ESPHYR SLOBODKINA: SELECTED BOOKS

Stavitsky, Gail and Elizabeth Wylie. The Art and Life of Esphyr Slobodkina. Tufts

University Art Gallery, 1992.

Kraskin, Mulhearn Sayer, Marcus, Cantor. Rediscovering Slobodkina: A Pioneer of American Abstraction, Hudson Hills Press, 2009

Articles, Book Excerpts, and Reviews, Arranged Chronologically

Genauer, Emily. “Public Art Exhibition Quality Varied.” New York World Telegram, July 25, 1936, 14B.

Slobodkina’s first critical review. “Esphyr Bolotowsky…is earnestly struggling to get at something, and in the near-abstraction labeled The Angelo-Herndon Petition she nearly arrives. The thing is still disjointed. But there are elements like the vertical use of reds in the design, the red banner overhead serving to unify the canvas, and the tensions and repetition of certain motifs, which definitely indicate an attempt to achieve plastically ordered form.”

Jewell, Edward Allen. “Abstract Artists Open Show Today.” New York Times, April 6, 1937, 21.

Slobodkina mentioned in this review of the first American Abstract Artists annual at Squibb Gallery.

Klein, Jerome. “Abstract Artists Make New Stand.” New York Post, April 10, 1937.  Review of Squibb show. Slobodkina’s works among “some of the most interesting.”

-. “Art Comment: Jobless Artists in Union Exhibit at New School.” New York Post, April 24, 1937. 

Review of an Artists’ Union exhibition.

“Two Big Art Shows Listed this Week.” New York Times, October 31, 1938, 18. Mention of Slobodkina’s first solo exhibition at the New School.

Klein, Jerome. “Reviews in Brief.” New York Post, November 5, 1938, 12. Review of solo exhibition at the New School. “Also at the New School are fifteen abstract paintings by Esphyr Slobodkina. While the work as a whole is lively and well designed, the smaller paintings hold up best. In the larger format, with the exception of No. 3, there is less intensity.”

Devree, Howard. “A Reviewer’s Notebook.” New York Times, November 6, 1938, 182. Review of solo exhibition at the New School. Mentions “large paintings, chiefly in the Miro-vein, by Esphyr Slobodkina.”

“Abstract Artists in Annual Show.” New York Times, June 8, 1940.  Review of American Abstract Artists 4^th annual exhibition.

Klein, Jerome. “American Abstract Artists in Annual Show.” New York Post, June 8, 1940.  Review of American Abstract Artists 4^th annual exhibition.

“News and Notes of Art.” New York Times, June 19, 1940, 21. Review of the Federation of Modern Painters & Sculptors first exhibition held at the American Art Today building at the World’s Fair.

E.L.B. “Band of Monkeys.” New York Times, November 10, 1940. Caps for Sale review. Reviewer notes that the story is “portrayed in brilliant pictures in which the design is as pleasantly repetitious and balanced as the text.”

Jewell, Edward Allen. “Abstract Artists Put on Exhibition.” New York Times, February 11, 1941, 28.

Review of American Abstract Artists 5^th annual exhibition.

-. “Abstract Artists Hold Sixth Show.” New York Times, March 10, 1942, 24. Review of American Abstract Artists 6^th annual exhibition. “Constructions such as inhabit the realm of ‘free’ sculpture also are present, among the examples being those by Ibram Lassaw in metal and by Esphyr Slobodkina in wood.”

-. “Moderns Display Work at Riverside.” New York Times, March 12, 1941, 24. Review of the Federation of Modern Painters & Sculptors 1^st annual exhibition.

“Dance Planned by Navy Aids; Canteen Division of Women’s Council to Hold Event – Art Display Scheduled.” New York Times, April 1, 1942, D1. Exhibition at Anchors Aweigh, the work center and shop of the New York Women’s Council of the Navy League, directed by A.E. Gallatin.

Greenberg, Clement. “Review of Four Exhibitions of Abstract Art.” The Nation (May 2, 1942). Reprinted in  John O’Brian, ed. Clement Greenberg: The Collected Essays and Criticism, vol. I: Perceptions and Judgments, 1939-44. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1986. Review of the American Abstract Artists 6^th annual exhibition. Declared the “most provocative” of the four shows in this review.

Jewell, Edward Allen. “Exhibition is Held by Art Federation.” New York Times, May 22, 1942, 24. Review of the Federation of Modern Painters & Sculptors 2^nd annual exhibition.

Frost, Rosamund. “Abstract.” ArtNews 41, No. 8 (June-July 1942): 39. Review of group show at the Museum of Living Art. Mentions “the brand new Slobodkina, a find indeed for her extremely personal forms and color sense.”

Brian, Doris. “Federated for Freedom, 62 Artists Show.” Art News 41, No. 8 (June-July 1942): 47. Review of the Federation of Modern Painters & Sculptors 2^nd annual exhibition at Wildenstein. Refers to Slobodkina as “the talented newcomer.”

McBride, Henry. “Attractions in the Galleries.” New York Sun, December 11, 1942, 32. Review of Slobodkina’s solo exhibition at the Museum of Living Art. “[Slobodkina] is a painter of the abstract, who has refinement, good color and a sense of picture-making among her assets. Her balanced compositions speak to the imagination even though they provide few clues to the basic themes.”

Devree, Howard. “A Reviewer’s Notebook.” New York Times, December 13, 1942, X9. Mentions Slobodkina’s show at the Museum of Living Art.

Frost, Rosamund. “Thirty-Odd Women.” ArtNews 41, no. 17 (January 15-31 1943): 20. Review of “Exhibition by Thirty-One Women.” Notes that “the abstractionists are here too…Esphir [sic] Slobodkina with a composition already admired at the ex-Museum of Living Art.”

“In Miniature.” New York Times, March 21, 1943, X7. Review of American Abstract Artists 7^th annual exhibition.

Jewell, Edward Allen. “A.E. Gallatin’s Art in a New Setting; Famous Collection is Placed on Exhibition in Museum at Philadelphia.” New York Times, May15, 1943, 16. The complete Gallatin collection, which includes Slobodkina’s Composition, is shown together for the first time.

-. “Modern Painters Open Show Today.” New York Times, June 2, 1943, 28. Review of Federation of Modern Painters & Sculptors 3^rd annual exhibition.

-. “‘Small Size’ Art on Display Here.” New York Times, October 26, 1943, 20. Review of a Federation of Modern Painters & Sculptors show.

-. “Abstract Artists Open Display Here.” New York Times, March 14, 1945, 17. Review of American Abstract Artists 9^th annual exhibition.

“8 by 8 and 107 by 25.” ArtNews 44, No. 5 (March 15-31, 1945): 17. Review of” “Eight by Eight” exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Notes that “in the past few years, Slobodkina and Shaw have shown the most creative development.”

Adlow, Dorothy. “American Abstract Paintings Shown; ‘Eight by Eight’ Exhibition at Institute of Modern Art.” The Christian Science Monitor, April 16, 1945, 4. Review of “Eight by Eight” exhibition.

Jewell, Edward Allen. “Modern Artists to Open Annual.” New York Times, September 12, 1945, 23. Review of Federation of Modern Painters & Sculptors 5^th annual exhibition. Slobodkina mentioned as one of the “nonobjectivists” present, “represented by characteristic exercises in geometry.”

-. “Accent on Modernism.” New York Times, March 24, 1946, 54. Review of an exhibition of 20 modernists at Troeger-Phillips Inc., including Slobodkina, Ilya Bolotowsky, Stuart Davis, Ad Reinhardt, Fernand Léger, and Louise Bourgois.

-. “Abstract Artists Making Birthday.” New York Times, March 26, 1946, 21. Review of American Abstract Artists 10^th annual exhibition. Slobodkina mentioned among the painters “particularly well represented.”

Reinhardt, Ad. “How to Look at Modern Art in America.” PM, June 2, 1946. Reinhardt’s famous cartoon that graphically depicts the evolution of modern art. Slobodkina located to the left, on a branch that stems from Mondrian, Malevich, Gris, Leger, and Arp. 

Devree, Howard. “A Reviewer’s Notes.” New York Times, December 8, 1946, 93. Review of group show at Betty Parsons that included Slobodkina, Walter Murch, Alfonso Ossorio, Ad Reinhardt, and Pennington West. Noted as “one of the liveliest events of the week.”

“By Groups.” New York Times, December 22, 1946, 56. Review of group show at Norlyst Gallery. Slobodkina’s canvases are “frankly abstract.”

Jewell, Edward Allen. “Museum Displays Non-Objective Art.” New York Times, April 1, 1947, 25. Review of American Abstract Artists 11^th annual exhibition. Although “few essentially new abstract ideas come to light” a few artists, including Slobodkina, “may be generally relied upon for excellence in this field.”

Reed, Judith Kaye. “Abstract Annual not Monotonous.” The Art Digest 21 (April 15, 1947): 20. Review of American Abstract Artists 11^th annual exhibition. Notes that “outstanding paintings come from…Esphyr Slobodkina in big, sure canvases.”

“Norlyst Gallery.” The New York Sun, April 25, 1947.  Review of solo exhibition at Norlyst Gallery. “The ultramodern idiom provides the means of expression for Esphyr Slobodkina…Miss Slobodkina apparently does some serious thinking before she gets to work. Nothing is ever left to chance. Her designs are clear cut, carefully planned arrangements that are set down with precision and sureness. There is nothing wildly surprising about such work, though the muted, harmonious color accompaniment is decidedly pleasant.”

Jewell, Edward Allen. “Blakelock Honored.” New York Times, April 27, 1947, X10. Review of solo exhibition at Norlyst Gallery. “Slobodkina’s fertile work in the nonobjective field is extremely well known, and the present show represents her with entire justice, so far as the paintings are concerned. I felt no enthusiasm for the extraneous pieces of sculpture.”

“Reviews and Previews.” ArtNews 46 (May 1947): 44. Review of solo exhibition at Norlyst Gallery. “Typically non-objective are the well-knit abstractions of clean-cut, overlapping colored shapes and connecting lines. The compositions have motion and pleasing order. To her restrained and subtle color she adds the occasional interest of texture. The collages, too, though pure abstractions of newspaper clippings, have considerable excitement and spontaneity.”

Gibbs, Josephine. “Fifty-Seventh Street in Review.” The Art Digest 21 (May 1, 1947): 20. Review of solo exhibition at Norlyst Gallery; reproduction of Composition in Pink. “Acting as a soothing ice bag on the feverish, emotional brow of the end-of-the-season are the cool, thoughtful, non-objective paintings of Esphyr Slobodkina, one of the best of them at Norlyst through May 3…that such a large exhibition in such a circumscribed metier should be exciting, stimulating and varied rather than a trifle monotonous is sufficient testimony to the artist’s technical skill and ability to infuse these expert compositional patterns with communicated mood as well. Inventive designs, sometimes remarkably three-dimensional, have an air of inevitablity, and color is carefully shaded in tones and hues, which are never commonplace.”

“Modernists Head Week’s Art Shows.” New York Times, May 3, 1948, 14. Mention of solo exhibition “Tangents” at Norlyst Gallery.

“In Brief: Exhibitions.” New York Times, May 9, 1948.  Brief review of solo exhibition “Tangents.” Described as “A considerable range of originality and charm in paintings, collages, nonobjective gadgets, dolls and textiles by a modernist.”

Gibbs, Josephine. “Tangents.” The Art Digest 22 (May 15, 1948): 19. Review of solo exhibition “Tangents” at Norlyst Gallery. “A brief exhibition of work by Esphyr Slobodkina entitled ‘Tangents’…was just exactly that. And very charming tangents they were, too – little faceless dolls dressed as poets and peasants, princes and princesses, extraordinarily alive in their gestures; a variety of fabrics, scarfs and table settings, handsome in design and color; a few decorative, tasteful and quite recognizable flower still lifes in oil, some collages and constructions. Actually, it would have made an ideal Christmas show, but it is interesting to be shown, at any season, just how versatile and practical some artists are – that Miss Slobodkina, noted for fine, cool and cerebral abstractions, can turn her hand with obvious gusto to more frivolous pursuits.”

“Reviews and Previews.” ArtNews 47, No. 6 (October 1948): 48. Review of Federation of Modern Painters & Sculptors 8^th annual exhibition. Slobodkina cited among “the most convincing statements.”

Breuning, Margaret. “Moderns Interpret World Through Symbolism.” The Art Digest 23 (October 1, 1948):  17. Review of the Federation of Modern Painters & Sculptors 8^th annual exhibition. Notes that in this “wandering listing” certain works, including those by Slobodkina, “should receive favorable comment.”

-. “Federation Annual.” The Art Digest 23 (April 1, 1949): 19. Review of the Federation of Modern Painters & Sculptors 9^th annual exhibition. Esphyr Slobodkina among those whose works “deserve citation.”

Devree, Howard. “Chiefly Abstract.” New York Times, April 3, 1949, X8. Review of American Abstract Artists 13^th annual exhibition. Notes that “Esphyr Slobodkina’s astrolabe form is distinctive.”

Sharp, Marynell. “Abstract Annual.” The Art Digest 23 (April 15, 1949): 25. Review of American Abstract Artists 13^th annual exhibition. Characterizes Slobodkina’s compositions as “highly realized” along with Suzy Frelinghuysen and Eleanor de Laittre.

Krasne, Belle. “Modern Federation in 9th Annual Show.” The Art Digest 24 (October 15, 1949): 12. Review of the Federation of Modern Painters & Sculptors 9^th annual exhibition. States that Slobodkina’s “slick rendition of texture in The Witching Hour makes her a candidate for the title of magic abstractionist.”

Devree, Howard. “Surveys by Groups.” New York Times, October 16, 1949.  Review of the Federation of Modern Painters & Sculptors 9^th annual exhibition. Mentions the “suggestive Witching Hour by Esphyr Slobodkina.”

-. “American Round-Up.” New York Times, March 19, 1950.  Review of American Abstract Artists 14^th annual exhibition. Slobodkina discussed under “Outstanding Entries.” “Particularly impressive are entries by Esphyr Slobodkina, whose composition in grays, whites, and tans has a tantalizing suggestive power, as of figures about to emerge, with accessory forms which call up musical images.”

Sharp, Marynell. “All Abstract.” The Art Digest 24 (April 1, 1950): 16. Review of American Abstract Artists 14^th annual exhibition. “Esphyr Slobodkina’s renditions are impressive with their sharp patterns and orchestrated color.”

Goodnough, Robert. “Esphyr Slobodkina.” ArtNews 50 (March 1951): 49. Review of solo exhibition at the New School. “Esphyr Slobodkina, painter and illustrator of children’s books, combines unusual techniques to investigate painting problems. At times she makes color prints on gesso grounds, working on these in gouache and oil. The results are usually quiet abstractions, each area being flat and clear in color. Elements of Music is restful and well designed, intended to take its place in the atmosphere of a modern apartment. It is controlled and settled in style, but emotion seems sacrificed to decorative elements.”

Pearson, Ralph M. “Esphyr Slobodkina.” The Art Digest (March 15, 1951). Review of solo exhibition at the New School. “Although concise and flatly painted, the abstractions of Esphyr Slobodkina have a drama that arises from subtle use of opaque color and an intricacy of spatial effects. This drama—much of it that of the mechanical in the modern world—is evident in Turboprop Sky Shark where dynamic tensions are created by an overlapping and interweaving of inventive shapes. Within a style based on flat planes, Miss Slobodkina is able to express feelings that arise from nature. In Winter the coolness of ice is achieved by a close color harmony between blues, greys and whites and emphasized by the light in a spot of cool yellow contrasted to an earthy dark green. In others she has used the warmth of the colors of Byzantine ikons [sic].”

Preston, Stuart. “Chiefly Modern.” New York Times, March 25, 1951, 85. Review of solo exhibition at the New School. “Recent pictures by Esphyr Slobodkina at the New School announce her as one of the more convincing and assured abstract painters of today. She sets her geometrical shapes flying all over the picture surface, conveying, in their movement and in the clean-cut impact of their interpenetrations, the dynamism that gives these designs such admirable tension. These knife-edged shapes have no body; their pure color is not altered by any transitoriness of natural light; yet, they are not flat. They advance and recede because of her ingenious play with perspective along the contours. Most pictures here have no meaning beyond the message of pure form.”

“Quantity of Shows in Art this Week.” New York Times, April 2, 1951, 23. Mention of solo exhibition at the New School.

Reinhardt, Ad. “La Peinture Aux Etats-Unis D’Amerique.” Art d’Aujourd’hui (June 1951): 3. Ad Reinhardt’s satirical genealogy of modern art in America, represented graphically by a tree sprouting an encyclopedic listing of artists and movements.

Pearson, Ralph M. “A Modern View. The Whitney Annual.” The Art Digest 27 (December 15, 1952): 28. Review of the Whitney Annual exhibition. Slobodkina named among those artists deserving “top-level distinction.”

Devree, Howard. “By Contemporaries.” New York Times, February 1, 1953, X8. Review of American Abstract Artists 17^th annual exhibition. Slobodkina makes “tasteful use of color forms in primarily decorative arrangements.”

-. “In Diverse Veins.” New York Times, October 4, 1953, X10. Review of first exhibition at the City Center Art Gallery, juried by Louis Bouche, Sidney Laufman, and Henry Varnum Poor. 50 pictures were selected out of 475 entries, including one by Slobodkina.

-. “Round-Up and Solo.” New York Times, October 18, 1953, X9. Review of the Whitney Annual exhibtion. Slobodkina is mentioned for her “suggestive abstract Flight.”

Porter, Fairfield. “Reviews and Previews.” ArtNews 52 (February 1954): 46. Review of solo exhibition at John Heller Gallery. “[Slobodkina’s] paintings based on still-life and landscape are made up of cut-cardboard shapes, in which half of the time you have a choice as to which color overlaps, and as to which way the angle goes. This clear ambiguity is the strength of her paintings. The weakness comes from a tendency to put too many similar things in one picture.”

Mitchell, Fred. “Gallery Previews.” Pictures on Exhibit 17 (February 1954): 28. Review of solo exhibition at John Heller Gallery. “Esphyr Slobodkina in her fifth one-man exhibition achieves a new airiness of color and seeks to integrate new complexities of shapes, apparently inspired by musical instruments, architecture, and objects in flight. Indeed, the painting entitled Flight seems to this reviewer her most notable work, having an especial cohesion, structurally, and a freedom from evocation of nostalgic mood.”

Breuning, Margaret. “Reviews.” The Art Digest 28 (February 1, 1954): 20. Review of solo exhibition at John Heller Gallery. “[Slobodkina’s] large abstract paintings suggest the early cubist flat-patterning with one important exception. They do not include fortuitous realistic detail in their formal arrangements—no guitars, no playing cards, no studio props, but a subtly related succession of planes. Slobodkina gains an austerity of effect by using low notes of color: impalpably differentiated grays, soft beiges, interpolations of white and an occasional area of black. Yet this austerity is animated by the sharp impingement of planes, the sensation of their sliding under one another. Each painting might be considered a ‘self-contained’ cosmos. Yet this cosmos, far removed from any empirical significance, obtains arresting, decorative effects through finely-considered relations of line, of form and color. An outstanding canvas is Composition in an Oval, in which a white globular shape, tipped with red, forms the centripetal focus of an elaborated design.”

“Museum Reopens Galleries Friday.” New York Times, February 15, 1954, 17. Mention of John Heller Gallery show.

Devree, Howard. “De Pauw Displays His Abstractions.” New York Times, February 20, 1954, 15.  Review of solo exhibition at John Heller Gallery. “[Slobodkina’s] neat and nimble geometrical patterns are in marked contrast to the work cited above. She assembles her clean-cut shapes very cleverly; they seem to fall into place with kaleidoscopic inevitability.”

Genauer, Emily. “Classic Abstractions.” New York Herald Tribune, February 28, 1954, section 4, p. 9. Review of solo exhibition at John Heller Gallery. “[Slobodkina] might be called a classic among abstractionist painters. Working in this vein for many years, she paints canvases that are as neatly put together of geometrical shapes as a kaleidoscopic image. Her color is clear and pure, her compositions are three-dimensional. Color areas hold together as firmly as if each had a magnetic attraction for the others. This is most attractive and skilled painting.”

Hunter, Sam. “Abstracts: Western Eastern Variety.” The Art Digest 28 (April 1, 1954): 34. Review of American Abstract Artists 18^th annual exhibition.

Devree, Howard. “About Art and Artists.” New York Times, June 17, 1954, 37. Brief review of John Heller Gallery show.

“The Wonderful Feast.” Herald Tribune, May 15, 1955.  Children’s book review. “The pictures in this new book are fascinating. Esphyr Slobodkina’s fine sense of design and color makes each page a delight. Soft blues jostle sharp ones, plums, browns and green give strength, orange touches pink judiciously and there is always enough white for drama. Utterly simple are the figures too as if cut out of paper and very clear for young eyes to recognize, yet the patterns are excitingly bold and modern. Most of the pages are double spreads with the few words of text set to harmonize. The whole picture book is an aesthetic education for our youngest as well as a book they will surely love.”

“Annual Show of American Abstractionists.” New York Times, April 27, 1957, 27. Review of the 21^st American Abstract Artists annual. Among the “noteworthy canvases” is “a symbolic interpretation entitled Holy Land by Esphyr Slobodkina.”

Geist, Sidney. “Abstract Art Today.” Arts (September 1957): 28-31. Review of The World of Abstract Art, published by the American Abstract Artists. Reproduces Oval Abstraction.

Devree, Howard. “Chiefly Abstract.” New York Times, March 9, 1958, X10. Review of the 22^nd American Abstract Artists annual exhibition. Mentions the “quizzically compartmented and symbolical Times of Day by Esphyr Slobodkina.”

Sandler, Irving. “Esphyr Slobodkina.” ArtNews 57, No. 8 (December 1958): 62. Review of solo exhibition at the New School. Slobodkina “continues to paint in the manner of 1930s geometrical abstraction. The colors in earlier canvases are subdued—black and white and a light beige, rose or pink. In later pictures color is keyed higher; literary elements are introduced—pasted paper fragments and painted representational details that illustrate a theme such as The Holy Land, The Mauve Decade, Ivory Caprice. The major work is a sectional mural 89 x 69 inches, in which cool, weightless whites and tinted greys are relieved by lively areas of glittering spangles and gold foil.” 

Clinton, Audrey. “Children’s Writer Finds Stories Everywhere.” Newsday, May 20, 1959, 45. Profiles Slobodkina’s career as a writer.

Devree, Howard. “Abstract and Exotic.” New York Times, June 7, 1959, X14. Review of American Abstract Artists annual. “Esphyr Slobodkina succeeds strangely in combining diverse elements reminiscent at once of mechanism, trompe l’oeil and collage.”

“Summary of Recent Art Show Openings.” New York Times, June 1, 1963, 13. Review of American Abstract Artists Annual. “In a rather forlorn anthology, some names make an impression [Slobodkina among them].”

Larsen, Susan C. “The American Abstract Artists: A Documentary History 1936-1941.” Archives of American Art Journal 14, no. 1 (1974): 2-7. Discusses the formation of the American Abstract Artists group.

David L. Shirley. “Individualists Among the Group.” New York Times, September 25, 1977, 495. Review of a Federation of Modern Painters & Sculptors exhibition. Mentions Slobodkina as a “fascinatingly imaginative abstract painter.”

Green, Shirley. “Artist Enjoys Many Styles.” The Sun-Tattler, March 17, 1978, 14B. Slobodkina donates her papers to the Smithsonian.

Bader, Barbara. “A Lien on the Art World.” Sun, November 16, 1980.  Children’s book review. “The Little Fireman in its original five brilliant, off-beat colors is perhaps the apogee of modernism in a picture book.”

Kohen, Helen L. “Ageless art makes for vital exhibit.” The Miami Herald, March 26, 1982, 11D. Review of “In Celebration of Age: Twentieth Century Artists in their Seventies and Eighties.” Reproduces Looking Backwards.

“Art.” The Miami Herald, October 31, 1982.  Announcement of exhibition at Hallandale Branch Library. Reproduces Abstraction with Red Circle.

Kohen, Helen L. “Slobodkina can’t hide artistic gifts.” The Miami Herald, November 7, 1982, 7L. Review of exhibition at Hallandale Branch library. Slobodkina described as “a woman of Byzantine complexity.”

Robinson, Mary B. Modern Masters: Women of the First Generation. Rutgers, NJ: The State University of New Jersey, 1982.

Larsen, Susan C., “Esphyr Slobodkina.” In Abstract Painting and Sculpture in America, 1927-1944, eds. John R. Lane and Susan C. Larsen. Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, in association with Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York, 1983, pp.221-222.

“Author, Artist.” Hallandale Digest, November 11, 1982.  Announcement of Slobodkina’s appearance at the Broward County System Library in celebration of National Children’s Book Week.

Stanier, Carole K. “Abstractions in Space, Not Time.” The Sun-Tattler, February 24, 1984, 6E.  Review of “Esphyr Slobodkina: An Introspective.” “There is no linear development or evolution in her work, but, rather, a hierarchy of technical elements which she continually recombines and redefines.”

Mooney, Carolyn. “Hallandale’s Artist in Residence.” The Miami Herald, April 8, 1984, 16.  Feature article about Slobodkina.

Blazier, Wendy. Esphyr Slobodkina: An Introspective. Florida: Art and Culture Center of Hollywood, Florida, 1984.

Harrison, Helen A. “Abstraction: 50 Years of Change.” New York Times, October 12, 1986, LI 23. “Three of the [American Abstract Artists] group’s earliest members—Lassaw, Slobodkina and Suzy Frelinghuysen—are still active in it, providing tangible continuity between past and present. Their ideological points may have been proven long ago, but their spirit continues to enrich abstract art in America.”

Ross, Tina. “Versatile Artist Enthralls Pupils at Book Week Presentation.” The Sun-Tattler, November 13, 1986.  “Instead of drawing or painting her illustrations, Slobodkina has used paper collages in her 21 children’s books.”

Turtle, Candace M. “Couple Gives Art to the Smithsonian.” Miami Herald, May 15, 1987.  Slobodkina is quoted in this article about the Phillip and Patricia Frost art collection.

Robichaux, Mark. “Author of Kids’ Books Makes Gift to Library.” The Miami Herald, May 12, 1988.  Slobodkina’s donation of books to the North Miami Public Library.

Gibbs, Lisa. “Moretti Awards Recognize Seven of County’s Finest.” Miami Herald, May 1989.  Slobodkina one among seven recognized for “outstanding artistic achievement or contribution to the arts.”

McCormick, Bernard. “Morettis go to Unique People who Connect.” Sun-Tattler, May 23, 1989.  Reproduces Full Steam Ahead.

Jacobs, Dan. “Shaker Heights Library hosts Russian Author.” The Sun-Press, October 4, 1990. Focuses on Slobodkina’s career as an author and illustrator.

Janowski, Tomasz. “Art as timeless as her work.” Cleveland Plain Dealer, October 4, 1990, 10E. Slobodkina’s donation of a 14 x 8 foot collage mural based on the book Sleepy ABCs to the Shaker Heights Public Library.

Harrison, Helen A. “The August Heckscher Legacy Lives On.” New York Times, October 14, 1990, LI11. Review of “A Point of View: 20th-Century American Art from a Long Island Collection.”

Mecklenburg, Virginia M., “Esphyr Slobodkina.” In The Patricia and Phillip Frost Collection: American Abstraction 1930-1945, National Museum of American Art. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1990, pp.167-173.

Rubenstein, Charlotte Streifer, American Women Sculptors. Boston: G.K. Hall & Co., 1990, pp.306-308.

Strickler, Susan E. and Elaine D. Gustafson, The Second Wave: American Abstraction of the 1930s and 1940s. Massachusetts: Worcester Art Museum, 1991, pp. 78-79.

Pierson, Maria. “Esphyr Slobodkina Brings the Arts to All Ages.” Cultural Quarterly 5, no. 1 (Winter 1992): 13-15. Feature article focusing on her career as an author and illustrator.

Silver, Joanne. “One Artist–Many Visions. Russian Immigrant Runs the Gamut from Impressionist Painting to Sculpture.” The Boston-Herald, February 7, 1992, S21. Review of the exhibition “The Life and Art of Esphyr Slobodkina.” Most impressive…is Slobodkina’s ability to remain herself, even while exploring the innovations of others.”

McQuaid, Cate. “Planes of Reality: Esphyr Slobodkina turns Geometry into Art.” The Boston Phoenix, February 7, 1992. Review of the exhibition “The Life and Art of Esphyr Slobodkina.” “[Slobodkina] approaches her art as an engineer would: shapes present themselves to her from her unconscious, but she treats them as a visual riddle that must be solved, assembled with the appropriate measures of tension and harmony.”

Raynor, Vivien. “Two Different Approaches to 20^th Century Works.” New York Times, June 21, 1992,  WC18. Review of the exhibition  “Federation” at the Hunts Point headquarters of Krasdale Foods.

Rife, Susan L. “The Persistence of Abstraction.” The Wichita Eagle, August 23, 1992.  Review of exhibition at Ulrich Museum. Reproduces Circuit No.1. Slobodkina referred to as “a Siberian immigrant generally regarded as one of America’s first female abstract artists.” Curator James Gross quoted as saying that “Esphyr’s work is a forerunner of lyrical abstraction, a playful, cubistic type of abstraction.”

Cotter, Holland. “Wolfing Down Modernism Whole.” New York Times, December 11, 1992.  Review of “The Life and Art of Esphyr Slobodkina” and “Esphyr Slobodkina and Friends.” “In this fast company, Ms. Slobodkina neither stands out nor fades back, and that seems to be an accurate assessment of her place in the art of her time. But there is no lovelier painting at Snyder than her little ‘Swan Lake.’

Braff, Phyllis. “What Togetherness in Studios Produces.” New York Times, April 18, 1993, LI14. Review of exhibition “Intimates and Confidants in Art: Husbands, Wives, Lovers and Friends” at the Nassau County Museum of Art.

Koplos, Janet. “Esphyr Slobodkina at Mishkin Gallery, Baruch College.” Art in America (May 1993). Review of the exhibition “The Life and Art of Esphyr Slobodkina.”  Reproduces Composition in an Oval. Slobodkina is “someone who embraced the sheer pleasure of manipulating forms and colors and shapes in every aspect of living.”

Cotter, Holland. “Miro and New York 1930-50.” New York Times, November 19, 1993, C30. Review of “Miro and New York 1930-1950” at theWashburn Gallery, which includes “delightful works by Esphyr Slobodkina.”

Chen, Lena. “Money Given to U of H for Children’s Room.” Hartford Courant, December 23, 1993. Slobodkina donates money towards the construction of a reading room at the University of Hartford. 

“Fables, Fantasies and Everyday Things at the Whitney.” Minuteman, October 13, 1994. Review of exhibition “Fables, Fantasies and Everyday Things: Children’s Books by Artists” at the Whitney Museum of American Art at Champion.

The Informer (University of Hartford publication), November 3, 1994, 6. Photo and brief statement about the children’s reading room and original murals by Esphyr Slobodkina.

“Exhibit of Children’s Books by Artists at Whitney Museum through Dec. 30.” Greenwich, CT Time, November 27, 1994.  Review of “Fables, Fantasies, and Everyday Things: Children’s Books by Artists.

Rembert, Virginia Pitts. “The Life and Art of Esphyr Slobodkina.” Woman’s Art Journal 15, No. 2 (Autumn 1994-Winter 1995): 52-53. Review of the catalog The Life and Art of Esphyr Slobodkina. Reproduces Sub-Zero Technology.

Marter, Joan. “Significant Others: Artist Wives of Artists by Amy J. Wolf.” Woman’s Art Journal 15, No. 2 (Autumn 1994-Winter 1995): 57-58. Review of exhibition organized by Kraushaar Galleries and accompanying catalog.

Fitzpatrick, Jackie. “A Reading Room, a Musical, for Children.” New York Times, April 23, 1995.  Opening of the reading room at University of Hartford and premier of Caps for Sale the musical.

“Also of Note.” New York Times, June 16, 1995, C26. Review of show at Snyder gallery. “Ms. Slobodkina’s work is strongest and most distinctive in paintings like the 1938 ‘Mechanics,’ where recognizable wires and screw-eyes betray the abstraction’s root in reality.”

Cotter, Holland. “1937; American Abstract Art.” New York Times, October 6, 1995, C32. Review of group show at Snyder Fine Art. Slobodkina stands out for her individuality.

Braff, Phyllis. “Stylistic Groups of the 20th Century.” New York Times, January 26, 1996, LI12. Review of group show, “American Vanguards” at the Nassau County Museum of Art.

Glueck, Grace. “Fruitful Months in the Country.” New York Times, January  3, 1997, C27. Review of MacDowell Colony exhibition, oganized by the Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, NH.

Braff, Phyllis. “Casting the Spotlight on Female Artists.” New York Times, October 5, 1997, LI C13. Review of “Art of this Century: The Women,” at the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center.

Kunis, Rena. “Artist Donates Art Collection.” Great Neck Record, November 20, 1997. Slobodkina donates 80 works to Long Island University.

“Study Center Opens at Heckscher.” Newsday, November 22, 1997.  Announcement of show “Thinking in the Abstract: The Paintings and Sculpture of Esphyr Slobodkina” and opening of the Esphyr Slobodkina Research and Study Center.

Polsky, Carol. “A Pioneer’s Gift to the Heckscher.” Newsday, January 2, 1998, B3. Review of “Thinking in the Abstract” at the Heckscher Museum. “The paintings and studies are beautifully precise, intricate compositions of subtle color and texture and iconography.” Slobodkina quoted characterizing her work as “abstract realist…behind each [piece] is an idea. Each has elements of realism.”

Harrison, Helen A. “Thinking in the Abstract.” New York Times, January 4, 1998.  Review of “Thinking in the Abstract” at the Heckscher Museum. Notes that Deus Ex Machina is an “outstanding example.”  “In several works, spatial ambiguity is reinforced by unnatural textures of false wood graining and fabric-lie areas, as if the surfaces had been collaged rather than painted. The consistent theme of abstraction’s realism as opposed to representation’s illusionism – a basic principle of the American Abstract Artists – has clearly sustained Ms. Slobodkina.”

Smith, Roberta. “Unknown Talent.” New York Times, May 28, 1999, E32. Review of show “Women Abstractionists of the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s,” David Findlay Jr., New York, NY.

Lewis, Jo Ann. “The Collection of a Century: Home-Grown Modernists.” The Washington Post, March 2, 2000, C1. Review of “Twentieth-Century American Art: The Ebsworth Collection.”

Harrison, Helen A. “A Dialogue in Abstract Concepts.” New York Times, October 8, 2000, LI16. Review of “Toward the New: American Abstract Artists” at the Hillwood Art Museum. “Ms. Slobodkina’s 1998 oil, Flying Objects Immobilized, does conjure up fan blades or flapping mechanical wings, complete with hinges, although the emphasis is on the geometry of the forms rather than their practical application.”

Budick, Ariella. “A Woman of Colors.” Newsday, January 5, 2001, B27. Biographical profile.

Glueck, Grace. “Art Review: From the Smithsonian, A Modern Tasting Menu.” New York Times, February 8, 2002.  Review of “Modenism and Abstraction: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum.”

-. “Esphyr Slobodkina: Diversity.” New York Times, March 8, 2002.  Review of solo exhibition “Diversity,” Kraushaar Galleries. “None of Ms. Slobodkina’s works suffer from her versatility. They are all of a creative piece, and a pleasure to behold.”

Goldman, Ari L. “Esphyr Slobodkina, Artist and Author, is Dead at 93.” New York Times, July 2002, 27 A12. Obituary.

Dodd, Kory. “Esphyr Urquhart, 93, Abstract Artist.” Newsday, August 9, 2002, A4. Obituary.

“Arts Center Art Gallery Exhibiting work by Eckstein and Slobodkina.” Great Neck Record, June 17, 2004. Review of “Two Friends” at the Great Neck Arts Center.

Greben, Deidre Stein. “Rare Portraits of the Artists: LI Sites Give a Look into the Lives of the People Behind the Masterpieces.” Newsday, August 17, 2005.  Description of the Slobodkina Foundation House.

“Esphyr Slobodkina: Personal Tributes by Ruth Eckstein and James Gross.” On Edge; American Abstract Artists Journal 5 (Fall 2006): 116-119. Reproduces Etude #2.

Books and Exhibition Catalogs, Arranged Alphabetically

American Abstract Artists. American Abstract Artists 1939. New York: American Abstract Artists, 1939. Reproduces an unknown work.

-. American Abstract Artists.  New York: Ram Press, 1946.  Reproduces Ancient Sea Song.

-. The World of Abstract Art. New York: George Wittborn, Inc., 1957.  Reproduces Oval Abstraction, p. 102.

-. American Abstract Artists 1936-1966. New York: American Abstract Artists, 1966.  Reproduces Spanned.

-. American Abstract Artists: Three Yearbooks (1938, 1939, 1946). New York: Arno Press, 1969. 

-. American Abstract Artists 50th Anniversary Print Portfolio. New York: American Abstract Artists, 1987.  Reproduces Variation in Black and White.

American Abstract Artists: The Language of Abstraction. New York: American Abstract Artists, 1979. Reproduces Chopsticks Construction.

American Abstract Artists 50th Anniversary Celebration. New York: The Bronx Museum of the Arts and Hillwood Art Gallery, 1986.  Reproduces Abstraction with Red Circle and Untitled.

American Abstract Artists 60th Anniversary Exhibition. New Jersey: Kean College, 1995.  Reproduces Composition with Perforated Surfaces.

American Modernism: 1930s and 1940s Abstraction. New York: David Findlay Jr., 2001.  Reproduces Mondrian’s Favorite.

Aspects of American Abstraction 1930-1942. New York: Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, 1993.  Reproduces Abstraction with Red Circle, p. 7.

Bader, Barbara. American Picturebooks from Noah’s Ark to The Beast Within. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1976. 

Black + White: A Selection of 20^th  Century Drawings and Prints. New York: Kraushaar Galleries, 2007. Reproduces Inner Works.

Blazier, Wendy. Esphyr Slobodkina: An Introspective. Florida: Art and Culture Center of Hollywood, Florida, 1984. 

Buckley, Charles E. The Ebsworth Collection: American Modernism 1911-1947. St. Louis, MO: St. Louis Art Museum, 1987.  Reproduces Ancient Sea Song.

Community of Creativity: A Century of MacDowell Colony Artists. Manchester, NH: Currier Gallery of Art, 1996.  Reproduces Composition in an Oval.

Conaty, Siobhan M. Art of this Century: The Women.  East Hampton, NY: Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center, 1997.  Reproduces Desert Moon.

Eight By Eight: American Abstract Painting Since 1940. Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1945.  Reproduces Ancient Sea Song.

Evolution in Abstraction: Antecedents and Descendents. New York: D. Wigmore Fine Art, 2005. Reproduces Monochrome in Pink and Small Orange Abstraction.

Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors 1955-1956. New York: Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors, 1955.  Reproduces Monochrome in Beige.

Fables, Fantasies, and Everyday Things: Children’s Books By Artists. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1994. 

Fischer, Peter B. Defining the Edge: Selections from the Collection of Dr. Peter B. Fischer.  New York: Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, 1998.  Reproduces Biomorphic in Mustard and Abstraction with Turquoise Background.

In Celebration of Age: Twentieth Century Artists in their Seventies and Eighties. Miami, FL: Frances Wolfson Art Gallery, Miami-Dade Community College, 1982.  Reproduces Sketch for Looking Backwards.

Knott, Robert. American Abstract Art of the 1930s and 1940s: The J. Donald Nichols Collection. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1998.  Reproduces Biomorphic in Mustard, Mechanics, Peacock Garden, and Desert Moon.

Lane, John R. and Susan C. Larsen, editors. Abstract Painting and Sculpture in America 1927-1944. Pittsburgh, PA: Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute, 1983. Slobodkina essay on p. 221. Reproduces Ancient Sea Song, p. 137 and Construction No. 3, p. 222.

Late Nineteenth & Twentieth-Century American Masters. New York: Sid Deutsch Gallery, 1989. Reproduces Irish Elegy.

Marcus, Leonard S. Margaret Wise Brown: Awakened by the Moon. New York: Perennial, 2001. 

-. The Picture Book Made New: Margaret Wise Brown and Her Illustrators. Amherst, MA: The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, 2005. 

McCarthy, Gerard. World Artists at the Millenium. Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, 1999.  Reproduces Queen Iliana.

McClintic, Miranda. Modernism and Abstraction: Treasures from the Smithsonian’s Museum of American Art. New York: Watson-Guptill in association with the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2001.  Reproduces Crossroads No.2.

Mecklenburg, Virginia M. The Patricia and Phillip Frost Collection: American Abstraction 1930-1945. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1990. Essay on Slobodkina, pp.167-173.

Michael Rosenfeld Gallery: The First Decade, Celebrating 10 Years Specializing in 20^th Century American Art. New York: Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, 2000.  Reproduces The Sky, the Land, and the Sea, p. 53.

Miro and New York, 1930-50. New York: Washburn Gallery, 1993. 

Nakamura. Joyce, editor. Something About the Author Autobiography Series, Volume 8. Detroit, MI: Gale Research Inc., 1989. An abridged version of Slobodkina’s autobiography is reproduced on pp. 275-298.

1937: American Abstract Art September 8 – October 28, 1995. New York: Snyder Fine Art, 1995. Reproduces Mural Sketch #1.

The Persistence of Abstraction: American Abstract Artists Fifty-Sixth Annual Exhibition. Wichita, KS: Edwin A. Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University, 1992.  Reproduces Circuit # I, Circuit  #II, and Circuit # III.

Pioneers of Abstract Art: American Abstract Artists 1936-1996. New York: Sidney Mishkin Gallery, 1996. Reproduces Untitled, American Abstract Artists Portfolio.

Progressive Geometric Abstraction in America, 1934-1955: Selections from the Peter B. Fischer Collection. Clinton, New York: Fred L. Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College, 1987.  Reproduces Biomorphic in Mustard.

Ramet, Sabrina P. and Gordana P. Crnkovic. Kazaaam! Splat! Ploof! The American Impact on European Popular Culture since 1945. Lanham, Boulder, New York, Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2003. 

Robinson, Mary B. Modern Masters: Women of the First Generation. Rutgers: The State University of New Jersey, 1982.  Biography of Slobodkina, p. 20.

Rose, Barbara. American Abstract Artists; The Early Years, Part I. New York: American Abstract Artists, 1980. Reproduces Boat Abstraction and Still Life with Chair.

Rubinstein, Charlotte Streifer. American Women Sculptors. Boston: G.K. Hall & Co., 1990. See pp. 306-308. Reproduces The Derelict, p. 307.

Schwartz, Constance. Intimates and Confidants in Art: Husbands, Wives, Lovers and Friends, February 28-May 23, 1993, Nassau County Museum of Art. Roslyn Harbor, New York: Nassau County Museum of Art, 1993.  Reproduces Toys in the Attic and Irish Elegy.

Silvey, Anita. 100 Best Books for Children. Boston and New York: A Frances Tenenbaum Book, 2004. 

Silvey, Anita, ed. The Essential Guide to Children’s Books and their Creators. Boston and New York: A Frances Tenenbaum Book, 2002. 

Stavitsky, Gail and Elizabeth Wylie. The Life and Art of Esphyr Slobodkina. Medford, Massachusetts: Tufts University Art Gallery, 1992. 

Strickler, Susan E. and Elaine D. Gustafson. The Second Wave: American Abstraction of the 1930s and 1940s, Selections from the Penny and Elton Yasuna Collection. Worcester, MA: Worcester Art Museum, 1991. See pp. 78-79; reproduces Red Line.

Tegen, Katherine Brown. HarperCollins Treasury of Picture Book Classics. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2002.  Reproduces pages from Caps for Sale.

Thomas J. Dodd Research Center. Tikvah: Children’s Book Creators Reflect on Human Rights. New York: SeaStar Books, 1999. 

Urban and Suburban America, 26 March-27 April 1988. New York: Sid Deutsch Gallery, 1988. 

The Uses of Geometry Then and Now. New York: Snyder Fine Art, 1993.  Reproduces Ancient Music.

Who’s Who in American Art 1991-1992.  New York: R.R. Bowker, 1991, p. 1041.

Cotter, Holland. “Wolfing Down Modernism Whole.” New York Times. December 11, 1992.

Budick, Ariella. “A Woman of Colors.” Newsday. January 5, 2001.

Glueck, Grace. “Esphyr Slobodkina: Diversity.” New York Times. March 8, 2002.