NYSWA FOUNDERS
The New York Society of Women Artists
Marguerite Thompson Zorach (1887-1968)
Lucile Lundquist Blanch (1895-1981)
Concetta Scaravaglione (1900-1975)
Today, the New York Society of Women Artists finds itself tasked with remaking itself. We aspire to birth new schools of art and encourage new avenues of exchange and discussion. As we embrace women who work in many diverse artistic styles from abstract to realism, we dedicate ourselves with a look to the future and a respect for our past.
Research by Rachelle Weisberger, Chair of the Keystone Committee.
Theresa Bernstein (1890-2002)
Blessed with the gift of longevity, Theresa Bernstein was an enduring presence in the New York art world. At age 108, she was feted with a 70-year retrospective at the Joan Whalen Fine Art Gallery by New York City, an event covered in The New York Times. Dignitaries and fans who attended applauded her lifetime achievements as a painter, printmaker, raconteur, teacher, poet and art activist.
Born in Krakow in 1890 and raised in Philadelphia, Bernstein graduated from the Philadelphia School of Design for Women (now the Moore College of Art) at age 21. She later was a member of the Philadelphia Ten, a group of female artists who exhibited together. When her family moved to New York City, Bernstein enrolled at the Art Students League and studied with William Merritt Chase, an exponent of impressionism.
Long associated with the Ashcan School of painting, Bernstein was a kindred spirit with the eight all-male group of artists and their innovative “modern” subject matter. She espoused their principles and added her own spin on them. Her work depicted urban subjects and pop culture, incorporating women into her”people paintings” with an expressive style of realism. These paintings reflected Berstein’s strong, painterly images that were praised for their “masculinity.” Perhaps signing her paintings, T.Bernstein, contributed to this ambiguity as well. Nevertheless, the stereotyping of female artists and gender bias continues today.
In 1919, Bernstein married artist William Meyerowitz and settled on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and spent summers in Gloucester, Massachusetts. That same year she had her first one-woman show at the Milch Gallery in New York. By 1920, though, interest in realism had waned as many avant garde movements became popular. Yet, throughout her lifetime, Bernstein continued to paint enthusiastically from life. She achieved a continuity in her work that clearly established her place as a devoted and accomplished New York Realist.
Throughout the years, Bernstein participated in several group exhibitions and had over 40 solo shows. While her first museum exhibit was held in 1948, it took 43 years later, in 1991, for her work to be displayed at the Museum of the City of New York. In 1983,
both husband and wife had a dual exhibit at the New York Historical Society. Bernstein’s paintings are in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, the Art Institute of Chicago, the New York Public Library, and the Brooklyn Museum.
Theresa Bernstein died on February 12, 2002 in Manhattan, just two weeks shy of her 112th birthday.