstein
, and Tom Wesselmann
. Drexler exhibited collages cut and pasted from girlie magazines. The work scandalized many, but her paintings were otherwise well-received. As one critic noted, "Miss Drexler’s collage paintings…fly through contemporary life and fantasy with a virtuosic, uninhibited imagination that is refreshingly direct in its frank expression of brutality, desire, pathos and playfulness."
Although her paintings continued to enjoy favorable reviews and were exhibited in major Pop art
exhibitions throughout the 1960s, Drexler did not gain the same level of recognition or success as many of her male peers. Not only was she a woman in a male-dominated field, the major themes in her paintings—violence against women, racism, social alienation—were decidedly "hot" topics in a genre known for being "cool" and detached. For these reasons, her Pop paintings have been identified more recently as early feminist artworks, yet Drexler vehemently objects to the label.
In 1968, Drexler signed the “Writers and Editors War Tax Protest” pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War.
1961
1962
1963
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1965
1966
1967
1970
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1984
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1991
1992
2001
2007
2010
Obie Award
The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City...
-winning playwright, and Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
-winning screenwriter. She is represented by Pace Gallery
Pace Gallery
The Pace Gallery is a New York City-based exhibition space. It was founded in 1960 in Boston by Arne Glimcher.-PaceWildenstein:From 1993 until April 1, 2010, the gallery became "PaceWildenstein," a joint business venture between the Pace Gallery and Wildenstein & Co....
.
Early life
Rosalyn Drexler (née Bronznick) was born in 1926 in the Bronx, New York. She attended the High School of Music and Art in New York City where she majored in voice. She attended Hunter CollegeHunter College
Hunter College, established in 1870, is a public university and one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York, located on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Hunter grants undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degrees in more than one hundred fields of study, and is recognized...
for one semester only before leaving school to marry figure painter Sherman Drexler in 1946. She is the subject of many of her husband's paintings. They have a daughter and a son.
Rosa Carlo, the Mexican Spitfire
In 1951 Drexler pursued a brief career as a professional wrestler under the name "Rosa Carlo, the Mexican Spitfire." Andy WarholAndy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
made a series of silkscreen paintings based on a Polaroid he took of Drexler dressed as a lady wrestler. Drexler's experience as Rosa Carlo later formed the basis of her 1972 critically acclaimed novel To Smithereens. The novel inspired the 1980 film Below the Belt.
Artistic career
Drexler began making found-object sculptures while living in Berkeley, CaliforniaBerkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
where her husband was finishing his art degree. Made as amusements for display in her home, Drexler exhibited her work once she moved back to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
at the urging of dealer Ivan Karp. One critic called these early works "ridiculous and nutty" sculptures that revealed a "real beauty beneath their I-don't-care attitudes."
Drexler had her first solo exhibition in 1960 at New York's Reuben Gallery, a downtown cooperative that showed other emerging Pop artists such as George Segal
George Segal
George Segal is an American film, stage and television actor.-Early life:George Segal, Jr. was born in 1934 Great Neck, Long Island, New York, the son of Fannie Blanche and George Segal, Sr. He was educated at George School, a private Quaker preparatory boarding school near Newtown, Bucks County,...
and Claes Oldenburg
Claes Oldenburg
Claes Oldenburg is a Swedish sculptor, best known for his public art installations typically featuring very large replicas of everyday objects...
, as well as Allan Kaprow
Allan Kaprow
Allan Kaprow was an American painter, assemblagist and a pioneer in establishing the concepts of performance art. He helped to develop the "Environment" and "Happening" in the late 1950s and 1960s, as well as their theory. His Happenings - some 200 of them - evolved over the years...
and other Fluxus
Fluxus
Fluxus—a name taken from a Latin word meaning "to flow"—is an international network of artists, composers and designers noted for blending different artistic media and disciplines in the 1960s. They have been active in Neo-Dada noise music and visual art as well as literature, urban planning,...
artists. The first Happenings also took place at the Reuben Gallery, in which Drexler participated. However, the Reuben Gallery closed after a year. While other artists had little difficulty finding representation elsewhere, Drexler struggled.
Despite encouragement from sculptor David Smith
David Smith (sculptor)
David Roland Smith was an American Abstract Expressionist sculptor and painter, best known for creating large steel abstract geometric sculptures.-Biography:...
to continue working in the same medium, Drexler switched her focus to painting in the early 1960s. Entirely self-taught, her process consisted of blowing up images from magazines and newspapers, collaging them on to canvas, and then painting over them in bright, saturated colors. Drexler started appropriating popular imagery in her art at the same time as Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
and Roy Lichtenstein
Roy Lichtenstein
Roy Lichtenstein was a prominent American pop artist. During the 1960s his paintings were exhibited at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York City and along with Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, James Rosenquist and others he became a leading figure in the new art movement...
were developing similar techniques, putting her at the forefront of the Pop art
Pop art
Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States. Pop art challenged tradition by asserting that an artist's use of the mass-produced visual commodities of popular culture is contiguous with the perspective of fine art...
movement.
Drexler eventually signed with Kornblee Gallery, where she had solo shows in 1964-1966. In January 1964 her work was included in the "First International Girlie Exhibit" at Pace Gallery
Pace Gallery
The Pace Gallery is a New York City-based exhibition space. It was founded in 1960 in Boston by Arne Glimcher.-PaceWildenstein:From 1993 until April 1, 2010, the gallery became "PaceWildenstein," a joint business venture between the Pace Gallery and Wildenstein & Co....
, New York. She and Marjorie Strider
Marjorie Strider
Marjorie Strider is an American painter, sculptor and performance artist best known for her three-dimensional paintings and site-specific soft sculpture installations.-Biography:...
were the only two women Pop art
Pop art
Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States. Pop art challenged tradition by asserting that an artist's use of the mass-produced visual commodities of popular culture is contiguous with the perspective of fine art...
ists included in this landmark exhibition, which otherwise featured a variety of male artists including Warhol, Lichtenstein
Lichtenstein
Lichtenstein is surname of:*Aharon Lichtenstein, noted Orthodox rabbi*Alfred Lichtenstein , an American philatelist*Alfred Lichtenstein , a German writer*Bill Lichtenstein, journalist and producer...
, and Tom Wesselmann
Tom Wesselmann
Tom Wesselmann was an American artist associated with the Pop art movement who worked in painting, collage and sculpture.-Early years:...
. Drexler exhibited collages cut and pasted from girlie magazines. The work scandalized many, but her paintings were otherwise well-received. As one critic noted, "Miss Drexler’s collage paintings…fly through contemporary life and fantasy with a virtuosic, uninhibited imagination that is refreshingly direct in its frank expression of brutality, desire, pathos and playfulness."
Although her paintings continued to enjoy favorable reviews and were exhibited in major Pop art
Pop art
Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States. Pop art challenged tradition by asserting that an artist's use of the mass-produced visual commodities of popular culture is contiguous with the perspective of fine art...
exhibitions throughout the 1960s, Drexler did not gain the same level of recognition or success as many of her male peers. Not only was she a woman in a male-dominated field, the major themes in her paintings—violence against women, racism, social alienation—were decidedly "hot" topics in a genre known for being "cool" and detached. For these reasons, her Pop paintings have been identified more recently as early feminist artworks, yet Drexler vehemently objects to the label.
In 1968, Drexler signed the “Writers and Editors War Tax Protest” pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War.
Major Themes & Works
- The Love and Violence series refers to a body of paintings that depicts abusive relationships between men and women. The canvases evoke the covers of pulp fictionPulp magazinePulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...
novels, B-movieB-movieA B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
posters, and scenes from gangster films or film noirFilm noirFilm noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
. Titles such as I Won’t Hurt You (1964), This is My Wedding (1963), and Rape (1962) make explicit the sexual violence against women suggested in the scene. While the men depicted are most often the abusers, in some paintings, such as Kiss Me, Stupid (1964) and Dangerous Liaison (1963), the power dynamic between the male and female subjects is left more indeterminate. Other works in this series include The Bite (1963), Love and Violence (1965), and Baby, It’s Alright (1963).
- Is It True What They Say About Dixie? (1966) was inspired by a newspaper photo of Bull ConnorBull ConnorTheophilus Eugene "Bull" Connor was the Commissioner of Public Safety for the city of Birmingham, Alabama, during the American Civil Rights Movement...
, the police chief who instigated the BirminghamBirminghamBirmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
race riotRace riotA race riot or racial riot is an outbreak of violent civil disorder in which race is a key factor. A phenomenon frequently confused with the concept of 'race riot' is sectarian violence, which involves public mass violence or conflict over non-racial factors.-United States:The term had entered the...
of 1963, leading a group of white supremacists. The figures advance towards the viewer dressed in nearly identical black suits against a stark white background. The painting's title is taken from an American song popularized in the mid-1950s by Dean MartinDean MartinDean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...
and Bill HaleyBill HaleyBill Haley was one of the first American rock and roll musicians. He is credited by many with first popularizing this form of music in the early 1950s with his group Bill Haley & His Comets and their hit song "Rock Around the Clock".-Early life and career:...
that suggests the South is a romantic idyll. Drexler's painting acts as an ironic commentary on the racial violence of her time. Similar in composition and intent is the painting F.B.I. (1964) that both glamorizes the depicted government agents and inherently questions their status as figures of authority.
- The Men and Machines series shows working men with various types of mechanical equipment. The series speaks to Cold-War era obsession with technological advancements and plays on the cliché of machines as phallic symbols of male sexual power. Paintings in this series include Pilot to Tower (1966).
- Marilyn Pursued by Death (1967) is a haunting image of Marilyn MonroeMarilyn MonroeMarilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
being followed by a male figure. Although "Death" appears to be a stalker or member of the paparazzi, the photograph after which the painting was made makes clear that the man is actually her bodyguard.
- Paintings made after movie posters include King Kong aka The Dream (1963), modeled after the lobby card for John Lemont's 1961 film KongaKonga (film)Konga is a 1961 British science fiction film directed by John Lemont and starring Michael Gough, Margo Johns and Austin Trevor. It was distributed in the United States by American International Pictures....
, and Chubby Checker (1964), inspired by the poster for 1961 movie musical Twist Around the ClockTwist Around the ClockTwist Around the Clock is an American musical film released in 1961. It was a remake of Sam Katzman and Robert E. Kent's Rock Around the Clock. Like Rock Around the Clock, which was followed by a sequel titled, Don't Knock the Rock, this film was followed by a sequel titled, Don't Knock the...
.
Solo Exhibitions
- 1960 "Rosalyn Drexler: Sculpture"—Reuben Gallery, NYC
- 1963 O.K. Harris GalleryOK Harris GalleryThe OK Harris Gallery is an art gallery located at 383 West Broadway in SoHo, New York City.Previously located at 485 West Broadway, in the early 1970s it hosted exhibits by Alan Vega, some of which were advertised as "Punk Music" predating the later Punk rock by some years.-History:Ivan C...
, Provincetown, MA - 1964 "Rosalyn Drexler"—Kornblee Gallery, NYC
- 1964 "Rosalyn Drexler"—Ward-Nasse GalleryWard-Nasse GalleryThe Ward-Nasse Gallery is a nonprofit artist-administered art gallery space for visual, spoken and performing artists in New York City.- History :...
, Boston, MA - 1964 Sun Gallery, Provincetown, MA
- 1965 "Rosalyn Drexler"—Kornblee Gallery, NYC
- 1965 Feingarten Gallery, Chicago, IL
- 1966 "Rosalyn Drexler"—Kornblee Gallery, NYC
- 1967 "Rosalyn Drexler"—The Contemporary Gallery, Jewish Community Center, Kansas City, MO
- 1973 Rockland State College, Suffern, New York
- 1976 "Rosalyn Drexler"—The Visual Arts Gallery, Saint Catherine College, St. Paul, MN
- 1978 P.S. 1 Contemporary Art CenterP.S. 1 Contemporary Art CenterMoMA PS1 is one of the largest and oldest institutions in the United States dedicated solely to contemporary art. It is located in the Long Island City neighborhood of New York City...
, Long Island City, NY - 1986 "Rosalyn Drexler: Intimate Emotions"—Grey Art Gallery and Study Center, New York UniversityNew York UniversityNew York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
, NYC (traveling exhibition) - 1992 "Life: The Magic Show: Recent Paintings"—LaMaMa La Galleria, NYC
- 1998 "Nothing Personal: Recent Paintings"—Maurine and Robert Rothschild Gallery, The Bunting Institute, Radcliffe CollegeRadcliffe CollegeRadcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was the coordinate college for Harvard University. It was also one of the Seven Sisters colleges. Radcliffe College conferred joint Harvard-Radcliffe diplomas beginning in 1963 and a formal merger agreement with...
, Cambridge, MA - 2000 "I Won't Hurt You: Paintings 1962–1999"—Nicholas Davies Gallery in association with Mitchell Algus Gallery, NYC
- 2004 "Rosalyn Drexler: To Smithereens, Paintings 1961–2003"—Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA
- 2006 "Rosalyn Drexler and the Ends of Man"—Paul Robeson Gallery, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Newark, NJ
- 2007 "Rosalyn Drexler: I am the Beautiful Stranger – Paintings from the ‘60s"—PaceWildensteinPaceWildensteinThe Pace Gallery is a contemporary and modern art gallery founded by Arne Glimcher in Boston 1960 as The Pace Gallery. The gallery moved to Manhattan in 1963 and from 1993 to 2010 operated jointly with Wildenstein & Co. as PaceWildenstein. There are three locations in Manhattan and one in...
, NYC
Group Exhibitions
1960- "New Forms–New Media II—Martha Jackson Gallery, NYC
- "Homage to Albert Camus"—Stuttman Gallery, NYC
1961
- Group Show (with Sol Bloom, John ButtonJohn Button (artist)John Button was an American artist, well-known for his city-scapes. Educated at the University of California, Berkeley then moved to New York City in the early 1950s...
, Morton Lucks, Kenneth Kilstrom, Renata McLean, Henry Raleigh, Salvatore Sirugo, Tom WesselmannTom WesselmannTom Wesselmann was an American artist associated with the Pop art movement who worked in painting, collage and sculpture.-Early years:...
)—Tanager Gallery, NYC - Great Jones Gallery, NYC
1962
- "The Closing Show 1952–1962"—Tanager Gallery, NYC
1963
- "Sculpture"—Riverside Art MuseumRiverside Art MuseumRiverside Art Museum is an art museum in the historic Mission Inn District of Riverside, California. A non-profit organization, its mission is to "to serve the varied communities of the Inland Empire by providing visual art of the finest quality and related educational and interpretive...
, CA - J. Morris Gallery, Toronto, Cananda
- "Pop Art U.S.A."—Oakland Art MuseumOakland Museum of CaliforniaOakland Museum of California or Oakland Museum is a museum dedicated to the art, history, and natural science of California located in Oakland, California....
, Oakland, CA - "Rosalyn Drexler and Tom Doyle"—Zabriskie GalleryZabriskie Gallery-Early years:Virginia Zabriskie took over the art gallery with a one-dollar down payment. It had been the Korman Gallery, a cooperative that included the painters Pat Adams and Clinton Hill .-Zabriskie Gallery, France:...
, NYC - "The New Formalists" University of Michigan Museum of ArtUniversity of Michigan Museum of ArtThe University of Michigan Museum of Art, or UMMA in Ann Arbor, Michigan with is one of the largest university art museums in the USA. Built as a war memorial in 1909 for the university's fallen alumni from the Civil War, Alumni Memorial Hall originally housed U-M's Alumni office along with the...
, Ann Arbor, MI - "Mixed Media and Pop Art"—Albright-Knox Art GalleryAlbright-Knox Art GalleryThe Albright-Knox Art Gallery is an art museum located in Delaware Park in Buffalo, New York. The gallery is a major showplace for modern art and contemporary art. It is located directly across the street from Buffalo State College.-History:...
, Buffalo, NY
1964
- Washington Gallery of Modern ArtWashington Gallery of Modern ArtThe Washington Gallery of Modern Art was a short-lived gallery promoting contemporary art near Dupont Circle in Washington, DC, USA, during the 1960s. Its collection of 153 works was purchased by the Oklahoma City Museum of Art in 1968 for $110,000...
, Washington, D.C. - "The New Art"—Davison Art Center, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
- "Some Contemporary American Figure Painters"—Wadsworth AtheneumWadsworth AtheneumThe Wadsworth Atheneum is the oldest public art museum in the United States, with significant holdings of French and American Impressionist paintings, Hudson River School landscapes, modernist masterpieces and contemporary works, as well as extensive holdings in early American furniture and...
, Hartford, CT - "The Painter and the Photograph" Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA (traveling exhibition)
- "Collage-Assemblage Exhibition"—Pace GalleryPace GalleryThe Pace Gallery is a New York City-based exhibition space. It was founded in 1960 in Boston by Arne Glimcher.-PaceWildenstein:From 1993 until April 1, 2010, the gallery became "PaceWildenstein," a joint business venture between the Pace Gallery and Wildenstein & Co....
, Boston, MA - "Inform and Interpret"—American Federation of ArtsAmerican Federation of ArtsThe American Federation of Arts is an organization in the United States of museums and other entities involved in the arts. It was established in 1909 at a convention held in Washington, D. C. from May 11–13 of that year called by the National Academy of Art. The concept for the organization was...
- "Dealer’s Choice: An Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings, and Prints"—Contemporary Arts Museum, HoustonContemporary Arts Museum HoustonThe Contemporary Arts Museum – Houston is a not-for-profit institution in Houston, Texas, dedicated to presenting the contemporary art of our time to the public....
, TX
1965
- "Eleven from the Reuben Gallery"—Solomon R. Guggenheim MuseumSolomon R. Guggenheim MuseumThe Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is a well-known museum located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States. It is the permanent home to a renowned collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, early Modern, and contemporary art and also features special exhibitions...
, NYC - "First International Girlie Show"—Pace GalleryPace GalleryThe Pace Gallery is a New York City-based exhibition space. It was founded in 1960 in Boston by Arne Glimcher.-PaceWildenstein:From 1993 until April 1, 2010, the gallery became "PaceWildenstein," a joint business venture between the Pace Gallery and Wildenstein & Co....
, NYC - "The New American Realism"—Worcester Art MuseumContemporary Arts Museum HoustonThe Contemporary Arts Museum – Houston is a not-for-profit institution in Houston, Texas, dedicated to presenting the contemporary art of our time to the public....
, Worcester, MA - "Pop Art and the American Tradition"—Milwaukee Art MuseumMilwaukee Art MuseumThe Milwaukee Art Museum is located on Lake Michigan in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.Beginning around 1872, multiple organizations were founded in order to bring an art gallery to Milwaukee, as the city was still a growing port town with little or no facilities to hold major art exhibitions...
, WI
1966
- "The Harry N. Abrams Family Collection"—The Jewish MuseumJewish Museum (New York)The Jewish Museum of New York, an art museum and repository of cultural artifacts, is the leading Jewish museum in the United States. With over 26,000 objects, it contains the largest collection of art and Jewish culture outside of museums in Israel. The museum is housed at 1109 Fifth Avenue, in...
, NYC
1967
- "Homage To Marilyn Monroe"—Sidney Janis GallerySidney JanisSidney Janis was a wealthy clothing manufacturer and art collector who opened an art gallery in New York in 1948. His gallery quickly gained prominence, for he not only exhibited the work of most of the emerging leaders of Abstract Expressionism, but also that of such important European artists as...
, NYC.
1970
- "January ’70: Contemporary Women Artists"—Hawthorn Gallery, Skidmore CollegeSkidmore CollegeSkidmore College is a private, independent, liberal arts college with an enrollment of approximately 2,500 students. The college is located in the town of Saratoga Springs, New York State....
, Saratoga, NY
1972
- "Unmanly Art"—The Suffolk Museum, Stoney BrookStony Brook, New YorkStony Brook is a hamlet located in the Town of Brookhaven in Suffolk County, New York, which is on the North Shore of Long Island...
, NY
1974
- "Six Women at Bienville"—Bienville Gallery, New Orleans, LA
- "Finch College MuseumFinch CollegeFinch College was a baccalaureate women's college located in Manhattan, New York City, New York. It began as a finishing school for wealthy young women and later evolved into a liberal arts college...
, NY
1975
- Pratt InstitutePratt InstitutePratt Institute is a private art college in New York City located in Brooklyn, New York, with satellite campuses in Manhattan and Utica. Pratt is one of the leading undergraduate art schools in the United States and offers programs in Architecture, Graphic Design, History of Art and Design,...
, Brooklyn, NY - Gallery 101, Stamford, CT
1977
- "Pop Plus"—Whitney Museum of American ArtPratt InstitutePratt Institute is a private art college in New York City located in Brooklyn, New York, with satellite campuses in Manhattan and Utica. Pratt is one of the leading undergraduate art schools in the United States and offers programs in Architecture, Graphic Design, History of Art and Design,...
, Downtown Branch, NYC
1978
- "Another Aspect of Pop Art"—P.S. 1Pratt InstitutePratt Institute is a private art college in New York City located in Brooklyn, New York, with satellite campuses in Manhattan and Utica. Pratt is one of the leading undergraduate art schools in the United States and offers programs in Architecture, Graphic Design, History of Art and Design,...
, Long Island City, NY - Group Show—Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture GardenHirshhorn Museum and Sculpture GardenThe Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall, in Washington, D.C., the United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was designed by architect Gordon Bunshaft and is part of the...
, Washington, D.C. - M Galleries, Miami, Florida
1979
- "Women Artists In Washington Collections"—University of Maryland Art Gallery and Women’s Caucus for Art, College Park, MD
1984
- "American Women Artists: Part 1. 20th Century: The Pioneers"—Sidney Janis GallerySidney JanisSidney Janis was a wealthy clothing manufacturer and art collector who opened an art gallery in New York in 1948. His gallery quickly gained prominence, for he not only exhibited the work of most of the emerging leaders of Abstract Expressionism, but also that of such important European artists as...
, NYC - "The New Portrait"—P.S. 1, Long Island City, NY
- "1+1=2"—Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, NYC (traveling exhibition)
1987
- "Made in U.S.A.: An Americanization in Modern Art, the ‘50s and ‘60s"—Berkeley Art MuseumBerkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film ArchiveThe Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive is associated with the University of California at Berkeley. The director is Lawrence Rinder who was appointed in 2008.-Collection:...
, University of California, BerkeleyUniversity of California, BerkeleyThe University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
. CA
1991
- "Back Room: The Abortion Project"—Simon Watson Gallery, NYC
1992
- Invitational, A.I.R. GalleryA.I.R. GalleryA.I.R. was the first all female cooperative gallery in the United States. It was founded in 1972 with the objective of providing a professional and permanent exhibition space for women artists during a time in which the works shown at commercial galleries in New York City were almost exclusively by...
, Brooklyn, NY
2001
- "Pop Art: U.S./U.K. Connections '56-'66"—The Menil Collection, Houston, TX
2007
- "Beauty and the Blonde: An Exploration of American Art and Popular Culture"—Mildred Lane Kemper Art MuseumMildred Lane Kemper Art MuseumThe Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, sometimes referred to simply as "The Milly", is an art museum located on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis, within the university's Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts. It was founded in 1881 as the St. Louis School and Museum of Fine Arts, and...
, Washington University, St. Louis, MO
2010
- "Seductive Subversion: Women Pop Artists, 1958–1968"—University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA (traveling exhibition)
- "Shifting the Gaze: Painting and Feminism"—The Jewish MuseumJewish Museum (New York)The Jewish Museum of New York, an art museum and repository of cultural artifacts, is the leading Jewish museum in the United States. With over 26,000 objects, it contains the largest collection of art and Jewish culture outside of museums in Israel. The museum is housed at 1109 Fifth Avenue, in...
, NYC - "Power Up: Women Pop Art"—Kunsthalle WienKunsthalle WienThe Kunsthalle Wien is an institution in Vienna for temporary exhibitions of contemporary international art. It opened in 1992, and was originally located on Karlsplatz, in a container-shaped building designed as a temporary site by the Austrian architect Adolf Krischanitz...
, Vienna, Austria
Selected Public Collections
- Allen Memorial Art MuseumAllen Memorial Art MuseumThe Allen Memorial Art Museum is located in Oberlin, Ohio and is run by Oberlin College. Founded in 1917, its collection is one of the finest of any college or university museum in the United States, consistently ranking among those of Harvard and Yale...
, Oberlin CollegeOberlin CollegeOberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, noteworthy for having been the first American institution of higher learning to regularly admit female and black students. Connected to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the oldest continuously operating...
, Ohio - Davison Art Center, Wesleyan UniversityWesleyan UniversityWesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...
, Connecticut - Grey Art Gallery and Study Center, New York UniversityNew York UniversityNew York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
, New York - Greenville County Museum of ArtGreenville County Museum of ArtThe Greenville County Museum of Art is an art museum located in Greenville, South Carolina. Its collections focus mainly on American art, and its holdings include works by Andrew Wyeth, Josef Albers, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, Ronnie Landfield, Eric Fischl, Marylyn...
, South Carolina - Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture GardenHirshhorn Museum and Sculpture GardenThe Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall, in Washington, D.C., the United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was designed by architect Gordon Bunshaft and is part of the...
, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. - Wadsworth AtheneumWadsworth AtheneumThe Wadsworth Atheneum is the oldest public art museum in the United States, with significant holdings of French and American Impressionist paintings, Hudson River School landscapes, modernist masterpieces and contemporary works, as well as extensive holdings in early American furniture and...
, Hartford, Connecticut - Walker Art CenterWalker Art CenterThe Walker Art Center is a contemporary art center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is considered one of the nation's "big five" museums for modern art along with the Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum and the Hirshhorn...
, Minneapolis, Minnesota - Whitney Museum of American ArtWhitney Museum of American ArtThe Whitney Museum of American Art, often referred to simply as "the Whitney", is an art museum with a focus on 20th- and 21st-century American art. Located at 945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street in New York City, the Whitney's permanent collection contains more than 18,000 works in a wide variety of...
, New York
Novels
- I Am the Beautiful Stranger (1965)
- One or Another (1970)
- To Smithereens (1972)
- The Cosmopolitan Girl (1974)
- Unwed Widow (1975)—written under the pseudonym Julia Sorel
- Starburn: The Story of Jenni Love (1979)
- Bad Guy (1982)
- Art Does (Not!) Exist (1996)
- Vulgar Lives (2007)
Adapted Screenplays
written under the pseudonym Julia Sorel- Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway (1976)—Adapted from the screenplay by Dalene Young
- RockyRockyRocky is a 1976 American sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and both written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It tells the rags to riches American Dream story of Rocky Balboa, an uneducated but kind-hearted debt collector for a loan shark in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...
(1976)—Based on the screenplay by Sylvester StalloneSylvester StalloneMichael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone , commonly known as Sylvester Stallone, and nicknamed Sly Stallone, is an American actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, film director and occasional painter. Stallone is known for his machismo and Hollywood action roles. Two of the notable characters he has portrayed... - Alexander, The Other Side of Dawn (1977)—Adapted from the screenplay by Dalene Young
- See How She Runs (1978)—Adapted from the screenplay by Marvin Gluck
Published work
- Home Movies (1964).
- The Line of Least Existence and Other Plays (1967)
- "Skywriting" in Collision Course (1968)
- “Hot Buttered Roll" in Theatre Experiment: An Anthology of American Plays (1968)
- Methuen Playscripts (1969)
- "Home Movies" in The Off-Off Broadway Book: The Plays, People, Theatre (1972)
- Fiction (1972)
- “Skywriting" in A Century of Plays by American Women, edited by Rachel France (1979)
- Transients Welcome: Three One-Act Plays (1984)
- "Occupational Hazard" in Women on the Verge: 7 Avant-Garde American Plays (1993)
Productions
- Home Movies—Judson Memorial ChurchJudson Memorial ChurchThe Judson Memorial Church is located on Washington Square South between Thompson and Sullivan Streets, opposite Washington Square Park, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of the Manhattan borough of New York City...
, Provincetown PlayhouseProvincetown PlayhouseThe Provincetown Playhouse is a theater in Manhattan's Greenwich Village. It is named for the Provincetown Players, who converted the former bottling plant into a theater in 1918. Much of the original building was torn down in 2009 as New York University School of Law planned a new building on the...
, NYC 1964 - The Investigation—Theatre Company of Boston 1966; New Dramatist's Committee, NYC 1966; Milwaukee Repertory TheaterMilwaukee Repertory TheaterMilwaukee Repertory Theater, founded by Mary Widrig John in 1954, as the Fred Miller Theatre Company, is now located on the east bank of the Milwaukee River in the Patty and Jay Baker Theater Complex at 108 E Wells St, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is home to an eleven member Resident Acting Company...
1966; Open Space TheatreOpen Space TheatreThe Open Space Theatre was created by Charles Marowitz and Thelma Holt in 1968.It began in a basement on Tottenham Court Road in London, then transferred to an art deco post office on the Euston Road in 1976. Thelma attracted a team of volunteer architects and workers to build the theatre...
, London 1969; Miami UniversityMiami UniversityMiami University is a coeducational public research university located in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1809, it is the 10th oldest public university in the United States and the second oldest university in Ohio, founded four years after Ohio University. In its 2012 edition, U.S...
, Ohio 1979 - The Line of Least Existence—Judson Poets' Theatre, NYC 1969; Theatre of the Living Arts, Philadelphia 1970; TraverseTraverse TheatreThe Traverse Theatre is a theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded in 1963.The Traverse Theatre commissions and develops new plays or adaptations from contemporary playwrights. It also presents a large number of productions from visiting companies from across the UK. These include new plays,...
, Edinburgh 1968; Network Theatre, NYC 1980 - Hot Buttered Roll—New Dramatist's Committee, NYC 1968; Milwaukee Repertory TheaterMilwaukee Repertory TheaterMilwaukee Repertory Theater, founded by Mary Widrig John in 1954, as the Fred Miller Theatre Company, is now located on the east bank of the Milwaukee River in the Patty and Jay Baker Theater Complex at 108 E Wells St, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is home to an eleven member Resident Acting Company...
1966; Open Space TheatreOpen Space TheatreThe Open Space Theatre was created by Charles Marowitz and Thelma Holt in 1968.It began in a basement on Tottenham Court Road in London, then transferred to an art deco post office on the Euston Road in 1976. Thelma attracted a team of volunteer architects and workers to build the theatre...
, London 1969 - Skywriting—Cafe Au GoGo, NYC 1968; Dowling CollegeDowling CollegeDowling College is a private co-educational liberal arts college with three campuses spread across Long Island, New York. The college's main campus in Oakdale, NY sits on the site of William K. Vanderbilt's former Idle Hour estate, which is now known as Fortunoff Hall. The Brookhaven Campus in...
, Suffolk County, NY 1973 - The Ice Queen—The Proposition, Boston 1973; Kornblee Gallery, NYC 1965 (with puppets)
- Softly and Consider the Nearness—Manhattan Theatre ClubManhattan Theatre ClubManhattan Theatre Club is a theater company located in New York City. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, Manhattan Theatre Club has grown since its founding in 1970 from an Off-Off Broadway showcase into one of the country’s most acclaimed...
, NYC 1973; West Carolina University, NC 1973 - The Bed Was Full—New Dramatist's Committee, NYC 1972
- She Who Was He—Virginia Commonwealth UniversityVirginia Commonwealth UniversityVirginia Commonwealth University is a public university located in Richmond, Virginia. It comprises two campuses in the Downtown Richmond area, the product of a merger between the Richmond Professional Institute and the Medical College of Virginia in 1968...
, Richmond 1974; New York Theatre Strategy, NYC 1974 - Travesty Parade—Center Theatre GroupCenter Theatre GroupCenter Theatre Group is a non-profit arts organization located in Los Angeles, California. It is one of the largest theatre companies in the nation, programming subscription seasons year-round at the Mark Taper Forum, the Ahmanson Theatre and the Kirk Douglas Theatre...
, Los Angeles 1974 - The Writer's Opera—Theatre for the New City, NYC 1979.
- Graven Image—Theatre for the New City, NYC 1980; Oberlin CollegeOberlin CollegeOberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, noteworthy for having been the first American institution of higher learning to regularly admit female and black students. Connected to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the oldest continuously operating...
, Ohio 1980 - Vulgar Lives—La MaMa Experimental Theatre ClubLa MaMa Experimental Theatre ClubLa MaMa Experimental Theatre Club is an off-off Broadway theatre founded in 1961 by Ellen Stewart, and named in reference to her. Located on Manhattan's Lower East Side, the theatre grew out of Stewart's tiny basement boutique for her fashion designs; the boutique's space acted as a theatre for...
, NYC 1979 - The Tree Artist—Gateway, Long Island, NY 1981
- Starburn—Theatre for the New City, NYC 1983
- The Mandrake—Center StageCenter Stage (theater)Center Stage is the state theater of Maryland and Baltimore's largest professional producing theater. Center Stage was founded in 1963 as a regional playhouse....
, Baltimore 1983 - Dear—SoHo Repertory, NYC 1983
- Room 17C—Omaha Magic, NE 1983
- Delicate Feelings—Theatre for the New City, NYC 1984
TV
- LilyLily (1973 special)Lily is an American comedy variety show television special released by CBS in 1973. The writing crew of 15 all received an Emmy Award for their efforts on this show. This program was the first of three specials, preceding Lily in 1974, and The Lily Tomlin Special in 1975....
(1973), CBS Comedy Special starring Lily TomlinLily TomlinMary Jean "Lily" Tomlin is an American actress, comedienne, writer, and producer. Tomlin has been a major force in American comedy since the late 1960's when she began a career as a stand up comedian and became a featured performer on television's Laugh-in...
, Alan AldaAlan AldaAlphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo , better known as Alan Alda, is an American actor, director, screenwriter, and author. A six-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award winner, he is best known for his role as Hawkeye Pierce in the TV series M*A*S*H...
, and Richard PryorRichard PryorRichard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor was an American stand-up comedian, actor, social critic, writer and MC. Pryor was known for uncompromising examinations of racism and topical contemporary issues, which employed colorful vulgarities, and profanity, as well as racial epithets...
. Rosalyn Drexler was one of 15 writers for this special.
Film
- Who Does She Think She Is? (1975), an hour-long film about Rosalyn Drexler directed by Patricia Lewis Jaffe and Gaby Rodgers
- Below the Belt (1980), directed by Robert Fowler, suggested by Rosalyn Drexler's novel To Smithereens
Awards
- 1964 Obie AwardObie AwardThe Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City...
for Distinguished Play, Home Movies - 1965, 1968, 1974, 1986 Rockefeller Grants in Playwriting
- 1966 Paris ReviewParis ReviewThe Paris Review is a literary quarterly founded in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen and George Plimpton. Plimpton edited the Review from its founding until his death in 2003. In its first five years, The Paris Review published works by Jack Kerouac, Philip Larkin, V. S...
Humor Prize, Dear - 1970-71 Guggenheim FellowshipGuggenheim FellowshipGuggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
- 1973 Emmy AwardEmmy AwardAn Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
for Best Writing for Comedy-Variety (Special Program), LilyLily (1973 special)Lily is an American comedy variety show television special released by CBS in 1973. The writing crew of 15 all received an Emmy Award for their efforts on this show. This program was the first of three specials, preceding Lily in 1974, and The Lily Tomlin Special in 1975.... - 1979 Obie AwardObie AwardThe Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City...
for Best Playwriting, The Writer's Opera - 1985 Obie AwardObie AwardThe Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City...
for Best Playwriting, Transients Welcome - 1990 New York Foundation for the Arts, Grant in Playwriting
- 1991 National Endowment for the ArtsNational Endowment for the ArtsThe National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
, Grant in Theater - 1994, 2000 Pollock-Krasner FoundationPollock-Krasner FoundationThe Pollock-Krasner Foundation was established in 1985 for the purpose of providing financial assistance to individual working artists of established ability. It was established at the bequest of Lee Krasner, who was an American abstract expressionist painter and the widow of fellow painter Jackson...
, Grant in Painting - 1997-8 Bunting Fellowship at Radcliffe CollegeRadcliffe CollegeRadcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was the coordinate college for Harvard University. It was also one of the Seven Sisters colleges. Radcliffe College conferred joint Harvard-Radcliffe diplomas beginning in 1963 and a formal merger agreement with...
/Harvard UniversityHarvard UniversityHarvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, Visual Arts-Painting - 2005 Helen & George Segal Foundation, Grant in Painting
Further reading
- Johnston, Jill. “Rosalyn Drexler and Tom Doyle [Zabriskie; April 15–May 4]” (exhibition review). Art News 62 (April 1963): 14.
- Sontag, Susan. “Going to Theater, etc.” Partisan Review (Summer 1964).
- Bourdon, David. “A Bout With Roslayn Drexler.” Village Voice, 1965: 5–6.
- Lippard, Lucy. Pop Art. New York: Praeger, 1966.
- Drexler, Rosalyn. “Eight Artists Reply: Why Have There been No Great Women Artists?” Art News 69 (January 1971): 40–41.
- Hess, Thomas B. and E.C. Baker. Art & Sexual Politics: Women’s Liberation, Women Artists and Art History. New York: Art News Series, Collier Books, 1973.
- Alloway, Lawrence. American Pop Art. New York: Collier Books, 1974.
- Alloway, Lawrence. Topics in American Art since 1945. New York: W.W. Norton Co., 1975.
- Women in the Arts: Artists Choice, 1976–1977. New York: Women in the Arts Foundation, 1976.
- Munro, Eleanor C. Originals: American Women Artists. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1979.
- Taylor, Roger G. Marilyn in Art. London: Elm Tree Books, 1984.
- Russell, John. “Intimate Emotions” (exhibition review). The New York Times, 25 July 1986.
- Newhall, Edith. “Eye of the Prophet.” New York Magazine, 11 August 1986: 15.
- Drexler Rosalyn and Steve Bottoms, "Rosalyn Drexler, Interviewed by Steve Bottoms, NYC, 14/8/96", August 14, 1996.
- Danatt, Adrian. “NY Artist Q&A: Rosalyn Drexler” (interview). The Art Newspaper, (March 2000): 77.
- De Salvo, Donna. “Underrated: Rosalyn Drexler.” Art News (December 2000): 121–130.
- Brauer, David E. Pop Art: US/UK Connections (exhibition catalogue). Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje Cantz Publishers, 2001.
- To Smithereens: Paintings 1961–2003 (exhibition catalogue). Texts by Sid Sachs and Robert Storr. Philadelphia: The University of The Arts, 2004.
- Rosalyn Drexler and the Ends of Man: Works from 1961–2001 (exhibition catalogue). Newark, NJ: Paul Robeson Gallery, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 2006.
- Rosalyn Drexler: I am the Beautiful Stranger. Paintings of the ‘60s (exhibition catalogue). Text by Arne Glimcher and Rosalyn Drexler. New York: PaceWildenstein, 2007.
- Baker, R.C. “Mexican Spitfire Returns” (PaceWildenstein exhibition preview). Village Voice, 7–13 March 2007.
- Yau, John. “Rosalyn Drexler: I am the Beautiful Stranger—Paintings of the ‘60s” (exhibition review). The Brooklyn Rail, 16 March–21 April 2007: 36.
- Minioudaki, Kalliopi. "Pop's Ladies and Bad Girls: Axell, Pauline Boty and Rosalyn Drexler." Oxford Art Journal 30.3 2007, 402-430.
- Sachs, Sid and Kalliopi Minioudaki, eds. Seductive Subversion: Women Pop Artists, 1958-1968. [exhibition catalogue] University of the Arts, Philadelphia. New York and London: Abbeville Press, 2010.