Ida Abelman
{{Short description|American painter}}
{{Redirect|Abelman|the Russian astronomer|Ilia Solomonovich Abelman}}
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Ida York Abelman (1910–2002) was an American artist and muralist in the 1930s. Abelman was known as a Social Realist.{{Cite web|url=http://www.andreageyer.info/revolttheysaid/a.html|title=Revolt, They Said|last=Geyer|first=Andrea|website=andreageyer.info|access-date=June 5, 2017}} She was born Ida York and lived her early life in New York City. At the age of 19 she married Larry Abelman, also an artist.
Education
She attended Hunter College, and studied at the Grand Central School of Art, the National Academy School of Fine Arts, and the City College of New York. She was a member of the American Artists' Congress and was hired by the Federal Art Project and the Works Progress Administration (WPA), both a part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal programs for artists.{{cite web|title=Artist Biographies:Ida Abelman|url=http://artandsocialissues.cmaohio.org/web-content/pages/biography.html#abelman|website=artandsocialissues.cmaohio.org|publisher=Art & Social Issues in American Culture|accessdate=January 8, 2015}}{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/betweenwarswomen00whit/betweenwarswomen00whit_djvu.txt|title=Full text of "Between the wars : women artists of the Whitney Studio Club and Museum."|website=archive.org|accessdate=July 1, 2017}}
Works
Abelman was known for her graphic work that she produced during the Depression. She was heavily influenced by Constructivism, Surrealism, and Social realism.{{Cite web|url=http://www.annexgalleries.com/artists/biography/4/abelman/ida|title=Ida Abelman Biography {{!}} Annex Galleries Fine Prints|website=www.annexgalleries.com|access-date=March 18, 2019}} Her works often portrays a machine aesthetic by combining machine parts with human or organic forms to convey the positive and negative aspects of a mechanized society.{{cite web|title=Artist: Ida Abelman|url=http://livingnewdeal.org/artists/ida-abelman/|website=livingnewdeal.org|publisher=Living New Deal|accessdate=January 8, 2015}}Carlisle, John C., "A Simple and Vital Design: The Story of the Indiana Post Office Murals", Indiana Historical Society, Indianapolis, 1995 pp 20–21Mavicliano, George H., and Richard A. Lawson, The Federal Art Project in Illinois: 1935–1943 , Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale 1990, p167
Abelman silhouetted her compositions against the full sheet of paper, imparting an abstracted strength to the lithographs that is a hallmark of her personal style.
Her work can be found in several published sources including American Prints of the 1930s (University of Michigan Museum of Art), The Machine Age in American Art, (Brooklyn Museum), 20th Century Prints (Queens College),[http://www.wpamurals.com/abelman.pdf Abelman]wpamurals.com {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305011935/http://www.wpamurals.com/abelman.pdf |date=March 5, 2016 }} and A Simple and Vital Design: The Story of the Indiana Post Office Murals (Indiana Historical Society).Carlisle, John C., "A Simple and Vital Design: The Story of the Indiana Post Office Murals", Indiana Historical Society, Indianapolis, 1995
Federal Art Project involvement
Abelman was part of the staff of the Graphic Arts Division of the Federal Art Project in New York City from 1936 through 1939. Her artistic point of view and printmaking style made her work particularly suitable to the Project; images of industrial workers and elements of machinery were common parts of her iconography.{{cite book |last1=Carlton-Smith |first1=Kimn |title=A New Deal for Women: Women Artists and the Federal Art Project, 1935-1939 |date=1990 |publisher=Rutgers The State University of New Jersey |location=New Brunswick, New Jersey}} Two of her prints for the Federal Art Project that illustrate this style are [https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.146881.html Man and Machine], c. 1939, and [https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.145964.html Construction], 1939.
References
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Category:Painters from New York City
Category:20th-century American painters
Category:City College of New York alumni
Category:Hunter College alumni
Category:Section of Painting and Sculpture artists
Category:20th-century American women painters