biographie de Irene Rice PEREIRA (1902-1971)

Birth place: Boston, MA

Death place: Marbella, Spain

Addresses: NYC

Profession: Painter, writer

Studied: ASL with Richard Lahey, Jan Matulka, 1927-30; Acad. Modèrne, Paris, with A. Ozenfant, 1931

Exhibited: WMAA 1934-67 (biennials), 1953 (retrospective),1976 (retrospective); MoMA, 1944; San Fran. Conf., 1945; Critics Choice, NYC, 1945; Cincinnati Mod. Art Soc.; MMA; Pepsi-Cola, 1946 (prize); CI; PAFA Ann., 1947-60 (6 times); AIC; Musée d'Art Moderne, Paris; Tate Gal. Art, Inst. Contemp. Art, both in London; Brussels, Berlin, Antwerp, Vienna and other European cities; S„o Paulo, Brazil; Barcelona, Belgrade, Lille, Tours, Toulouse, etc.; Barnett Aden Gal., Wash., DC (solo); ACA Gal., 1933-35, 1949; SFMA, 1947, 1953; Phillips Acad., 1949; Corcoran Gal. biennials, 1949-63 (5 times); Santa Barbara Mus. Art, 1950; de Young Mem. Mus., 1950; Memphis Acad. Art, 1951; Univ. Syracuse, 1951; BMA; 1951; Ball State Teachers College, 1951; Durlacher Bros., 1951, 1953-54; PC, 1952; Dayton, AI, 1952; Des Moines AC, 1953; DMFA, 1953; Vassar College, 1953; Adele Lawson Gal., 1954; Hofstra Col., 1954; Univ. Michigan, 1954; Phila. Art All., 1955; Wellons Gal., NYC, 1956; Nordness Gal., NYC, 1958, 1959, 1961; Rome-New York Found., Rome, Italy, 1960.

Member: Am. Abstract Artists, 1939; AEA.

Work: MoMA; MMA; WMAA; Newark Mus.; Univ. Arizona; Howard Univ.; Wadsworth Atheneum; TMA; SFMA; AIC; BMA; AGAA; DMFA; Detroit Inst. Art; Vassar College; NOMA; Walker AC; PMG; Smith College; Ball State Teachers College; Boston Univ.; Brandeis Univ.; Catholic Univ. Wash., DC; Goucher College; Atkins Mus., Kansas City; Univ. Iowa; Guggenheim Mus.; State Teachers College, New Paltz, NY; Syracuse Univ.; WMA; Univ. Minnesota; Butler Inst. Am. Art; CM; Mus. Art, Phoenix, AZ; Houghton Lib., Harvard Univ. (orig. mss. of The Lapis"); Miller Coll., Meriden, CT; Dutch Ministry of Info,. The Hague; Mus. Non-Objective Painting; WPA artist, 1935-39; Munson-Williams-Proctor Inst."

Comments: Abstract painter whose work reflects her interest in light, space, and mysticism. She began experimenting with various nontraditional materials in the late 1930s, painting on plastic and glass, and adding such substances as marble dust to her pigments. Position: teacher at the WPA"s Design Laboratory, 1935-39. Her sister Juanita was also an artist (see entry for Juanita Marbrook Guccione). Contrib.: The Palette; Mysindia; Western AA Bulletin. Auth.: Light and New Reality; The Transformation of Nothing and the Paradox of Space; The Nature of Space: A Metaphysical and Aesthetic Inquiry (1956).

Sources: WW66; WW47; American Abstract Art, 194; Karen A. Bearor, Irene Rice Pereira: Her Paintings and Philosophy (Austin, TX: Univ. of Texas Press, 1993); Baigell, Dictionary; Falk, Exh. Record Series.