Cynthia Mailman Explained

Cynthia Mailman
Birth Date:1942
Birth Place:The Bronx, New York
Nationality:American
Occupation:Painter, educator
Alma Mater:School of Industrial Art, Pratt Institute, Mason Gross School of the Arts

Cynthia Mailman (born 1942 in the Bronx, New York) is an American painter and educator. She is known for figurative and landscape works done in a "cool, pared-down" style.[1] Her early paintings were presented from a perspective inside the artist's VW van, looking outward, and include mirrors, wipers or other interior elements against the exterior landscape.[2] By doing this, Mailman put the observer in the driver's seat, which is also the artist's point of view.[3] According to Lawrence Alloway, "The interplay of directional movement and expanding space is a convincing expansion of the space of landscape painting".[4]

Education

Mailman graduated with an academic diploma in Advertising Art and Illustration from the School of Industrial Art (SIA), earned a BS in Fine Art and Education from Pratt Institute, and received an MFA in painting from the Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University.[5]

Feminism

Cynthia Mailman was an active participant in the feminist art movement.[6] She was an original member of SOHO20 Artists (est. 1973), often called SOHO20 Gallery,[7] a feminist, artist-run exhibition space.[8] Mailman also participated in The Sister Chapel, a collaborative installation that celebrated female role models, which premiered at P.S.1 in January 1978.[9] For The Sister Chapel, Mailman painted God, a monumental painting of the supreme deity in the form of a powerful nude woman.[9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]

Commissions

In 1979, Mailman was commissioned to create a mural for the PATH concourse at the original World Trade Center station. The commission was by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey through the CETA Artist Project. The 8-by-54-foot mural was entitled Commuter Landscape, a view of the Pulaski Skyway as seen through the train windows. It was seen by over 100,000 people a day. It was destroyed in the first terrorist attack on the WTC in 1993.[15] [16] Other commissions came from City Walls, Inc. for a 24-by-26-foot wall mural in Staten Island, and from The Wall Street Journal for the 2000 Cow Parade in NYC[17]

Collections

Mailman has had over 20 solo exhibitions and has participated in numerous group shows. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Everson Museum, the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, the Staten Island Museum,[18] as well as the Sylvia Sleigh Collection at the Rowan University Art Gallery.[19] Her work is also in numerous private collections. Mailman has received grants from the New York State (1976, 1987) and Staten Island, NY (1987) art council, as well as from the NJ Committee on the Humanities (1979) and a CAPS grant (1976). Her work has been reviewed and discussed in many major newspapers and art journals.[20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Heller. Jules & Nancy G.. North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century: A Biographical Dictionary. 2013. Routledge. 9781135638825. 359.
  2. News: Lubell. Ellen. Art Review. V. 5 No 28. SoHo Weekly News. April 13, 1978.
  3. News: Shirey. David L.. Art; The View from Within. 27 December 2015. The New York Times. 1 November 1981.
  4. Alloway. Lawrence. Art Reviews. The Nation. April 22, 1978. 486.
  5. Web site: 40 Years of Women Artists at Douglass Library. The Roots of Creativity: Women Artists Year Six. Center for Women in the Arts and Humanities. cwah.rutgers.edu. 27 December 2015. 4 March 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304070215/https://cwah.rutgers.edu/programs/mary-h-dana-women-artists-series/40-years-of-women-artists-at-douglass-library/introduction-to-women-artists-series-year-6/. dead.
  6. Web site: Veteran Feminists of America. Records, 1993-2007: A Container List. oasis.lib.harvard.edu. 27 December 2015.
    1. 32, 33
    . https://web.archive.org/web/20150404044049/http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~sch01186. 4 April 2015. dead.
  7. Web site: Organization History. soho20gallery.com. 27 December 2015. 15 November 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151115190050/http://soho20gallery.com/about/organization-history/. dead.
  8. Book: Ault. Julie. Alternative Art New York, 1965-1985: A Cultural Politics Book for the Social Text Collective. 2002. University of Minnesota Press. Minneapolis. 978-0816637942. 36. [Nachdr.].
  9. Book: Hottle. Andrew D.. The Art of the Sister Chapel: Exemplary Women, Visionary Creators, and Feminist Collaboration. 2014. Ashgate Publishing. Farnham, Surrey. 978-1472421395.
  10. Book: Borzello. Frances. Seeing ourselves : women's self-portraits. 1998. Harry N. Abrams, Inc.. New York. 978-0810941885.
  11. News: Glueck. Grace. Art People. New York Times. Nov 5, 1976.
  12. News: Johnston. Laurie. The 'Sister Chapel': A Feminist View of Creation. New York Times. Jan 30, 1978.
  13. Book: Brand. Peg Zeglin. Beauty matters. 2000. Indiana Univ. Press. Bloomington [u.a.]. 9780253213754. 241.
  14. Langer. Sandra L.. The Sister Chapel: Towards a Feminist Iconography, with Commentary by Ilise Greenstein. The Southern Quarterly. Winter 1979. 17. 2. 29–32.
  15. MacFarquhar. Larissa. Ars Brevis. The New Yorker. March 15, 1993. 32.
  16. Web site: Public Art at the World Trade Center. www.ifar.org.
  17. Web site: CowParade New York, NY cow detail - Herd on the Street III: Blue Moo-n. newyork.cowparade.com. 2015-12-26. https://web.archive.org/web/20160305173145/http://newyork.cowparade.com/cow/detail/370. 2016-03-05. dead.
  18. Web site: Mailman. Cynthia. Highway Scene-Staten Island Museum. www.statenislandmuseum.org. 27 December 2015. 20 December 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151220170943/http://www.statenislandmuseum.org/collections/art-collection/highway-scene. dead.
  19. Web site: Sylvia Sleigh Collection. Rowan University Art Gallery. www.rowan.edu.
  20. News: Fressola. Michael. 'Seen' it to believe it. The Staten Island Advance. November 24, 2015.
  21. News: Fressola. Michael. Playing well together. Extirpated Species/Whispering Reed Villa/Summer. The Staten Island Advance. March 9, 2009.
  22. Book: Broude. Norma. Garrard. Mary D.. The Power of Feminist Art: The American Movement of the 1970s, History and Impact. 1994. Harry N. Abrams. New York. 978-0810937321.
  23. Web site: Claiming Space: Some American Feminist Originators. www.caareviews.org.
  24. Book: Miller. Lynn F.. Lives and Works: Talks with Women Artists. 1981. Scarecrow Press. Metuchen N.J.. 0810814587. registration.
  25. News: Delbanco. Andrea. Playing in the Neighborhood. 27 December 2015. New York Times. 19 November 2000.
  26. Book: Lovejoy. Margot. Paul. Christiane. Vesna. Victoria. Context Providers: Conditions of Meaning in Media Arts. 2011. Intellect. Bristol, UK. 978-1841503080. 32.

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