Beatrice Mandelman

Beatrice Mandelman (December 31, 1912 – June 24, 1998), known as Bea, was an American abstract player associated bearing in mind the organization known as the Taos Moderns. She was born in Newark, New Jersey to Anna Lisker Mandelman and Louis Mandelman, Jewish immigrants who imbued their children with their social justice values and adore of the arts. After studying art in New York City and being employed by the Works Progress Administration Federal Arts Project (WPA-FAP), Mandelman arrived in Taos, New Mexico, with her artist husband Louis Leon Ribak in 1944 at the age of 32. Mandelman's oeuvre consisted mainly of paintings, prints, and collages. Much of her accomplishment was extremely abstract, including her representational pieces such as cityscapes, landscapes, and yet lifes. Through the 1940s, her paintings feature profusely textured surfaces and a subtly modulated, often subdued color palette. New Mexico landscape and culture had a mysterious influence upon Mandelman's style, influencing it towards a brighter palette, more geometric forms, flatter surfaces, and more crisply defined forms. One critic wrote that the "twin poles" of her do its stuff were Cubism and Expressionism. Her pretense is included in many major public collections, including large holdings at the University of New Mexico Art Museum and Harwood Museum of Art.

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