Christina Schlesinger

Christina Schlesinger
Nationality American
Education Radcliffe College, Rutgers
Known for Painting and Mural creation
Website http://christinaschlesinger.com

Christina Schlesinger is a painter and muralist who currently lives and works in East Hampton. Schlesinger is known for her part in founding the Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC) in 1976.[1][2] Her art ranges from realistic to abstract. She uses many different media to create her work.

Biography

Schlesinger is the daughter of the famous historian, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr[3] and artist Marian Cannon Schlesinger.[4] Schlesinger grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[5] She had two brothers, one sister, and several half-siblings.[6] She was the middle child.[4] Schlesinger's mother could paint and made portraits of her children.[4]

Schlesinger always considered herself a tomboy and recalls that she and her mother argued about her wearing dresses.[7] Instead, she wanted to do things which were considered traditionally male at the time.[7]

Schlesinger attended Radcliffe College and was an English and Fine Arts major, graduating cum laude in 1968.[8] She attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture during the summer of 1968.[8] After Schlesinger finished school, she started to create "protest art."[4] Her mother and father were divorced in 1970.[6] The divorce created a desire in Schlesinger to "get away" and she also wanted to prove that she was more than a famous name and she had her own things to say.[4]

In 1971, Schlesinger moved to Los Angeles.[4] Schlesinger came out as a lesbian in Venice, California and found the Chicano community to be supportive of her.[9] Schlesinger met artist, Judy Baca, at a feminist workshop with Judy Chicago.[10] The two artists collaborated on a mural in Venice. In 1976, she and Baca and filmmaker Donna Deitch, co-founded SPARC.[11] Schlesinger was instrumental in coming up with the name of the center.[11] Schlesinger remains proud of her part in SPARC and its commitment to public art that uncovers hidden parts of history and lends a political and social consciousness to art.[12] She was also part of the team of artists who helped design The Great Wall of Los Angeles.[13]

Schlesinger moved back to New York in the 1980s, where she quickly started showing her work.[4] In the early 1990s, Schlesinger became part of the Guerrilla Girls.[4] Each artist in the Guerrilla Girls chooses to remain anonymous and go by an artist's name. Schlesinger chose the name Romaine Brooks.[9]

Schlesinger received an MFA from Rutgers in 1994.[8]

Schlesinger was an art teacher at the Ross School,[14] where she worked from 1996 until 2005.[4] During this time, she adopted a daughter, Chun, from China.[8]

In 2001, she moved to East Hampton and later built a studio there.[5]

In 2008, Schlesinger was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.[8] The treatment and complications from the cancer kept her from painting for two years.[8] Schlesinger was sometimes too depressed and tired to work on art.[4] After her recovery, Schlesinger continues to work, teach and show her art in different venues.[8]

Art

In the 1990s Schlesinger created "explicitly erotic work."[9] During the 1990s, it was very taboo for lesbians to bring up issues of security, and many felt as if they were "forced into hiding."[15] Schlesinger boldly depicted lesbians (including portraits of herself) wearing dildos and penetrating other women.[15] Schlesinger was interested in "representing female masculinity" and "refuting the notion that the artist's erotic gaze is exclusively male."[9] Her work was also very much about embracing and celebrating her sexuality.[15] These paintings and etchings of a very erotic nature were considered gutsy and groundbreaking, and many of them were not shown again until 2014.[15]

Marc Chagall Comes to Venice Beach (1991) is a large mural in painted on the Israel Levin Senior Adult Center in Venice, California. The mural celebrates Jewish and Easter European contributions to Los Angeles.[16] In 1994, the building was destroyed in the Northridge earthquake.[17] Later, the senior center was rebuilt, and Schlesinger went back to Los Angeles to redo the mural with several local Venice artists assisting her.[18] The mural was redone in 1996.[17]

Schlesinger's landscapes are often seen as much more neutral in their representations. The Long Good-Bye is a "harmonious" painting, which depicts two trees in the moonlight.[19]

Over time, Schlesinger has moved from creating representational work to colorful abstractions.[20]

Some of her artistic influences include Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, photographer BrassaÏ, Miriam Schapiro, and Sigmar Polke.[9]

Quotes

"The tomboy is the lesbian's inner core, her secret weapon."[21]

References

  1. ↑ "Mural Conservancy of Los Angeles". Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  2. ↑ Martinez, Yoli (4 October 2012). "Iconic Hispanic Angelenos in History: Judy Baca". KCET. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  3. ↑ "Christina Schlesinger". C-Span. 23 April 2007. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Brown, Susan Rand (2012). "Looking for that Tomboy Spirit: A Conversation with Christina Schlesinger" (PDF). Provincetown Arts. 27: 67–69. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  5. 1 2 "Romany Kramoris Gallery Presents Christina Schlesinger". Hamptons.com. 30 July 2008. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
  6. 1 2 Martin, Douglas (1 March 2007). "Arthur Schlesinger, Historian of Power, Dies at 89". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  7. 1 2 Schlesinger, Christina (2014). All True Tomboys (PDF). Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Schlesinger, Christina. "Narrative Resume". Christina Schlesinger. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Langer, Cassandra (2015). "Filling the Void in Lesbian Art". Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide. 22 (2): 20–23. ISSN 1532-1118. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  10. ↑ Hershman, Lynn (2 October 1992). "Transcript of Interview with Judith Baca". Stanford University Digital Collections. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
  11. 1 2 Wasson, Julia; Weiss, Cathy (28 July 2014). "Learning Los Angeles: Debra Padilla, Arts and Activism". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  12. ↑ "SPARC's 35th Year Anniversary". SPARC Murals. YouTube. 23 December 2012. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
  13. ↑ Tannenbaum, Barbara (26 May 2002). "Where Miles of Murals Preach a People's Gospel" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  14. ↑ McCall, Debra (2010). "Choreographing the Curriculum: The Founder's Influence as Artist, Visionary and Humanitarian". In Suarez-Orozco, Marcelo M.; Sattin-Bajaj, Carolyn. Educating the Whole Child for the Whole World: The Ross School Model and Education for the Global Era. New York: New York University Press. p. 142. ISBN 9780814741405.
  15. 1 2 3 4 Langer, Sandra (2014). "All True Tomboys: The Art of Christina Schlesinger" (PDF). The Journal of the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art. 52: 10–11. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  16. ↑ Venice Self Guided Walking Tour of Murals and Public Art (PDF). Venice, California: Venice Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
  17. 1 2 Pavlik, Alan M. (18 July 2007). "Chagall in Odd Places". Just Above Sunset Photography. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
  18. ↑ "Jewish Venice: The Israel Levin Center". Venice Beach Walking Tours. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
  19. ↑ Moritz, Suzanne Petren (15 February 1991). "Lesbian Art for a Change". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
  20. ↑ "Christina Schlesinger". Gallery Ehva. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  21. ↑ "All True Tomboys". Feminine Moments: Fine Art Made by Lesbian, Bisexual & Queer Women Artists Worldwide. 2 January 2015. Retrieved 21 April 2015.

External links

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