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Minna Citron

1896 - 1991

BiographyMinna Wright Citron was married and already had two children before she became seriously involved in art at the age of 28. A native of Newark, New Jersey and Brooklyn, Citron first studied at the School of Applied Design for Women and then at the Art Students League (1928-35) among other institutions. Like Isabel Bishop, Citron created genre scenes of Union Square and was part of the 14th Street School. This group of artists can best be described as urban realists, many of whom were inspired by Kenneth Hayes Miller at the Art Students League. Although Citron tried to fulfill her roles as wife, mother, and artist, in 1934 she divorced and moved to her beloved Union Square in Manhattan. There she was supported by a network of artists with similar interests including Bishop, Reginald Marsh, and Moses and Raphael Soyer, who had studios nearby.

Citron greatly admired Honoré Daumier (1808-1879) and her early work often takes a satirical view of stereotypical female behavior. Starting in the early 1940s, however, she cast a more sympathetic eye on women and their pursuit of independence. It has often been said that she was working out personal issues through this work.

Although Citron is best known as a figurative printmaker, she also taught and executed murals under the Federal Art Project of the New Deal. After World War II and several visits to Europe, especially Paris, Citron began to work as an abstractionist. She pioneered new three-dimensional techniques in printmaking and painting as well as the incorporation of accidental effects and assemblage elements. In the 1970s (when she was in her seventies), she strongly identified with the women's movement because she believed that she had always been a feminist.

http://www.nmwa.org/collection/profile.asp?LinkID=143

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