Ida Abelman

Ida York Abelman, (1910–2002), was an American artist and muralist in the 1930s. She was born Ida York and lived her early life in New York City. At the age of 19 she married Larry Abelman, also an artist.

Education

She attended Hunter College, where she was introduced to lithography. She also studied at the Grand Central School of Art, the National Academy School of Fine Arts, and the City College of New York. She was a member of the American Artists' Congress and was hired by the Federal Arts Project and the Works Progress Administration, both a part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal programs for artists.^[1] She worked on a major WPA exhibition about public housing in Sioux City, Iowa, where she also taught lithography.^[2]

Works

Her artistic expression often focused on technology's impact on the environment and the quality of human life. In 1938, her work was part of a nationwide competition at the Federation Art Gallery in New York. Her catalog of accomplishments^[3] include the casein tempera on canvas mural titled Boonville Beginnings in the Boonville, Indiana,^[4] commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. She completed a tempera on canvas WPA commissioned mural titled Lewiston Milestones depicting the Lincoln-Douglas debates in the United States post office in Lewistown, Illinois.^[5] Both murals were painted in 1941.

"Abelman silhouetted her compositions against the full sheet of paper, imparting an abstracted strength to the lithographs that is a hallmark of her personal style."^[6]

Her work can be found in several published sources including American Prints of the 1930's (University of Michigan), The Machine Age in American Art, (Brooklyn Museum), 20th Century Prints (Queens College) ^[7] A Simple and Vital Design: The Story of the Indiana Post Office Murals (Indiana Historical Society)^[8]

References