The Early Years: 1905–1947
Unlike many other female artists, due to the support and encouragement of her husband Edward, Libbie Mark was able to paint, take classes, and participate in exhibitions, free of financial concerns…In addition, a basement studio allowed her to paint and be available for her children until they went to college. Her personal situation provided an opportunity, but to be clear: this is not a case of a comfortable housewife with a hobby.
Emerging Artist: 1948–1956
In 1948, Mark began taking courses at the Great Neck Adult Education (GNAE) fine arts program. By 1955, one of Mark’s instructors, Betty Holliday Deckoff, was the GNAE program coordinator. Deckoff had studied with Vaclav Vytlacil at the Art Students League, and was a former editorial associate at ARTnews. At GNAE, Deckoff hired other prominent New York artists to teach, many of whom she knew from her time at ARTnews, including Nell Blaine, Helen Frankenthaler, Grace Hartigan, Louise Nevelson, Fairfield Porter, and Larry Rivers.
Beginning in December 1956, through the following May, Mark took “Life Drawing, Painting and Composition” classes at the Art Students League with Vytlacil, Hans Hofmann’s former student and assistant. At the Art Students League, Mark also likely met many other influential teachers, including Vytlacil’s prominent colleagues Will Barnet, Edwin Dickinson, George Grosz, William Zorach, and others on staff at that time. Mark’s connections and courses at the Art Students League subsequently led her to study with Hofmann in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
A Pivotal Time: The Late ’50s
“Dear Sir:
It will be my honor and privilege to study with you at Provincetown this summer if you will accept me as an applicant.
I am at present studying with Mr. Vytlacil at the Art Students League and am encouraged by his comments on my work to seek the further advantages of studying with you…”
Mark attended Hans Hofmann’s final summer school session in Provincetown, from July 1, 1957 through the end of August. Mark’s classmates that summer included Red Grooms and Helen Levitt; many other artists such as Milton Avery, Adolph Gottlieb, Allan Kaprow, and Mark Rothko also worked in Provincetown that summer.
Following her class with Hofmann, Mark continued her study with Vytlacil at the Art Students League from September 1957 to March 1958, and returned to Provincetown that summer.
Also in 1958, the Marks rented an apartment at 35 East 85th Street, fully transitioning from Great Neck. Around 1959, they moved to 176 East 71st Street and eventually rented a separate studio unit in the same building, which she kept until her death. Dena [Rubinstein], whose studio was in the East 85th Street building, photographed Mark in her East 71st Street studio. Dena subsequently photographed Willem De Kooning, Dorothy Dehner, Edwin Dickinson, Charles “Red” Grooms, Chaim Gross, Robert Motherwell, George Segal, Raphael Soyer, Andy Warhol, and others.
Exhibiting in the ’60s
Mark had begun using collaged elements in a few pieces from the mid–1950s but by the early 1960s she almost exclusively incorporated paint and other materials on paper, Masonite, or canvas, to build heavily textured surfaces. Mark was among many artists working with collage during this time.
In May 1962 Libbie Mark: Paintings and Collages, opened at Knapik Gallery in New York City. Knapik also exhibited Sidney Delevante, Irving Lehman, and Ben Wilson around this time. ARTnews, France-Amérique, Manhattan East, New York Herald Tribune, and New York Journal-American reviewed Mark’s show:
“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.” –Jill Johnston in ARTnews
“Considering the technique used in many of these collages, Miss Mark’s spontaneity is all the more remarkable…These paintings are assuredly the work of a mature, imaginative, and dynamic artist.” –Jane Jaffe in Manhattan East
Nathan Rabin photographs Mark surrounded by her paintings at Knapik. Rabin works extensively for artists and collectors, such as William N. Copley, Lucien Goldschmidt, Claes Oldenburg, and Serge Sabarsky.
Probably in 1962 or 1963, Mark joined the Vectors artist group, whose 6th Annual Exhibition opened at the Riverside Museum in January of 1963. This was likely Mark’s first of at least six exhibitions with the artists group. Delevante, Lehman, and Wilson were also Vectors members around this time.
Founded in 1957, the Vectors name signified “directional guides to various modes of expression from figurative to non-objective work.” Like other collectives before and since, the Vectors utilized different kinds of spaces as accessible alternatives to the traditional gallery. The group revisited venues known for their arts programming, among them the 92nd Street Y, Spencer Memorial Church, and the New York Public Library’s Donnell Library Center (at the time located across from the Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of Contemporary Crafts, and behind the Whitney Museum of American Art).
A Life Cut Short: Early ‘70s
The extent and duration of Mark’s artistic activity, the quality of the work, the clear drive, and the related life decisions that made it happen, demonstrate her serious commitment to her art. From the Great Neck Adult Education fine arts program to the Art Students League to Provincetown, Mark created art in some of the United States’ most significant artistic communities. She continued to spend summers in Provincetown until 1971 and painted until her death in 1972. An understudied but important artist, Mark succumbed to lung cancer at age 66 in New York, NY, leaving well over a hundred artworks in her family’s possession, and countless others in private collections.
