Eleanor Merritt (1933-2019) American, Acrylic and Watercolor Collage. Depicts abstract figures in long robes, using handmade paper as the base. Signed vertically bottom right. A label affixed to the back of the frame gives the artist's name and address, as well as the date 1995, the medium, and the title: "Metamorphosis." 

Overall Size: 38 1/2 x 30 1/4 in. 

Sight Size: 21 x 29 in. 

Eleanor Merritt was born to Jamaican immigrants in Harlem, New York in 1933. She attended the High School for Music and Art and Brooklyn College, studying under Ad Rinehart, Mark Rothko, and Jimmy Ernst, who encouraged her to pursue both her Bachelors and Masters in Fine Arts and Education. After completing her doctoral studies at Hofstra University she became the first African-American art teacher and department chair in Nassau County, teaching for 27 years in Long Island while also acting as an early member of the Long Island Black Artist Association and co-founding the Women of Color of Art. She traveled the world in search of inspiration and retired to Sarasota, Florida, where she served on the board of the Arts Council and The Ringling Museum, served as president of the Venice Art Center, and became a member of the Florida Artists Group, Women Contemporary Painters, and the Petticoat Painters, among others. A community leader and tireless advocate for women and artists of color, she continued to paint right up until her death from lung cancer in 2019.

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