Dahlov Ipcar
{{Short description|American painter (1917–2017)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2014}}
{{infobox person
|birth_name = Dahlov Zorach
| image = Photo of Dahlov Ipcar.jpg
|birth_date = {{birth date|1917|11|12}}
|birth_place = Windsor, Vermont
|death_date = {{death date and age|2017|2|10|1917|11|12}}
|death_place = Brunswick, Maine
|occupation = Artist
|spouse = Adolph Ipcar (1936-2003; his death)
}}
Dahlov Ipcar (née Zorach; November 12, 1917 – February 10, 2017) was an American painter, illustrator and author. She was best known for her colorful, kaleidoscopic-styled paintings featuring animals – primarily in either farm or wild settings.
Life and work
Ipcar was born November 12, 1917, in Windsor, Vermont, the younger of two children, to parents William and Marguerite Zorach. She was raised in Greenwich Village, New York City; attended the City and Country School, Caroline Pratt's famous progressive school; and grew up surrounded by bohemian influences.[http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/3aa/3aa84.htm Ipcar, Dahlov. My Family, My Life, My Art] Encouraged by her parents, she started painting at a very young age. She briefly attended Oberlin, dropping out after only one semester, frustrated with the academic restrictions on her artistic expression.
In 1936, at the age of 18,[https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780892728091/The-Art-of-Dahlov-Ipcar The Art of Dahlov Ipcar BY CARL LITTLE]. ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD. Dahlov married Ipcar in September 1936, so she had not yet reached her 19th birthday, which would occur in November 1936. Dahlov married Adolph Ipcar, a 30 year old man hired to tutor her in math for her college tests.{{cite web|url=http://www.dahlovipcarart.com/biography|title=The World Of Dahlov Ipcar|website=www.dahlovipcarart.com}} They spent that year in New York City, with Adolph working as a math tutor while Dahlov taught art two days a week. The following winter, they decided to move into the extra farm house on her parents' property in Georgetown, Maine, and started a farm of their own. They became modern-day subsistence farmers: growing their own food, raising animals and their two sons, and selling eggs and milk on the side for extra money. Dahlov continued painting throughout her life as both a source of pleasure and income. In addition to painting, she wrote four fantasy novels, wrote and/or illustrated numerous children's books, and crafted three-dimensional cloth sculptures. Her marriage lasted until 2003, when Adolph died at the age of 98 after a brief illness.
Dahlov died on February 10, 2017, at the age of 99.{{cite web|url=http://bangordailynews.com/2017/02/11/living/renowned-maine-artist-dahlov-ipcar-99-has-died/|title=Renowned Maine artist Dahlov Ipcar, 99, has died|website=bangordailynews.com|date=February 11, 2017 }}
Career
In 1939, at the age of 21, she had her first solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, called Creative Growth, the first of many solo shows over the next forty years.{{Cite web |url=http://www.exitfive.com/dahlov/cartwright_bio.html |title=Cartwright, Steve. Artist At Work: Dahlov Ipcar at 90 |access-date=July 18, 2009 |archive-date=April 8, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090408180605/http://www.exitfive.com/dahlov/cartwright_bio.html |url-status=dead }} She was the first woman and the youngest artist to be featured in a solo exhibition at the museum.{{Cite web|title=#27 Women Artists: Dahlov Ipcar|url=https://www.continuum.umn.edu/2018/07/27-women-artists-dahlov-ipcar/|last=|first=|date=30 July 2018|website=University of Minnesota Libraries {{!}} continuum|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416025951/https://www.continuum.umn.edu/2018/07/27-women-artists-dahlov-ipcar/ |archive-date=April 16, 2021 |access-date=1 May 2020}}
In the 1940s and 1950s, Dahlov's art was influenced by the prevailing style of Social Realism as best illustrated by her paintings of farm workers accompanied by their heavy draft horses and domestic farm animals.
In 1945, she illustrated The Little Fisherman, her first children's book, a story written by noted children's author Margaret Wise Brown. The book is still in print. From then on, Dahlov wrote and illustrated thirty children's books of her own. She also wrote four fantasy novels for a slightly older audience, as well as a volume of short stories for adults. While her art in general might be described as wild colors and cheerful, her writings for adults turn to a darker, almost grim intertwining of reality and fantasy. Many of her children's books are being reprinted for a whole new generation to enjoy.
By the 1960s and 1970s, her work began to take on a new direction. Intricate patterns and geometric designs have become her artistic signature; she always remained outside current art movements.
= Murals =
In addition to easel paintings, illustrations, and soft sculptures, Dahlov completed ten large-scale mural projects for public buildings, two of them for U.S. post offices in La Follette, Tennessee, and Yukon, Oklahoma. The remaining murals may be seen at several locations in Maine as well; including the children's room at the Patten Free Library in Bath, and a 106-ft. panorama of Maine animals in the Narragansett Elementary School in Gorham. Golden Savanna, a 21-ft. mural of African wildlife, can be seen in the atrium of the Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children in Springfield, Massachusetts. Many of her works can also be seen in Brunswick, Maine's Mid Coast Hospital, where she was well cared for in the end.
= Collected works =
Dahlov's works are now in the permanent collections of museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art,{{cite web |title=The Little Black Bull Came Down the Meadow |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/488233 |website=Metropolitan Museum of Art |access-date=24 June 2021}} and the Brooklyn Museum{{cite web |title=Dawn of a Hunting Morning |url=https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/1577 |website=Brooklyn Museum |access-date=24 June 2021}} in New York. She is also represented in the leading art museums of Maine, as well as in many corporate and private collections throughout the country.
= Honorary degrees =
Dahlov received honorary degrees from the University of Maine, Colby College and Bates College. In April 1998, The University of Minnesota honored Dahlov with The Kerlan Award for Children's literature.{{cite web|url=https://www.dahlovipcarart.com/career|title=The World Of Dahlov Ipcar|website=www.dahlovipcarart.com}}
Selected bibliography
- Lobsterman
- Maine Alphabet
- Hardscrabble Farm
- Bug City
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
- [http://www.dahlovipcarart.com The World of Dahlov Ipcar] – Official website
- [https://www.rachelwallsfineart.com/exhibitions Recently exhibited works] at RachelWallsFineArt.com
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Category:20th-century American painters
Category:21st-century American painters
Category:American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent
Category:People from Windsor, Vermont
Category:Artists from Manhattan
Category:People from Greenwich Village
Category:Painters from Vermont
Category:Painters from New York City
Category:American fantasy writers
Category:American women science fiction and fantasy writers
Category:American women novelists
Category:American children's writers
Category:American women illustrators
Category:20th-century American illustrators
Category:American women children's writers
Category:20th-century American novelists
Category:20th-century American women writers
Category:People from Georgetown, Maine
Category:Novelists from Vermont
Category:Writers from Manhattan
Category:20th-century American women painters
Category:21st-century American women painters
Category:American women muralists