Flickr Widget

Monday, April 1, 2013

Elizabeth Rockwell Raphael: A girl and a gallery

In 1941, 21-year-old recent Sarah Lawrence graduate Elizabeth Rockwell decided to bring modernism to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She opened Outlines, a gallery that remained open until 1947, when lack of support finally forced her to close its doors. Over the course of six years, however, Outlines featured the work of the likes of Alexander Calder, John Cage, Maya Deren, Merce Cunningham, Paul Klee, Diego Rivera, Pablo Picasso, Amadeo Modigliani, Henri Matisse, Wassily Kandinsky, Georges Seurat and Marc Chagall, to name only a few.

Pieces were borrowed from museums and private collections, and exhibits changed every four weeks. The gallery also boasted a circulating library of art books, literature and experimental recordings and hosted lectures and film viewings. The gallery itself was decorated with modern plywood furniture designed by local architect Crombie Taylor.

At the time, abstract art was considered bizarre at best and even subversive and un-American by some, so this was a monumental achievement by a young woman that newspapers in her day called "a girl." Elizabeth Rockwell Raphael died in 1998 and has been called "one of the most ground-breaking women in the modern art scene." In 1971 she founded the Society for Contemporary Craft.

In 2009, Raphael's granddaughter Cayce Mell happened upon several documents bearing her late grandmother's name, along with an address in downtown Pittsburgh, as well as a list of famous artists. Until then, she had no idea what her grandmother had been doing when she was in her early twenties. What she discovered was a missing link in art history.

Mell and her husband Jason Tracy have spent the last four years compiling a documentary film about Elizabeth Rockwell Raphael and Outlines. A few weeks ago, we were contacted by Tracy, who sent us a link to the trailer for their film. I think you'll enjoy it as much as I did and will look forward to seeing the film in its entirety.




youtube.com - Cayce Mell


12 comments:

  1. Thanks for the link Dana. This looks like a very interesting film about a "girl" and her gallery. When will we be able to view "a girl and her remodel"?? I'm so anxious to see what you've done

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We started the landscaping today. My SIL cut down all existing shrubs in the back yard, and we're going to build a deck and put in all new plants. I won't wait till all that's done before posting photos, but I do want to get the front of my house landscaped first.

      Delete
  2. "tip top" designs and "weird" French films....sounds like my kind of girl x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I noticed that "weird French films" thing too. I'm sure she appeals to the rebel in us.

      Delete
  3. Wow, I wish I was around for that! What a gal!

    ReplyDelete
  4. This sounds so interesting! Will be happy to see the film when it's out.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jason also told me there will be a book out too.

      Delete
  5. Nice discovery Dana. I like this girl and her weird films and avant-garde art.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm so glad they contacted us, because I hadn't heard about the film.

      Delete
  6. As always so glad to have come by to learn something new - what a woman (Rockwell... and you!)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I can't quite imagine what she must have said to make all those artists want to show their work in a gallery run by someone so young and completely unknown...and in Pittsburgh. Don't get me wrong, Pennsylvanians. One of my best trips ever was to Pittsburgh/Cook Forest...but art capital of the western world?

      Delete