Dorothy Dehner (1901–1994) was an American painter and sculptor .
43-438: Dehner is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: Dorothy Dehner (1901–1994), American sculptor Ernst Dehner (1889–1970), German Wehrmacht general Jeremy Dehner (born 1987), American ice hockey player John Dehner (1915–1992), American actor Pick Dehner (1914–1987), American basketball player and coach See also [ edit ] Dehner Company ,
86-461: A construction technique, which Dehner did not embrace. In 1981 she took her sculpture to the next level, literally, and experimented with massive steel sculptures. She received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1983 from the Women's Caucus for Art . In 1988 Dehner had solo exhibitions featuring her large welded pieces at Twining Fine Art, New York, and at Muhlenberg College, Allentown, Pennsylvania. This
129-550: A decade earlier. In 1966 she had a solo exhibition, "Dorothy Dehner: Recent Bronzes." It was held in Willard Gallery, New York City. Dehner began experimenting with wood sculpture in 1974, following the death of her second husband. Much of Dehner's sculpture can be identified by its totemic qualities and emphasis on Constructivist principles. Additionally, it differs uniquely from Smith's work in its medium and construction. Much of Smith's sculpture employed welding as
172-534: A farm in Bolton Landing in upstate New York in 1929 and spent much of their married life there. To sustain themselves during the Depression , both Smith and Dehner took on commercial jobs. However, as a result of some family land holdings, Dehner received an annual check for $ 2,000, which helped support them financially and allowed Smith to focus on his art. In 1931, they dropped everything and took
215-571: A footwear manufacturer based in Omaha, Nebraska [REDACTED] Surname list This page lists people with the surname Dehner . If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name (s) to the link. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dehner&oldid=650900342 " Category : Surnames Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description
258-405: A gift for writing. Because of her lingual acuity, Smith asked her to name many of his works. Her interest in writing culminated in her becoming a published poet later in life. In 1950, Smith had another rage-fueled outburst and Dehner left permanently. The couple divorced in 1951. Despite the dramatic ups and downs of their marriage, the twenty three years Dehner spent with Smith contributed to
301-491: A nine-month trip to St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands . Here, without the distractions of modern life, Dehner was able to focus on her painting. She primarily focused on her still life art. Her subject matter consisted of mostly natural forms, such as shells and aquatic life, while her style remained heavily cubist . Indeed, her work during this time was heavily influenced by the abstraction taught by Matulka at
344-452: A progression to more consistent abstraction in Dehner's work. Smith was heavily influenced by her 1948 watercolor Star Cage and eventually made a sculpture one year later of the same name. Dehner had suggested a collaborative work but Smith refused and later denied his sculpture had any connection to Dehner's watercolor. Dehner also embraced other forms of personal expression and possessed
387-513: A reception at which Charles Dana Gibson was toast master. Between 1942 and 1943, many of the League's students joined the armed forces to fight in World War II , and the League's enrollment decreased from 1,000 to 400, putting it in danger of closing in mid-1943. In response, five hundred artists donated $ 15,000, just enough to keep the League from closing. In the years after World War II,
430-416: A room innocent of ventilation, the job was to draw Venus (just the head) and her colleagues. We were not allowed to hitch bodies to the heads——yet. The dead white plaster of Paris was a perfect inducer of eye-strain, and was called "The Antique". One was supposed to work from "The Antique" for two years. The advantage of "The Antique" was that all these gods and athletes were such excellent models: there never
473-399: A shift in primary medium but also an end to a period of particular psychological distress . Over the next twenty years her reputation as a sculptor would skyrocket and she would hold exhibitions at the prestigious Willard Gallery in 1957, 1959, 1960, 1963, 1970, and 1973. Dehner's medium eventually shifted from cast metal to wood in 1970s, and eventually Cor-Ten and black painted steel in
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#1732787111564516-507: A solo exhibition at Skidmore College which was well received. As a result, her confidence rose. Following this well-received exhibition, she read Ernst Haeckel 's Kunst formen der Nature , a book of biological prints, and proceeded to incorporate these organismal forms into her artwork. This return to naturalistic forms is reminiscent of her still life from her time in the Virgin Islands. However, reading Haeckel's work marked
559-581: A tour of the Soviet Union in June 1936. In Russia they reunited with Graham and his wife, who focused their attention on the art of Russia and the link between modernist techniques and leftist political messages. On July 9, 1936, the couple returned to New York. In the spring of 1940 the couple made their permanent residence in Bolton Landing. Dehner was constrained in her artwork both by
602-616: A year or two, and some, like those of sculptor George Grey Barnard , were quite brief. Others have taught for decades, notably: Frank DuMond and George Bridgman , who taught anatomy for artists and life drawing classes for some 45 years, reportedly to 70,000 students. Bridgman's successor was Robert Beverly Hale . Other longtime instructors included the painters Frank Mason (DuMond's successor, over 50 years), Kenneth Hayes Miller (40 years) from 1911 until 1951, sculptor Nathaniel Kaz (50 years), Peter Golfinopoulos (over 40 years), Knox Martin (over 45 years), Martha Bloom (30 years) and
645-515: Is different from Wikidata All set index articles Dorothy Dehner Dorothy Dehner was born on December 23, 1901, in Cleveland, Ohio . Her father was a pharmacist and her mother was a passionate suffragette . When Dehner was ten years old, her father died and her two aunts, Flo and Cora, moved in. Cora aroused Dehner's curiosity about foreign culture with extravagant tales of her travels abroad. Cora's tales would later provide
688-644: The Art Students League . After a brief sojourn back home in New York, Dehner returned to Europe in 1935 on an extensive tour with Smith. There, John D. Graham took Dehner and Smith all around Paris exposing them to modernist art as well as African sculpture. Following their stay in Paris, in which they were immersed in avant-garde art, particularly in influences of Surrealism and Cubism, Dehner and Smith toured Greece . Dehner entrenched herself in
731-533: The G.I. Bill played an important role in the continuing history of the League by enabling returning veterans to attend classes. The League continued to be a formative influence on innovative artists, being an early stop in the careers of Abstract expressionists , Pop Artists and scores of others including Lee Bontecou , Helen Frankenthaler , Joseph Glasco , Al Held , Eva Hesse , Roy Lichtenstein , Donald Judd , Knox Martin , Robert Rauschenberg , James Rosenquist , Cy Twombly and many others vitally active in
774-526: The Museum of Fine Arts , Boston. Dehner's sculptures were also on display at the 1960 Paris exhibition "Aspects of American Culture." Like many of the other works included, hers were primarily distinguished by their improvisation. In 1965, The Jewish Museum in New York City put on a retrospective exhibit of Dehner's sculpture. This achievement is miraculous considering that she only began sculpture
817-414: The 1920s and 1930s under the hand of instructors like painter Thomas Hart Benton , who counted among his students there the young Jackson Pollock and other avant-garde artists who would rise to prominence in the 1940s. In 1925 to celebrate their golden jubilee (fifty years), the League organized an exhibition which included the work of members, students and instructors. Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney gave
860-522: The 1980s. Despite the change in material, many elements remained iconic in her works, and they retained the same overall composition of form. Dehner's belief in the communicative power of sculpture caused her to highlight contour over mass. She chose to construct her works from varying parts, a distinctly Constructivist quality. Dehner's sculptures emphasized line and plane over volume and exhibited an assembled as opposed to modeled quality. Despite being abstract, her sculptures are constantly reminiscent of
903-444: The League continues to attract a wide variety of young artists, and its focus on art made by hand, both figurative and abstract, remains strong. Its continued significance has largely been in the continuation of its original mission, which is to give access to art classes and studio access to all comers regardless of their means or technical background. From 1906 until 1922, and again after the end of World War II from 1947 until 1979,
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#1732787111564946-605: The League operated a summer school of painting at Woodstock, New York . In 1995, the League's facilities expanded to include the Vytlacil campus in Sparkill, New York , named after and based upon a gift of the property and studio of former instructor Vaclav Vytlacil . Since its inception, the Art Students League has employed notable professional artists as instructors and lecturers. Most engagements have been for
989-711: The League to relocate to increasingly larger spaces. The League participated in the founding of the American Fine Arts Society (AFAS) in 1889, together with the Society of American Artists and the Architectural League , among others. The American Fine Arts Building at 215 West 57th Street, constructed as their joint headquarters, has continued to house the League since 1892. Designed in the French Renaissance style by one of
1032-849: The Pasadena Playhouse. In 1922, she pursued studies in theater at the University of California Los Angeles , but dropped out after one year to explore a stage career in New York. While in New York, she studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and starred in some off-Broadway productions. Despite her moderate success as an actress, Dehner felt her expression was stifled by the theater. She was, to an extent, dictated by director, script, and venue. Following her brief stint with theater, Dehner decided to adventure to Paris to seek new inspiration. She traveled alone as not to be hindered by any travel companions. Her first stop
1075-511: The Rose Fried Gallery. She continued at Atelier 17 until it moved to Paris in 1955, then worked at Pratt Graphics Center until 1960. She was also a member of the Society of American Graphic Artists . While at Atelier, Dehner learned wax sculpting techniques from a fellow student and in 1955 gained enough confidence to pursue casting her wax sculptures in bronze . This shift from drawing and painting to sculpture marked not only
1118-494: The United States, Dehner enrolled at the Art Students League and briefly studied sculpture. However, she found the teaching methods overly conventional and ended up setting sculpture aside and focusing on drawing, under the instruction of Jan Matulka , Kenneth Hayes Miller , John Graham and Kimon Nicolaides . It was here she met David Smith . Dehner married Smith on Christmas Eve , 1927. Smith and Dehner bought
1161-555: The age of ninety-two. The Cleveland Museum of Art honored Dehner with a retrospective in 1995. Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school in the American Fine Arts Society in Manhattan , New York City . The Arts Students League is known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may study full-time, there have never been any degree programs or grades, and this informal attitude pervades
1204-461: The art world. In 1968, Lisa M. Specht was elected first female president of the League. The League's unique importance in the larger art world dwindled somewhat during the 1960s, partially because of higher academia's emergence as an important presence in contemporary art education, and partially due to a shift in the art world towards minimalism , photography , conceptual art , and a more impersonal and indirect approach to art making. As of 2010 ,
1247-528: The culture and traditional sculpture of Greece . The sketches she made while in Greece served as the foundational designs for later sculpture based on that trip. The titles of these sculptures, such as Minotaur and Demeter's Harrow reveal clear Greek influence. Despite their avant-garde influences, works of Dehner during this period reflect a focus on naturalism and a desire to depict direct observations. Her work during this trip to Europe highlights
1290-441: The culture of the school. From the 19th century to the present, the League has counted among its attendees and instructors many historically important artists, and contributed to numerous influential schools and movements in the art world. The League also maintains a significant permanent collection of student and faculty work, and publishes an online journal of writing on art-related topics, called LINEA. The journal's name refers to
1333-587: The formation of her own distinct style. Following her divorce from Smith, Dehner earned a degree from Skidmore and began teaching at Barnard College , among other schools. Although an extremely busy and stressful time for Dehner, the two years following her divorce proved vital to her career for she finally felt free to pursue her artistic passions. During this time she experimented with new mediums, engraving and print making, with Stanley William Hayter at Atelier 17. She made intaglio prints at Atelier 17 from 1952, and that same year, had her first solo exhibit at
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1376-599: The founders of the AFAS, architect Henry Hardenbergh (in collaboration with W.C. Hunting & J.C. Jacobsen), the building is a designated New York City Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places . In the late 1890s and early 1900s an increasing number of women artists came to study and work at the League many of them taking on key roles. Among them were Wilhelmina Weber Furlong and her husband Thomas Furlong . The avant-garde couple served
1419-643: The increased abstraction Smith advocated, as evidenced in her Life on the Farm series of drawings. Some interpret this series as a simple representation of idyllic American farm life but others see it as a commentary on American social life through a Marxist lens. Although the messages of her Life on the Farm series may not be crystal clear, it was evident that during the late 1940s, Dehner underwent serious mental turmoil. She produced many provocative works that expressed this mental fatigue, such as her "Damnation Series" and "Dances of Death." In 1948, Dehner held
1462-498: The inspiration for Dehner's solo trip to Europe in 1925. In 1915, as a result of her mother's declining health, the family of four moved to Pasadena, California , where Dehner actively studied theater at the Pasadena Playhouse . Dehner experienced heavy emotional loss over the next two years in which both her sister and mother died. In 1918, she moved to California to pursue her acting career and attended classes at
1505-550: The league in executive and administrative roles and as student members throughout the American modernism movement. Alice Van Vechten Brown , who would later develop some of the first art programs in American higher education, also studied with the league until prolonged family illness sent her home. The painter Edith Dimock , a student from 1895 to 1899, described her classes at the Art Students League: In
1548-500: The natural world, invoking both totemic presences and references to the assumption of a landscape. Her work "Rites at Sal Safaeni Number 2" (1958) was included in "Recent Sculpture USA", a 1959-1960 US travelling exhibition that was presented at the Museum of Modern Art , New York, the Denver Art Museum , Denver, Los Angeles County Museum of Art , Los Angeles, City Art Museum (now Saint Louis Art Museum ), St. Louis, and
1591-657: The school's motto Nulla Dies Sine Linea or "No Day Without a Line", traditionally attributed to the Greek painter Apelles by the historian Pliny the Elder , who recorded that Apelles would not let a day pass without at least drawing a line to practice his art. Founded in 1875, the League's creation came about in response to both an anticipated gap in the art instruction program of classes at New York's National Academy of Design for that year, and to longer-term desires for more variety and flexibility in education for artists than it
1634-407: The stress of farm life and by the often aggressive mood swings of Smith. As a result of the pressure Dehner was put under, she was unable to pursue her passion for sculpture until after their divorce. One outburst on Smith's part caused Dehner to flee Bolton Landing in 1945. After Smith went after her and brought her back to the farm, their relationship remained particularly fragile. She rejected
1677-662: The vast range of technique Dehner possessed. However her second trip to Europe with Smith did more than expose her to the modern and historical art of the continent. While in Europe, Dehner also found reinforcement for her leftist political views. Dehner and Smith both began to link their style of art with their particular political agenda . Many of the Smith's photographs from their travels are of refugee settlements, which were typically epicenters of communist beliefs. The couple acted on this leftward leaning ideology and went on
1720-479: Was Florence , Italy, where she absorbed much of Italy's historic architecture. Following a quick stop in Switzerland, she flew to Paris where she was heavily influenced by Cubism , Fauvism , and Constructivism . She was particularly taken with works by Picasso and committed herself to drawing throughout her year of travel. The 1925 Art Deco show in Paris particularly overwhelmed her. Upon her return to
1763-614: Was felt the Academy provided. The breakaway group of students included many women, and was originally housed in rented rooms at 16th Street and Fifth Avenue . When the Academy resumed a more typical but liberalized program in 1877, there was some feeling that the League had served its purpose, but its students voted to continue its program, and it was incorporated the following year. Influential board members from this formative period included painter Thomas Eakins and sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens . Membership continued to increase, forcing
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1806-500: Was the first time in her life that Dehner had a generous personal income. By 1991 Dehner had lost nearly all of her vision and stopped sculpting. By 1990, however, Dehner was working with fabricators who helped transform some of her earlier drawings into sculptures such as the painted aluminium wall piece. After a prominent career in art, Dehner was found dead in a stairwell outside her apartment in Manhattan on September 22, 1994, at
1849-492: Was the twitch of an iron-bound muscle. Venus never batted her hard-boiled egg eye, and the Discus-thrower never wearied. They were also cheap models and did not have to be paid union rates. In his official biography, My Adventures as an Illustrator , Norman Rockwell recounts his time studying at the school as a young man, providing insight into its operation in the early 1900s. The League's popularity persisted into
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