Irene Belknap (b. 1941) American, Signed and Numbered Print. Title: "Ithaka." From her "Dressed in Words" Series. Signed bottom right. Numbered 37/125 bottom left. 

Overall: 41 X 29 1/2 in. 

Sight: 34 X 20 1/2 in. 

#3847 . 

Irene Belknap was born in Munich, Germany in 1941. After the end of World War II her family immigrated to the United States when she was five years old. She grew up on the East Coast, studying painting at the Silvermine Academy in New Canaan, Connecticut. In 1959 she returned to Germany to explore art in Europe, studying at the Kokoshka School in Salzburg, Austria. Her parents forbade her from pursuing art, afraid for her future security, so she moved back to the States and enrolled at Sweet Briar College, a private women’s liberal arts college in Amherst County, Virginia, in 1962. She was studying Art History when she met a man named Robert, who encouraged her to pursue art full-time. After their marriage and her graduation they moved to California to immerse themselves in art, eventually settling in Mill Valley. To make ends meet they started a company printing and designing posters, eventually creating a catalog that is now housed in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. She enrolled in the Art School in San Francisco, then took courses at the San Francisco Art Institute, obtaining her Masters in 1968. She developed a style of painting that utilized figurative images with symbolic and psychological subtexts, creating numerous works in oils, mixed media, and in limited edition prints. Since becoming a professional artist she has exhibited in the United States and internationally many times, both in group shows and solo exhibitions.