Theresa Bernstein (1890-2002) American, Original 1916 Beach Scene Mixed Media Pastel. Signed bottom right. Plaque on bottom middle of frame give the title: "Edgemere, The Rockaways, N.Y., 1916." Name and age range below. The same information is handwritten on the back of the frame in pen.
Condition: Excellent.
Overall Size: 21 x 28 in.
Sight Size: 12 1/2 x 19 in.
Frame Thickness: 1 3/4 in.
Theresa Ferber Bernstein-Meyerowitz was born on March 1st, 1890 in Kraków, Poland. She was the only child of Isidore Bernstein, a Jewish textile manufacturer, and his wife Anne (née Ferber) Bernstein, an accomplished pianist. The family emigrated to the United States when Theresa was one year old, settling in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She showed an early interest in art and began learning to draw and paint at a young age. As a young woman, she traveled several times with her mother to Europe, where she was impressed by artists of the new Expressionist movement like Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Marc, and Edvard Munch. Bernstein graduated from William D. Kelley School in Philadelphia in 1907, the same year she received a scholarship to the Philadelphia School of Design for Women, now Moore College of Art & Design. There she studied with Harriet Sartain, Elliott Daingerfield, Henry B. Snell, Daniel Garber and others, graduating in 1911 with an award for general achievement (the college awarded her an honorary doctorate in 1992). In 1912 she settled in Manhattan and enrolled at the Art Students League, where she took life and portraiture classes with William Merritt Chase. She attended the 1913 Armory Show, the first large exhibition of modern art in America, and became particularly enamored with the work of Robert Henri, founder of the Ashcan School of American Realism. She met fellow artist William Meyerowitz, who she married in 1919. Their only child, a girl named Isadora, died in infancy. They lived in New York City and began spending summers in Gloucester, Massachusetts in the 1920s. During the Great Depression Bernstein and her husband taught art lessons in their studios and sold graphic designs to supplement their income. In her paintings, Bernstein depicted the major issues of her time, from women’s suffrage and the plight of the poor and immigrants to the World Wars and racial tensions in America and abroad. She also painted many portraits, including Polish musician and politician Ignacy Jan Paderewski, jazz musician Charlie Parker, and entertainer Judy Garland. Her studio near Bryant Park and Times Square allowed her to paint a cross-section of New Yorkers, using large brushstrokes and bold colors to depict the vitality of her subjects. She was part of the Philadelphia Ten, an influential group of female artists, as well as a member of the National Association of Women Artists, the Society of American Graphic Artists, and the North Shore Art Association. Her works were exhibited extensively with the National Academy of Design and the Society of Independent Artists, which she co-founded, and she held over 40 solo exhibitions throughout her lifetime. She authored several books, including a biography of her husband and a journal about their many trips to the Middle East as a foundational part of the Zionist Movement and their efforts to establish the Nation of Israel. She died at Mount Sinai Hospital on February 12th, 2002, just a few weeks before her 112th birthday, and her pieces are still found in museums and galleries around the world.
Excellent.
