Mira Schor
Encyclopedia
Mira Schor is an American artist, writer, editor, and educator, known for her contributions to the critical discourse
on the status of painting
in contemporary art
and culture as well as to feminist art
history and criticism.
and Resia Schor
were Polish-born
artists who came to the US in 1941. (In 2003, Schor produced a video documentary on her parents’ work, The Tale of the Goldsmith’s Floor, originally created for the 2003 Brown University and differences conference, “The Lure of the Detail,”). Mira Schor and her older sister Naomi Schor
(1943–2001), a noted scholar of French Literature
and Feminist theory
, were both educated at the Lycée Français de New York
. After receiving her Baccalauréat
in 1967, Mira Schor studied art history
at New York University
(WSC B.A.
1970). During this time she worked as an assistant to Red Grooms
and Mimi Gross
. She received a Master of Fine Arts degree
in Painting from California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in 1973. There she was a participant in the CalArts Feminist Art Program’s renowned project Womanhouse
(1972). In the Feminist Art Program she studied with Miriam Shapiro
and Judy Chicago
. Later at CalArts she studied with Los Angeles
-born sculptor Stephan Von Huene.
and painting
. Her paintings have been foregrounded by these various disciplines: by painting, with shows such as "Slow Art: Painting in New York Now," at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center; by feminism, with exhibitions such as "Sexual Politics: Judy Chicago's 'Dinner Party'
in Feminist Art History," at the Armand Hammer Museum
; and by language, with shows such as "Poetry Plastique," at Marianne Boesky Gallery in New York.
Her work has also been exhibited in New York at the Edward Thorp Gallery, Horodner Romley Gallery, and in group exhibitions including at the Santa Monica Museum
, the Armand Hammer Museum, The Neuberger Museum, and the Aldrich Museum. Her visual work and her writings are included in Art and Feminism (2001) and Sexual Politics: Judy Chicago’s Dinner Party in Feminist Art History (1996). In 2009 Schor exhibited her work at Momenta Art in Williamsburg, Brooklyn
, in a solo exhibition entitled "Suddenly," marking a departure in Schor's work, from the depiction of language as image to the suggestion of its lack in a space where we expect to see it. A solo exhibition, "Mira Schor: Paintings From the Nineties To Now," was held at CB1 Gallery in Los Angeles, CA (November 20, 2010 - January 9, 2011) with a catalogue essay by art historian Amelia Jones
. Schor's recent exhibitions have been reviewed in Art in America
.
published by Abrams
, “Patrilineage”, 2002, republished in The Feminism and Visual Culture Reader edited by Amelia Jones
, and on artists such as Ida Applebroog
, Mary Kelly
, and Ana Mendieta
. Schor is the author of Wet: On Painting, Feminism, and Art Culture, 1997, and co-editor of M/E/A/N/I/N/G: An Anthology of Artists’ Writings, Theory, and Criticism, 2000, and of M/E/A/N/I/NG Online. Schor has sometimes been criticized for taking an essentialist position
in terms of feminism and many of her writings take on this debate. In her writings on paintings in essays such as “Figure/Ground,” 2001, Schor is seen as making a case for the relevance of painting in a post-medium visual culture
and for arguing for the compatibility and mutuality of painterly and theoretical practices.
Schor was awarded a 2009 Creative Capital / Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant to develop A Year of Positive Thinking, a blog on contemporary art.
In 2010 she delivered a lecture called "On Failure and Anonymity" for a collaborative project called #class
at Winkleman Gallery in New York.
(1974–1978), SUNY Purchase (1983–1985), Sarah Lawrence College
(1991–1994), RISD (1999–2000), and was a resident artist at Skowhegan School in 1995. She has also taught in the Vermont College and MECA low-residency MFA
programs as an artist/teacher, and at School of Visual Arts
in the MFA
in Art Criticism
and Writing Program in 2006. For over a decade she has taught in the Fine Arts Department at Parsons The New School for Design
.
, of the art journal, M/E/A/N/I/N/G. M/E/A/N/I/N/G: An Anthology of Artists' Writings, Theory, and Criticism, was published by Duke University Press in 2000. The archive of the journal was acquired by the Beinecke Library at Yale University
in 2007. This respected artist-run editorial project continues at M/E/A/N/I/NG Online
Art criticism
Art criticism is the discussion or evaluation of visual art.Art critics usually criticize art in the context of aesthetics or the theory of beauty...
on the status of painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
in contemporary art
Contemporary art
Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...
and culture as well as to feminist art
Feminist art movement
The feminist art movement refers to the efforts and accomplishments of feminists internationally to make art that reflects women's lives and experiences, as well as to change the foundation for the production and reception of contemporary art. It also sought to bring more visibility to women within...
history and criticism.
Early life and education
Mira Schor's parents IlyaIlya Schor
Ilya Schor was a multi-faceted artist, a painter, jeweler, engraver, sculptor, and renowned artist of Judaica.- Early life :...
and Resia Schor
Resia Schor
Resia Schor was a Polish-born artist who lived and worked in New York City from 1941 until her death in 2006.- Early life :...
were Polish-born
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
artists who came to the US in 1941. (In 2003, Schor produced a video documentary on her parents’ work, The Tale of the Goldsmith’s Floor, originally created for the 2003 Brown University and differences conference, “The Lure of the Detail,”). Mira Schor and her older sister Naomi Schor
Naomi Schor
Naomi Schor was a noted literary critic and theorist. A pioneer of feminist theory for her generation, she is regarded as one of the foremost scholars of French literature and critical theory of her time...
(1943–2001), a noted scholar of French Literature
French literature
French literature is, generally speaking, literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than French. Literature written in French language, by citizens...
and Feminist theory
Feminist theory
Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, or philosophical discourse, it aims to understand the nature of gender inequality...
, were both educated at the Lycée Français de New York
Lycée Français de New York
The Lycée Français de New York , literally The French High School of New York, is an exclusive French-medium school for K-12 students based in Manhattan, New York which follows the French curriculum of study and allows students to study for the French general Baccalauréat, the international option...
. After receiving her Baccalauréat
Baccalauréat
The baccalauréat , often known in France colloquially as le bac, is an academic qualification which French and international students take at the end of the lycée . It was introduced by Napoleon I in 1808. It is the main diploma required to pursue university studies...
in 1967, Mira Schor studied art history
Art history
Art history has historically been understood as the academic study of objects of art in their historical development and stylistic contexts, i.e. genre, design, format, and style...
at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
(WSC B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
1970). During this time she worked as an assistant to Red Grooms
Red Grooms
Red Grooms is an American multimedia artist best known for his colorful pop-art constructions depicting frenetic scenes of modern urban life...
and Mimi Gross
Mimi Gross
Mimi Gross is a New York City born artist. She is the daughter of the sculptor Chaim Gross. From 1963-1976 she was married to the artist Red Grooms who was her collaborator on many projects...
. She received a Master of Fine Arts degree
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
in Painting from California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in 1973. There she was a participant in the CalArts Feminist Art Program’s renowned project Womanhouse
Womanhouse
Womanhouse was a feminist art installation and performance space organized by Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro, co-founders of the California Institute of the Arts Feminist Art Program. Chicago, Schapiro, their students and women artists from the local community participated...
(1972). In the Feminist Art Program she studied with Miriam Shapiro
Miriam Schapiro
Miriam Schapiro is a Canadian-born artist based in America. She is a pioneer of feminist art. She is also considered part of the Pattern and Decoration art movement....
and Judy Chicago
Judy Chicago
Judy Chicago is a feminist artist, author, and educator.Chicago has been creating artwork since the mid 1960s. Her earliest forays into the art world coincided with the rise of Minimalism, which she eventually abandoned in favor of art she believed to have greater content and relevance...
. Later at CalArts she studied with Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
-born sculptor Stephan Von Huene.
Painting
Schor’s visual work balances political and theoretical concerns with formalist and material passions. Her work has included major periods in which gendered narrative and representation of the body has been featured, but the predominant focus of her work has been representation of language in drawingDrawing
Drawing is a form of visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. Common instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoal, chalk, pastels, markers, styluses, and various metals .An artist who...
and painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
. Her paintings have been foregrounded by these various disciplines: by painting, with shows such as "Slow Art: Painting in New York Now," at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center; by feminism, with exhibitions such as "Sexual Politics: Judy Chicago's 'Dinner Party'
The Dinner Party
The Dinner Party is an installation artwork by feminist artist Judy Chicago depicting place settings for 39 mythical and historical famous women. It was produced from 1974 to 1979 as a collaboration and was first exhibited in 1979. Subsequently, despite art world resistance, it toured to 16 venues...
in Feminist Art History," at the Armand Hammer Museum
Hammer Museum
The Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Culture Center, or the Hammer Museum as it is more commonly known, is an art museum in the Westwood district of Los Angeles, California...
; and by language, with shows such as "Poetry Plastique," at Marianne Boesky Gallery in New York.
Her work has also been exhibited in New York at the Edward Thorp Gallery, Horodner Romley Gallery, and in group exhibitions including at the Santa Monica Museum
Santa Monica Museum of Art
The Santa Monica Museum of Art is an independent non-collecting art museum located in Santa Monica, California. It exhibits the work of local, national, and international contemporary artists....
, the Armand Hammer Museum, The Neuberger Museum, and the Aldrich Museum. Her visual work and her writings are included in Art and Feminism (2001) and Sexual Politics: Judy Chicago’s Dinner Party in Feminist Art History (1996). In 2009 Schor exhibited her work at Momenta Art in Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Williamsburg is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bordering Greenpoint to the north, Bedford-Stuyvesant to the south, Bushwick to the east and the East River to the west. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 1. The neighborhood is served by the NYPD's 90th ...
, in a solo exhibition entitled "Suddenly," marking a departure in Schor's work, from the depiction of language as image to the suggestion of its lack in a space where we expect to see it. A solo exhibition, "Mira Schor: Paintings From the Nineties To Now," was held at CB1 Gallery in Los Angeles, CA (November 20, 2010 - January 9, 2011) with a catalogue essay by art historian Amelia Jones
Amelia Jones
Amelia Jones is an American art historian, art critic and curator specializing in feminist art, body/performance art, video art and Dadaism. Her written works and approach to modern and contemporary art history are considered revolutionary in that she breaks down commonly assumed opinions and...
. Schor's recent exhibitions have been reviewed in Art in America
Art in America
Art in America is an illustrated monthly, international magazine concentrating on the contemporary art world, including profiles of artists and genres, updates about art movements, show reviews and event schedules. It is designed for collectors, artists, dealers, art professionals and other...
.
Writing and Scholarship
Schor has written frequently on issues of gender representation, including “Backlash and Appropriation,” a chapter of The Power of Feminist Art, 1994, an historical overview of the Feminist movementFeminist art movement
The feminist art movement refers to the efforts and accomplishments of feminists internationally to make art that reflects women's lives and experiences, as well as to change the foundation for the production and reception of contemporary art. It also sought to bring more visibility to women within...
published by Abrams
ABRAMS Books
Abrams, formerly Harry N. Abrams, Inc. , is an American publisher of high-quality art and illustrated books, and the enterprise is presently a subsidiary of the French publisher La Martinière Groupe...
, “Patrilineage”, 2002, republished in The Feminism and Visual Culture Reader edited by Amelia Jones
Amelia Jones
Amelia Jones is an American art historian, art critic and curator specializing in feminist art, body/performance art, video art and Dadaism. Her written works and approach to modern and contemporary art history are considered revolutionary in that she breaks down commonly assumed opinions and...
, and on artists such as Ida Applebroog
Ida Applebroog
Ida Applebroog is a notable American painter. Her work is included in many public collections in the United States. During the decade of the 1990s, she received multiple honors including the College Art Association Distinguished Art Award for Lifetime Achievement, an Honorary Doctorate of Fine...
, Mary Kelly
Mary Kelly
Mary Kelly may refer to:*Mary Jane Kelly , widely believed to be the fifth and final victim of Jack the Ripper*Mary Kelly , Scottish writer*Mary Kelly , American artist and writer...
, and Ana Mendieta
Ana Mendieta
Ana Mendieta was a Cuban American performance artist, sculptor, painter and video artist who is known for her "earth-body" art work....
. Schor is the author of Wet: On Painting, Feminism, and Art Culture, 1997, and co-editor of M/E/A/N/I/N/G: An Anthology of Artists’ Writings, Theory, and Criticism, 2000, and of M/E/A/N/I/NG Online. Schor has sometimes been criticized for taking an essentialist position
Essentialism
In philosophy, essentialism is the view that, for any specific kind of entity, there is a set of characteristics or properties all of which any entity of that kind must possess. Therefore all things can be precisely defined or described...
in terms of feminism and many of her writings take on this debate. In her writings on paintings in essays such as “Figure/Ground,” 2001, Schor is seen as making a case for the relevance of painting in a post-medium visual culture
Visual culture
Visual Culture as an academic subject is a field of study that generally includes some combination of cultural studies, art history, critical theory, philosophy, and anthropology, by focusing on aspects of culture that rely on visual images.- Overview :...
and for arguing for the compatibility and mutuality of painterly and theoretical practices.
Schor was awarded a 2009 Creative Capital / Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant to develop A Year of Positive Thinking, a blog on contemporary art.
In 2010 she delivered a lecture called "On Failure and Anonymity" for a collaborative project called #class
Hashtagclass
#class was a month-long series of events at Winkleman Gallery in New York that took place between February 20 to March 20, 2010 organized by artists William Powhida and Jennifer Dalton...
at Winkleman Gallery in New York.
Teaching
She taught at NSCAD in Halifax, Nova ScotiaNova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
(1974–1978), SUNY Purchase (1983–1985), Sarah Lawrence College
Sarah Lawrence College
Sarah Lawrence College is a private liberal arts college in the United States, and a leader in progressive education since its founding in 1926. Located just 30 minutes north of Midtown Manhattan in southern Westchester County, New York, in the city of Yonkers, this coeducational college offers...
(1991–1994), RISD (1999–2000), and was a resident artist at Skowhegan School in 1995. She has also taught in the Vermont College and MECA low-residency MFA
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
programs as an artist/teacher, and at School of Visual Arts
School of Visual Arts
The School of Visual Arts , is a proprietary art school located in Manhattan, New York City, and is widely considered to be one of the leading art schools in the United States. It was established in 1947 by co-founders Silas H. Rhodes and Burne Hogarth as the Cartoonists and Illustrators School and...
in the MFA
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
in Art Criticism
Art criticism
Art criticism is the discussion or evaluation of visual art.Art critics usually criticize art in the context of aesthetics or the theory of beauty...
and Writing Program in 2006. For over a decade she has taught in the Fine Arts Department at Parsons The New School for Design
Parsons The New School for Design
Parsons The New School For Design, known colloquially as Parsons, is the art and design college of The New School university. It is located in New York City's Greenwich Village, and has produced artists and designers such as Marc Jacobs, Dean and Dan Caten, Norman Rockwell, Donna Karan, Jane...
.
Books
- A Decade of Negative Thinking: Essays on Art, Politics, and Daily Life, 2010
- The Extreme of the Middle: Writings of Jack Tworkov, Yale University Press, 2009.
- M/E/A/N/I/N/G: An Anthology of Artists' Writings, Theory, and Criticism, co-edited with Susan Bee, Duke University Press, 2000.
- Wet: On Painting, Feminism, and Art Culture, Duke University Press, 1997.
Essays
- “I am not now nor have I ever been …”, Brooklyn Rail, February 2008
- “She Demon Spawn from Hell,” M/E/A/N/I/NG Online, 2006
- "Backlash and Appropriation" in The Power of Feminist Art, Norma Broude & Mary Garrard, eds, Abrams, 1994
- "Patrilineage," Feminist Art Criticism issue, Art Journal 50, No. 2 Summer 1991. Anthologized in New Feminist Criticism: Art/Identity/Action, HarperCollins, 1994 and The Feminism and Visual Culture Reader, Routledge, 2003; Translated into Czech, Neviditelná zena, Antologie soucasneho americkeko mysleni o feminismu, dejinach a vizualite, Martina Pachmanova, ed., One Woman Press, Prague, 2002.
- “Figure/Ground,” M/E/A/N/I/N/G #6, reprinted in Wet & M/E/A/N/I/N/G: An Anthology, excerpted in Helen Reckitt & Peggy Phelan, Art and Feminism, London & New York: Phaidon Press Ltd., 2001.
- "Medusa Redux: Ida Applebroog and the Spaces of Postmodernity," Artforum, March. Updated and published as catalogue essay for Ida Applebroog, Orchard Gallery, DerryDerryDerry or Londonderry is the second-biggest city in Northern Ireland and the fourth-biggest city on the island of Ireland. The name Derry is an anglicisation of the Irish name Doire or Doire Cholmcille meaning "oak-wood of Colmcille"...
, Northern IrelandNorthern IrelandNorthern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, 1993; excerpts included in Ida Applebroog, Are You Bleeding Yet?, New York: La Maison Red, 2002. - "On Failure and Anonymity," Heresies 25, 1990.
- “Appropriated Sexuality,” M/E/A/N/I/N/G #1, 1986. Anthologized in Theories of Contemporary Art, Richard Hertz, ed. (Prentice Hall, 1985), and republished in Wet and M/E/A/N/I/N/G: An Anthology of Artists' Writings, Theory, and Criticism.
Editor
Schor is the co-founder and co-editor, with Susan BeeSusan Bee
Susan Bee is a painter, editor, and book artist who lives in New York City. She has had six solo shows at A.I.R. Gallery in New York, and has published six artist's books with Granary Books...
, of the art journal, M/E/A/N/I/N/G. M/E/A/N/I/N/G: An Anthology of Artists' Writings, Theory, and Criticism, was published by Duke University Press in 2000. The archive of the journal was acquired by the Beinecke Library at Yale University
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library was a 1963 gift of the Beinecke family. The building was designed by architect Gordon Bunshaft of the firm of Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, and is the largest building in the world reserved exclusively for the preservation of rare books...
in 2007. This respected artist-run editorial project continues at M/E/A/N/I/NG Online
Grants and Awards
- Creative Capital/Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant, 2009.
- Residency at The Rockefeller Foundation’s Study and Center in Bellagio, Italy, 2001.
- College Art AssociationCollege Art AssociationThe College Art Association of America is the principal professional association in the United States for practitioners and scholars of art, art history, and art criticism...
’s Frank Jewett MatherFrank Jewett MatherFrank Jewett Mather was an American art critic and professor.He was born at Deep River, Conn., and graduated from Williams College in 1889 and from Johns Hopkins in 1892: he studied also at Berlin and at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes, Paris...
Award in Art Criticism, 1999. - Pollock-Krasner FoundationPollock-Krasner FoundationThe Pollock-Krasner Foundation was established in 1985 for the purpose of providing financial assistance to individual working artists of established ability. It was established at the bequest of Lee Krasner, who was an American abstract expressionist painter and the widow of fellow painter Jackson...
Grant, 1997. - Guggenheim Fellowship in Painting, 1992.
- The Space Program of The Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation, 1992.
- National Endowment for the ArtsNational Endowment for the ArtsThe National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
, Visual Arts Fellowship in Painting, 1985.
External links
- http://www.dukeupress.edu/books.php3?isbn=978-0-8223-4602-9
- http://writing.upenn.edu/pepc/meaning/
- http://www.artonair.org/archives/j/content/view/581/147/
- http://www.miraschor.com/
- http://www.dukeupress.edu/cgibin/forwardsql/search.cgi
- http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=9780300141023
- Mira Schor at CB1 Gallery, Los Angeles