Abstract Artist Lynne Mapp Drexler’s Journey from Virginia to Maine

Art historian and scholar Gail Levin will join us for the fourth talk in our spring Muscarelle Explorations series, Modern Masters at the Margins.

Imagine a story of an artist who escaped from an art world rife with competition and her struggle to find herself, landing on an enchanted island, where she lived happily ever after, painting, though forgotten, for the rest of her life. She went so far as to write to a friend what her dealer could tell collectors who inquired about her: “advise them I’d become a hermit — an eccentric one and that I come to NYC when provided with orchestra seats to the MET, clubhouse tickets to the racetrack and absolutely no talk of art or the scene.” After her death in 1999, her paintings got discovered and collectors now compete to own them. This is the unlikely story of Lynne Drexler (born in 1928 in Virginia), a woman artist whose colorful and engaging pictures speak for themselves, though they don’t necessarily reveal the drama of her life.

This talk will take place in  Washington Hall 201. Register to receive a parking pass via email. Street parking is also available on Richmond Road.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER: Gail Levin is Distinguished Professor of Art History, American Studies, and Women’s Studies at The Graduate Center and Baruch College of the City University of New York. The acknowledged authority on the American realist painter Edward Hopper, she is author of many books and articles on this artist, including the catalogue raisonné and Edward Hopper: An Intimate Biography. Her work on twentieth century and contemporary art has won international acclaim, been widely published, and translated in Europe, Asia, and Australia. Articles range from theory of artists’ biographies to explorations of the intersection of American and Asian cultural studies. She has also focused on the art of Jewish women artists in historical context. Her interest in women artists led to biographies of Judy Chicago (2007; 2018) and of Lee Krasner (2011; 2019). Her project, Theresa Bernstein: A Century in Art, included a book, (2013) a comprehensive website, and a touring exhibition; it was the product of her collaboration with several scholars including her doctoral students at the Graduate Center. Gail Levin is not only a curator, but also shows her own work as an artist and photographer.