Exhibitions & Art Fairs
Dallas Art Fair 2024
Collage Painting #62-73, 1962. Acrylic and paper collage on canvas, 36 1/4 x 30 in.; LMPF Inv. No. 08J; Berry Campbell Gallery Inv. No. MARK-00014
Dallas Art Fair 2024, April 4–7, 2024, Dallas, TX
LA Art Show, 2024
Untitled Collage Painting, c. 1965. Acrylic and paper collage on canvas. 36 1/4 x 24 1/8 in.; LMPF Inv. No. 20R; Berry Campbell Gallery Inv. No. MARK-00020.
LA Art Show, 2024, February 14-18, 2024, Los Angeles, CA
Daphne Alazraki Fine Art booth
Art Palm Beach, 2024
Untitled Collage Painting, c. 1965. Acrylic and paper collage on canvas. 36 1/4 x 24 1/8 in.; LMPF Inv. No. 20R; Berry Campbell Gallery Inv. No. MARK-00020.
Art Palm Beach, 2024, January 24-28, 2024, Palm Beach, FL
Daphne Alazraki Fine Art booth
Perseverence, 2024
Untitled Collage Painting, ca. 1965; Acrylic and paper collage on canvas; 16 x 12 in. LMPF Inv. no. 27R; Berry Campbell Gallery inv. no. MARK-00023.
Perseverance, January 4–February 3, 2024. Berry Campbell Gallery, New York, NY
Recent Gifts to the Permanent Collection, 2023–2024
Libbie Mark painting at center. Photo courtesy of James Zimmerman, Provincetown Art Association and Museum; Maud Morgan (left) and Judith Rothschild (right) artworks courtesy of PAAM.
Recent Gifts to the Permanent Collection, November 17, 2023–February 11, 2024. Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown, MA
Collage: Selections from Post-War Women, 2023
Libbie Mark painting at center. Photo courtesy of Rosenberg & Co., New York; Perle Fine artworks (left and right) courtesy of Berry Campbell, New York.
Collage: Selections from Post-War Women, July 25–September 15, 2023. Rosenberg & Co. Gallery, New York, NY
Intersect Aspen, 2023
Untitled Collage Painting, ca. 1965; Acrylic and paper collage on Masonite; 24 x 15 7/8 in. LMPF Inv. no. 14JM; Berry Campbell Gallery inv. no. MARK-00010; Private Collection
Intersect Aspen 2023, August 1–4, 2023. Aspen, CO
Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary, 2023
Collage Painting #4 or #5, 1964; Acrylic and paper collage on Masonite; 30 x 24 in. LMPF Inv. no. 48JM; Berry Campbell Gallery inv. no. MARK-00008; Private Collection
Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary 2023, March 23–26, 2023. West Palm Beach, FL
Women and Abstraction: 1741–Now, 2023
Libbie Mark painting at far right. Photo courtesy of Julia Featheringill, Addison Gallery of American Art; Joan Mitchell, Grace Hartigan, and Jackie Saccoccio artworks (left to right) courtesy of AGAA.
Women and Abstraction: 1741–Now. January 28–July 30, 2023. Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA
Art of the Abstract Mark: Libbie Mark’s Collage Paintings and Other Works, 1950s–1960s, 2022
A panoramic view of the 2022 Libbie Mark exhibition at the National Arts Club in New York City. Photo courtesy of Jennifer Uhrhane.
Art of the Abstract Mark: Libbie Mark’s Collage Paintings and Other Works, 1950s–1960s. January 18–February 25, 2022. National Arts Club, New York, NY
11th Annual Exhibition, 1967
Manufacturers Hanover Trust Vectors Eleventh Annual Exhibition postcard, 1967. Ben and Evelyn Wilson Papers, George Segal Gallery, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ.
Vectors 11th Annual Exhibition, October 9–27, 1967. Manufacturers Hanover Trust, New York, NY
A Group Exhibition of Contemporary Painting and Sculpture, 1964
Spencer Memorial Gallery Vectors Group Exhibition of Contemporary Painting and Sculpture postcard, 1964. Ben and Evelyn Wilson Papers, George Segal Gallery, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ.
Vectors A Group Exhibition of Contemporary Painting and Sculpture, November 22–December 21, 1964. Spencer Memorial Gallery, Brooklyn Heights, NY
8th Annual Exhibition, 1964
New York University Contemporary Arts Gallery Vectors 8th Annual Exhibition postcard, 1964. Inv. no. ARCHJM-054. Libbie Mark Provincetown Fund Collection.
Vectors 8th Annual Exhibition, October 9–23, 1964. Contemporary Arts Gallery, Loeb Student Center, New York University, NY
7th Annual Exhibition, 1963
92nd Street Y Kaufmann Art Gallery Vectors 7th Annual Exhibition postcard, 1963. Anne Helioff artist file, Woodstock Artists Association & Museum Archives, Woodstock, NY.
Vectors 7th Annual Exhibition, November 22–December 6, 1963. YMHA Kaufmann Auditorium (92nd St Y), New York, NY
6th Annual Exhibition, 1963
Riverside Museum Vectors 6th Annual Exhibition postcard, 1963. Ben and Evelyn Wilson Papers, George Segal Gallery, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ.
Vectors 6th Annual Exhibition, January 13–February 3, 1963. Riverside Museum, New York, NY
Libbie Mark: Paintings and Collages, 1962
Libbie Mark at Knapik Gallery, 1962. Inv. no. ARCHJM–019. Libbie Mark Provincetown Fund Collection. ©Nathan Rabin Archive, Department of Image Collections, National Gallery of Art Library, Washington, DC.
Libbie Mark: Paintings and Collages. May 16–June 2, 1962. Knapik Gallery, New York, NY
Press/Reviews
Art New England, 2023
Canney, Maureen. “Women and Abstraction: 1741-Now at Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy.” Art New England Vol. 44, No. 3 (May/June 2023): 77.
Excerpt:
The late artist Libbie Mark is also on display. Mark went virtually unrecognized during her life and is only now, some 50 years later, receiving attention for her distinctive plays on color and texture. Jennifer Uhrhane, the curator and consultant to the Libbie Mark Provincetown Fund, notes Mark treated her paintings as if they were her children. “I would hope that her getting some attention now for this work, would be gratifying. One of the disadvantages to her artistic vision was being a woman in the ’50s; she was not given the opportunity to show as much as the men did. There were a number of things that didn’t quite help her get that attention when she was alive. Now she is getting recognized.” Uhrhane is quick to respond that Mark would not want to be recognized with the caveat of being a female artist. “We don’t want to separate women from the narrative as we have in the past. However now the catch-up is happening, we are now filling in the holes that so many museums and curators are starting to recognize are present. [Curator Gordon] Wilkins is trying to show such a wide range of artists to give them all that well-deserved attention.”
Artnet News, 2022
Cascone, Sarah. “Editors’ Picks: 13 Events for Your Art Calendar.” Artnet News (February 1, 2022).
Excerpt:
“Art of the Abstract Mark: Libbie Mark’s Collage Paintings and Other Works, 1950s–1960s” at the National Arts Club, New York
The National Arts Club shines the spotlight on Libbie Mark (1905–1972), a student at Hans Hofmann’s school and the New York Art Students League with her first solo show in 60 years. Despite bursting onto the scene with a critically acclaimed 1962 solo show at Knapik Gallery in Manhattan, she remains an under-recognized member of the Abstract Expressionist movement—definitely an artist worthy of revisiting and ripe for rediscovery.
Our Town, 2022
Randall, Virge. “Libbie Mark at the National Arts Club: Re-introducing a woman Abstract Expressionist painter who defied stereotypes.” Our Town: Downtown (January 27, 2022).
Randall, Virge. “Libbie Mark at the National Arts Club: Re-introducing a woman Abstract Expressionist painter who defied stereotypes.” Our Town: Upper East Side (January 27, 2022).
Excerpt:
This tightly packed show at the National Arts Club (only about 24 works jointly selected by the NAC and the Libbie Mark Provincetown Fund), is a distillation of her work at her most productive period, the late 50s and early 60s. The art scene was brimming with excitement and innovation, and many of Mark’s works fairly burst with excitement and verve.
Her works challenge the viewers. The canvases range from works on linen to work on watercolor paper or even cardboard. Many incorporate tissue paper collage. In other works, the paint is as thickly applied as any Van Gogh. The paintings come in all sizes and colors. All but two are untitled, leaving the viewer with little to grasp except what is in the works themselves, by their own perceptions and imagination.
The Spirit, 2022
Randall, Virge. “Libbie Mark at the National Arts Club: Re-introducing a woman Abstract Expressionist painter who defied stereotypes.” The Spirit: Upper West Side (January 27, 2022).
Excerpt:
This tightly packed show at the National Arts Club (only about 24 works jointly selected by the NAC and the Libbie Mark Provincetown Fund), is a distillation of her work at her most productive period, the late 50s and early 60s. The art scene was brimming with excitement and innovation, and many of Mark’s works fairly burst with excitement and verve.
Her works challenge the viewers. The canvases range from works on linen to work on watercolor paper or even cardboard. Many incorporate tissue paper collage. In other works, the paint is as thickly applied as any Van Gogh. The paintings come in all sizes and colors. All but two are untitled, leaving the viewer with little to grasp except what is in the works themselves, by their own perceptions and imagination.
The Provincetown Independent, 2022
Staff, “Arts Briefs for Jan 20 through Jan 26: The Collage Paintings of Libbie Mark.” The Provincetown Independent (January 19, 2022).
Excerpt:
In the male-dominated narrative of mid-20th-century abstract expressionism, Libbie Mark’s name is often forgotten. The exhibition “Art of the Abstract Mark: Libbie Mark’s Collage Paintings and Other Works, 1950s-1960s” at the National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South in New York City, is an attempt to correct that.
Mark, who died in 1972 at age 66, was involved in the vibrant milieu of art communities in New York and Provincetown during the ’50s and ’60s. She studied with Hans Hofmann and Vaclav Vytlacil at the Art Students League and maintained a friendship with Grace Hartigan. She summered in Provincetown up until a year before her death.
The work, though of its time, retains a contemporary primacy, with a graphic fusion of collage alongside gestural, swinging strokes to rival Motherwell’s. Visit nationalartsclub.org for more info.
The Village Sun, 2022
Staff, “Considering Black Americana, and revisiting an Abstract Expressionist at the National Arts Club.” The Village Sun (January 12, 2022).
Excerpt:
“Art of the Abstract Mark: Libbie Mark’s Collage Paintings and Other Works, 1950s-1960s,” will be on view from Jan. 18 through Feb. 25.
Libbie Mark (1905-1972) was a familiar figure in the art communities of New York City and Provincetown in the 1950s and ’60s. She studied at Hans Hofmann’s school and with Vaclav Vytlacil at the Art Students League, and had connections with Grace Hartigan.
Absorbing the impulses and energy of her time, Mark stood out. A 1962 solo show at Knapik Gallery in Manhattan garnered enthusiastic reviews from ARTnews and the Herald Tribune. Her exhibition activity continued as she showed with the Vectors artists’ group throughout the 1960s.
Almost 80 years after World War II, Abstract Expressionism and its dominant stars, mostly male, continue to hold power to stimulate, provoke and inspire. Simultaneously, time’s ability to cool and clarify is opening the way to re-narration. Although Mark’s life was cut short, her commitment, intellect and self-assurance remain a tribute to her creative endurance and offer us a body of work with a freshness and verve rarely seen today. The Libbie Mark Provincetown Fund is co-sponsoring the exhibition.
France-Amérique, 1962
Saint-Evremond, ?. “Libbie Mark chez Knapik.” France-Amérique (June 17, 1962): 15.
Excerpt:
(translated): Libbie Mark lets herself be taken by the moment, seduced by the creative space that it gives her permission to inhabit.
This is why we find a bit of everything in her abstract compositions, which are alternately dark and joyful. Together, the works enliven the little gallery with a healthy dose of artistic energy.
Her collages, too, are at once remarkable and discreet, where she succeeds in merging and marrying dissimilarities in ways that subtly denote that she is both a person of taste and an artist in love with her chosen profession.
ARTnews, 1962
J. J. (Johnston, Jill). “Reviews and previews: New names this month.” ARTnews 61 (May 1962): 18.
Excerpt:
Libbie Mark [Knapik; May 15-June 2] shows small to medium oils with paper collage elements. One is a high-toned noonday picture dominated by a central red that tornadoes up into yellow, surrounded by green and blue-grey. Another abstraction has a midnight carnival flavor in its deep purples and blues sparked with red and surprises of veiny greens. Prices unquoted.
Manhattan East, 1962
Jaffe, Jane. “News and Views of the Galleries: Mark at Knapik.” Manhattan East (May 24, 1962): 4.
Excerpt:
Mark at Knapik. An exhibit of oil paintings and collages by Libbie Mark is on display at the Knapik Gallery through June 2. Miss [sic] Mark’s handsome abstractions, high textured and rich in color brilliance, show a profound and vividly sensuous response to visual experience. Areas of Prussian and Cerulean blue offset deep purples and wine reds. Chromatic variations of reds and pinks interweave, revealing minor color shocks and the mottled texture of dulled silver-foil. In one semi-abstract flower still-life, color diffuses in small bright dabs, but the overall effect is scintillating. Considering the technique used in many of these collages, Miss [sic] Mark’s spontaneity is all the more remarkable. With a foundation of acrylic paint, varied types of tissue-thin paper are glued onto a gessoed masonite board to form interesting transparencies of color and texture. These paintings are assuredly the work of a mature, imaginative, and dynamic artist.
New York Herald Tribune, 1962
Gruen, John. “Art Tour.” New York Herald Tribune (May 19, 1962): 11.
Excerpt:
Libbie Mark (Knapik, 1470 First Ave.): This first one-woman exhibition is of educated non-objective oils and collages.
New York Journal-American, 1962
Levick, L. E. “Gallery Guide.” New York Journal-American (May 19, 1962): 7.
Excerpt:
At Knapik, 1470 1st ave., near 77th st., Libbie Mark’s colorful paintings and collages have no titles, so you play a numbers game, and two good bets are 19 and 20 – a green-grey moody “landscape” and a red-blue Oriental “garden.” Amidst “just more” abstract expressionist paintings, many semi-abstract gems sparkle.
Publications
Jennifer Uhrhane, Robert Seyffert, Robert Yahner. Art of the Abstract Mark: Libbie Mark’s Collage Paintings and Other Works, 1950s–1960s. Exh. cat. January 18–February 25, 2022 (New York, NY: Libbie Mark Provincetown Fund and National Arts Club, 2002). Catalogue Available
Collections
Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA
Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown, MA
Numerous private collections
Programming
Marter, Dr. Joan M. and Jennifer Uhrhane. “Art of the Abstract Mark: Libbie Mark’s Collage Paintings and Other Works, 1950s-1960s.” Gallery talk sponsored by Libbie Mark Provincetown Fund, National Arts Club, February 16, 2022, New York, NY. YouTube video, 58:09.
