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=== Exhibitions ===
=== Exhibitions ===
Although Jaffe began exhibiting in solo shows in France from the early 1960s, American galleries only began to show her work from the 1990s. This delay has been attributed to the critical response of other artists to the change in her painting style in the 1960s.<ref name=":1" /> Overall, she had at least 25 exhibitions in the two countries, including at the [[Holly Solomon Gallery]] and at the [[Tibor de Nagy Gallery]]<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/16/arts/design/16galleries-003.html Roberta Smith, NY Times review, 2009]</ref> and the [[Museum of Modern Art|Museum of Modern Art in New York]] (MoMA).<ref name=":0" /> In Paris she exhibited at the Galerie Fournier and the [[Centre Georges Pompidou]] and later began to show her work at the Nathalie Obadia Gallery. Her work was also exhibited at the [[San Francisco Museum of Modern Art]].<ref name=":0" />
Although Jaffe began exhibiting in solo shows in France from the early 1960s, American galleries only began to show her work from the 1990s. This delay has been attributed to the critical response of other artists to the change in her painting style in the 1960s.<ref name=":1" /> Overall, she had at least 25 exhibitions in the two countries; in the United States at the [[Holly Solomon Gallery]], the [[Tibor de Nagy Gallery]]<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/16/arts/design/16galleries-003.html Roberta Smith, NY Times review, 2009]</ref>, the [[San Francisco Museum of Modern Art]]<ref name=":0" /> and the [[Museum of Modern Art|Museum of Modern Art in New York]] (MoMA)<ref name=":0" /> and in France at the Galerie Fournier, the [[Centre Georges Pompidou]] and the [[Nathalie Obadia]] Gallery.<ref name=":0" />


Her work is held in the collections of the Centre Pompidou and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.wallpaper.com/art/american-in-paris-shirley-jaffe|title=How nonagenarian painter Shirley Jaffe stays cutting edge {{!}} Art {{!}} Wallpaper* Magazine|last=Magazine|first=Wallpaper*|date=2016-03-30|access-date=2016-10-01}}</ref>
Her work is held in the collections of the Centre Pompidou and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.wallpaper.com/art/american-in-paris-shirley-jaffe|title=How nonagenarian painter Shirley Jaffe stays cutting edge {{!}} Art {{!}} Wallpaper* Magazine|last=Magazine|first=Wallpaper*|date=2016-03-30|access-date=2016-10-01}}</ref>

Revision as of 09:36, 1 October 2016

Shirley Jaffe
Born(1923-10-02)October 2, 1923
New Jersey, U.S.
DiedSeptember 29, 2016(2016-09-29) (aged 92)
France
Known forabstract painter and sculptor

Shirley Jaffe (née Sternstein, October 2, 1923 – September 29, 2016) was an American abstract painter and sculptor. She spent most of her life living and working in France.[1]

Early life

Jaffe was born in the town of Elizabeth, New Jersey, USA, in 1923 to Benjamin and Anna (née Levine) Sternstein.[2] Her father ran a shirt factory, however he died when Jaffe was 10. Her mother moved the family to Brighton Beach, Brooklyn and Jaffe attended Abraham Lincoln High School. She then studied fine art at Cooper Union in New York City, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1945.[3]

After completing her degree, Jaffe worked initially in the print department of the New York Public Library and also worked for the department store Macy's drawing fashion sketches for the advertising department.[3]

She lived in Washington D.C. for a period of time, attending the Phillips Art School there, then moved to Paris in 1949.[3][4] She became part of a circle of ex-pat American artists which included Sam Francis, Ellsworth Kelly and Joan Mitchell.[5] Francis introduced Jaffe to his dealer, Jean Fournier, who became interested in Jaffe's work and began showing her art in his gallery.[5]

Career

Style

Jaffe began as an abstract expressionist, using gesture in her painting, but her style later changed to flat, uninflected surfaces and single-colour shapes.[3] In 1968, a grant from the Ford Foundation funded her to spend a year in Berlin.[4] This study break took her away from the circle of artist friends she had developed in Paris and may have reunited her thinking with the European abstraction of Jean Arp, Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Wassily Kandinsky and Herbin. "It changed when I went to Berlin," Jaffe said later. "I had a feeling that my paintings were being read as landscapes, which was not my intention. I felt I had to clear out the woods."[6]

On her return to Paris, both her dealer Fournier and her artist friends were "shocked" at the change in her style; however, Fournier continued to exhibit her work in his gallery.[5] Later analyses of her style have noted that Jaffe's style moved in a "diffferent direction" to other painters of her time, and that she could not be seen as a part of any particular art movement.[3][7]

Exhibitions

Although Jaffe began exhibiting in solo shows in France from the early 1960s, American galleries only began to show her work from the 1990s. This delay has been attributed to the critical response of other artists to the change in her painting style in the 1960s.[3] Overall, she had at least 25 exhibitions in the two countries; in the United States at the Holly Solomon Gallery, the Tibor de Nagy Gallery[8], the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art[1] and the Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA)[1] and in France at the Galerie Fournier, the Centre Georges Pompidou and the Nathalie Obadia Gallery.[1]

Her work is held in the collections of the Centre Pompidou and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.[9]

In 2000, the state government and the City of Perpignan commissioned Jaffe to design nine stained glass windows for the city's chapel.[1] The installation of the completed windows coincided with a retrospective of Jaffe's work at the Musée d'Art Moderne in Céret.[3]

Personal life and death

Her husband, Irving Jaffe, was the White House correspondent for Agence France-Presse in the 1940s. They moved to Paris together when Irving was transferred to the Paris office of the news agency. The couple divorced in 1962.[3]

Jaffe died at Louveciennes, France on September 29, 2016 at the age of 93.[1][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "US painter Shirley Jaffe, 93, dies in Paris | News | Expatica France". Expatica.com. Retrieved 2016-09-30.
  2. ^ Jaffe, Shirley. "United States Public Records, 1970-2009". FamilySearch. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Grimes, William (2016-09-30). "Shirley Jaffe, Geometric Artist of Joyful Forms, Dies at 93". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-10-01.
  4. ^ a b "BOMB Magazine — Shirley Jaffe by Shirley Kaneda". bombmagazine.org. Retrieved 2016-10-01.
  5. ^ a b "SHIRLEY JAFFE WITH RAPHAEL RUBINSTEIN". www.brooklynrail.org. Retrieved 2016-10-01.
  6. ^ Rubinstein, Raphael (2010). "Shirley Jaffe with Raphael Rubinstein". The Brooklyn Rail.
  7. ^ "An American in Paris: Shirley Jaffe's Paintings from the 1970s". 2013-10-27. Retrieved 2016-10-01.
  8. ^ Roberta Smith, NY Times review, 2009
  9. ^ Magazine, Wallpaper* (2016-03-30). "How nonagenarian painter Shirley Jaffe stays cutting edge | Art | Wallpaper* Magazine". Retrieved 2016-10-01.

Further reading

  • Border Crossing: Shirley Jaffe-painting and stained glass, Deborah Rosenthal, Modern Painters, Spring 2000.
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