© Jennifer Uhrhane
Libbie Mark was a member of the Vectors, a remarkably understudied but fascinating New York artists group. So far, research shows a membership list spanning ten years that consisted of twenty–three artists, including two married couples. Despite turnover, the group featured strong female representation. Notably, seven of the original 1957 roster of ten were women (fig. 1), and in eight of nine exhibitions documented with listed participants, over fifty percent were female.1 This is especially meaningful at a time when women were not as recognized or given as much exposure as men (a recurring problem).
Fig. 1. 92nd Street Y Kaufmann Art Gallery Vectors Art Exhibition postcard, 1957. Rhoda Sklar Platt Papers, Collection Judith and Selina Trepp.
Vectors members between 1957 and 1967 were:
Sophie [Sophia Miller] Corwin (1915–1999)+
Sidney Delevante (1894–1984)
Theodore Fuchs (1911–1999)
Helen Gerardia (1903–1988)*
Mary Heisig (1913–1966)*
Anne [Graile] Helioff [Hirschberg] (1910–2001)
Robert Laden (1931–2019)+
Irving Lehman (1900–1983)
Frances Manacher (1914–2013)*+
Libbie Mark (1905–1972)+
Sylvia Rutkoff (1919–2011)
Julius Shaier (1910–2000)+
Mary Shaier (1905–1971)*+
Rhoda Sklar [Platt] (1914–2004)*+
Ida Somkin (1906–2000)
Miriam Sommerburg (1900–1980)*
Ethel Stein (1917–2018)
John Stoehrer (1910–1999)
Ben Wilson (1913–2001)*
Evelyn O. [Perlman] Wilson (1915–2006)*
Vladimir Yoffe (1911–1997)*
Abe Yurberg (1912–2013)*
+ Provincetown connection: gallery, summer resident, institutional collection, other (research incomplete)
The Vectors’ first exhibition was in October 1957 at the 92nd Street Y, as documented in official correspondence between Vectors secretary Mary Shaier and the Y’s educational department regarding a second exhibition there in 1963 (fig. 2). This correspondence also included a checklist (fig. 3) and advertising copy (fig. 4). The most recent Vectors’ show identified so far was their Eleventh Annual Exhibition in October 1967 (fig. 5) at the Manufacturers Hanover Trust bank, which collected art and regularly hosted art exhibits. The catalog stated:
In 1957 a group of artists with mutual respect for each other’s creativity decided to exhibit together. They gave themselves the name, “Vectors”—directional guides to various modes of expression from figurative to non–objective work.2
Fig. 2. Letter from Mary Shaier, Vectors secretary, to Aaron Berkman, 92nd Street Y Education Department, May 13, 1963. 92nd Street Y Archives, New York, NY.
Fig. 3. 92nd Street Y Kaufmann Art Gallery Vectors 7th Annual Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture checklist, November 1963. 92nd Street Y Archives, New York, NY.
Fig. 4. 92nd Street Y Kaufmann Art Gallery Vectors 7th Annual Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture advertising copy and correspondence, November 1963. 92nd Street Y Archives, New York, NY.
Fig. 5. Manufacturers Hanover Trust Vectors Eleventh Annual Exhibition postcard, 1967. Ben and Evelyn Wilson Papers, George Segal Gallery, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ.
Fig. 6. Manufacturers Hanover Trust Vectors Eleventh Annual Exhibition catalog, 1967. Ben and Evelyn Wilson Papers, George Segal Gallery, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ.
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, like the 92nd Street Y4 and the New York Public Library’s Donnell Library Center.5 The library, which also had a purposefully substantial art book collection, opened in 1955 across from the Museum of Modern Art and the former Museum of Contemporary Crafts, and behind the Whitney Museum of American Art.6 The Vectors also exhibited three times at the Riverside Museum. Their first show there, in 1959, was reviewed by Dore Ashton in the New York Times:
…at the Riverside Museum is an exhibition of paintings and sculpture by the Vectors group. Highlights include Ben Wilson’s dry, wiry abstractions in which figurative motifs are secreted; Mary Heisig’s wistful casein views of rocks and sea; Mary Shaier’s abstractions; and Frances Manacher’s dusky symbolic paintings…7
Vectors exhibit dates, venues (New York City unless specified otherwise), and participating artists documented so far are:
October 7–31, 1957 (fig. 1)
Vectors Art Exhibition (first exhibition)
Kaufmann Art Gallery/YMHA Kaufmann Auditorium (92nd Street Y), 1395 Lexington Avenue
Gerardia, Heisig, Manacher, M. Shaier, Sklar, Sommerburg, B. Wilson, E. Wilson, Yoffe, Yurberg
7 of the 10 exhibitors were women
December 12, 1958–January 1, 1959 10 (fig. 7)
Vectors Art Exhibition
Women’s City Club of NY, 277 Park Avenue
Gerardia, Heisig, Manacher, M. Shaier, Sklar, Sommerburg, B. Wilson, E. Wilson, Yoffe, Yurberg
7 of the 10 exhibitors were women
Fig. 7. On the Agenda XVI, no. 2 (December 1958): 1-2. The Records of the Women’s City Club of New York, Inc., d.b.a. Women Creating Change, 1915-2011, Box 61, Folder 4, Archives & Special Collections, Hunter College Libraries, Hunter College of the City University of New York, New York City.
May 3–24, 1959 (fig. 8)
Vectors Paintings and Sculpture
Riverside Museum, 310 Riverside Drive
Gerardia, Heisig, Manacher, M. Shaier, Sklar, Sommerburg, B. Wilson, E. Wilson, Yoffe, Yurberg
7 of the 10 exhibitors were women
Fig. 8. Riverside Museum Vectors Paintings and Sculpture postcard, 1959. Ben and Evelyn Wilson Papers, George Segal Gallery, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ.
October 2–23, 1960 (fig. 9)
Vectors Recent Paintings and Sculpture
Riverside Museum, 310 Riverside Drive
Delevante, Fuchs, Gerardia, Heisig, Lehman, M. Shaier, Sklar, Stein, Stoehrer, B. Wilson, E. Wilson, Yoffe, Yurberg
6 of the 13 exhibitors were women
Fig. 9. Riverside Museum Vectors Recent Painting and Sculpture postcard, 1960. Irving Lehman Papers, Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries.
September 17–30, 1961 (approximately)11
Vectors Exhibition
Donnell Library Center, NY Public Library, 20 West 53rd Street
no artists or exhibition postcard documented yet
January 13–February 3, 1963 (fig. 10)
6th Annual Exhibition
Riverside Museum, 310 Riverside Drive
Fuchs, Gerardia, Heisig, Lehman, Mark, M. Shaier, Sklar, Stein, B. Wilson, E. Wilson, Yoffe, Yurberg
7 of the 12 exhibitors were women
Fig. 10. Riverside Museum Vectors 6th Annual Exhibition postcard, 1963. Ben and Evelyn Wilson Papers, George Segal Gallery, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ.
November 22–December 6, 1963 (fig. 11)
7th Annual Exhibition
Kaufmann Art Gallery/YMHA Kaufmann Auditorium (92nd Street Y), 1395 Lexington Avenue
Corwin, Fuchs, Gerardia, Heisig, Lehman, Mark, J. Shaier, M. Shaier, Sklar, Stein, B. Wilson, E. Wilson, Yoffe, Yurberg
8 of the 14 exhibitors were women
Fig. 11. 92nd Street Y Kaufmann Art Gallery Vectors 7th Annual Exhibition postcard, 1963. Anne Helioff artist file, Woodstock Artists Association & Museum Archives, Woodstock, NY.
July 5–31, 1964 (approximately)12
Vectors Exhibition
Donnell Library Center, NY Public Library, 20 West 53rd Street
Corwin, Fuchs, Helioff, Sklar, others
3 of the 4 exhibitors documented so far were women
no exhibition postcard documented yet
October 9–23, 1964 (fig. 12)
8th Annual Exhibition
Contemporary Arts Gallery, Loeb Student Center, New York University, 566 West Broadway
Corwin, Fuchs, Gerardia, Heisig, Helioff, Lehman, Mark, J. Shaier, M. Shaier, Sklar, B. Wilson, E. Wilson, Yoffe, Yurberg
8 of the 14 exhibitors were women
Fig. 12. New York University Contemporary Arts Gallery Vectors 8th Annual Exhibition postcard, 1964. Inv. no. ARCHJM-054. Libbie Mark Provincetown Fund Collection.
November 22–December 21, 1964 (fig. 13)
The Vectors: A Group Exhibition: Contemporary Painting and Sculpture
Spencer Memorial Gallery, Spencer Memorial Presbyterian Church, 99 Clinton Street, Brooklyn Heights, NY
Burstyn, Corwin, Fuchs, Gerardia, Heisig, Helioff, Lehman, Mark, J. Shaier, M. Shaier, Sklar, B. Wilson, E. Wilson, Yoffe, Yurberg
8 of the 15 exhibitors were women
Fig. 13. 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.
December 11–31, 1966 (approximately)13
Vectors Exhibition
Donnell Library Center, NY Public Library, 20 West 53rd Street
no artists or exhibition postcard documented yet
October 9–27, 1967 (fig. 5)
11th Annual Exhibition
Manufacturers Hanover Trust, 401 Madison Avenue
Burstyn, Corwin, Fuchs, Gerardia, Heisig, Helioff, Laden, Lehman, Mark, Rutkoff, J. Shaier, M. Shaier, Sklar, Somkin, B. Wilson, E. Wilson, Yoffe, Yurberg
10 of the 18 exhibitors were women
To date, it has been confirmed that Mark participated in five Vectors exhibitions between January 1963 and October 1967.14 Her archive, held by the Libbie Mark Provincetown Fund, contains an exhibition postcard for their 8th Annual Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture held at New York University’s Contemporary Arts Gallery (fig. 12); this was the first documentation found of Mark’s membership in the group. Her first show with the group was likely their 6th Annual Exhibition in January 1963 at the Riverside Museum (fig. 10). This Vectors involvement was very significant for her artistic career, providing important public exposure to her work following her 1962 solo show at Knapik Gallery (see 1962 Solo Exhibition feature page).
Research into this artists group continues, to determine what pieces they exhibited, how its members originally connected, and the motivations behind the group’s formation. Perhaps this was Mark’s “circle.” Beyond Mark’s archive, searches in periodicals, venue archives, institutional archives, and artist files have produced postcards, artists’ contact lists, show listings, exhibition calendars, checklists, exhibition advertisements, and institutional newsletters (see figs. 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18; more could not be reproduced here).15
Fig. 14. 92nd Street Y Kaufmann Art Gallery Vectors Art Exhibition checklist, October 1957. 92nd Street Y Archives, New York, NY.
Fig. 15. Vectors artist contact list, early 1960s?. Rhoda Sklar Platt Papers, Collection Judith and Selina Trepp.
Fig. 16. 92nd Street Y Kaufmann Art Gallery exhibition calendar, 1963–64. 92nd Street Y Archives, New York, NY.
Fig. 17. The ‘Y’ Bulletin LIX, no. 25 (March 19, 1958): 1-2 (detail). 92nd Street Y Archives, New York, NY.
Fig. 18. ‘Y’ Bulletin LXV, no. 7 (November 30, 1963): 1 (detail). 92nd Street Y Archives, New York, NY.
Fig. 19. Libbie Mark, Collage Painting #67-5, 1967. Acrylic and paper collage on canvas, 40 x 30 in. Inv. no. 03R. Libbie Mark Provincetown Fund Collection.
Fig. 20. Collage Painting #67-6, Libbie Mark 1967. Acrylic and paper collage on paper, mounted on canvas; 39 7/8 x 30 1/4 in.; Inv. no. 13JM; Private Collection
Fig. 21. Libbie Mark, Collage Painting #67-4, 1967. Acrylic and paper collage on canvas, 30 x 24 in. Inv. no. 05SM. Private Collection.
Investigations also begin to uncover how the Vectors overlap with Mark and each other in terms of employment, gallery representation, and educational institutions. Burstyn, Lehman, Somkin, B. Wilson, E. Wilson, and Yoffe were employed by the Work Projects Administration.19 Capricorn Gallery exhibited Corwin, Helioff, and Laden.20 Knapik Gallery exhibited Delevante, Lehman, Mark, and Wilson.21 Harry Salpeter Gallery exhibited Lehman, Manacher, B. Wilson, and Yurberg.22 Corwin, Delevante, Fuchs, Gerardia, Heisig, Helioff, Lehman, Mark, Rutkoff, M. Shaier, Somkin, and Stoehrer attended the Art Students League.23 Corwin, Delevante, Gerardia, Helioff, Laden, Mark, and M. Shaier attended the Hans Hofmann School of Fine Arts.24 Lehman, Stoehrer, and B. Wilson attended the National Academy of Design.25
Vectors artists were also known independently of the group. For example, Ethel Stein first worked in sculpture and later became an innovative fiber artist, but may be best identified as the maker of “Lamb Chop,” Shari Lewis’s famous hand-puppet.26 Robert Laden, besides being a sculptor, was a special effects makeup artist for television and films such as the Exorcist.27 Evelyn Wilson was Executive Vice President of Fabergé Perfumes from 1954 to 1963.28
This essay simply reintroduces the Vectors to the art world. Certainly the group requires further research and would be an interesting subject for an exhibition. Please contact the Libbie Mark Provincetown Fund if you have further information on the Vectors.
Endnotes
1. Postcard, Vectors Art Exhibition, October 7–31, 1957, YMHA Kaufmann Auditorium (now 92nd Street Y), New York, NY, Rhoda Sklar Platt Papers, Collection Judith and Selina Trepp; Women’s City Club of New York, “Work by the Vectors, December–January 1959,” On the Agenda XVI, no. 2 (December 1958): 2, Records of the Women’s City Club of New York, Inc., d.b.a. Women Creating Change, 1915-2011, Box 61, Folder 4, Archives & Special Collections, Hunter College Libraries, Hunter College of the City University of New York, New York City; postcards: Vectors 6th Annual Exhibition, January 13–February 3, 1963, Riverside Museum, and Vectors 7th Annual Exhibition, November 22–December 6, 1963, YMHA Kaufmann Auditorium (now 92nd Street Y), Irving Lehman Papers, Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries; postcard, Vectors 8th Annual Exhibition, October 9–23, 1964, Contemporary Arts Gallery, Loeb Student Center, New York University, Libbie Mark Provincetown Fund Collection; postcard, Vectors Exhibition of Contemporary Painting and Sculpture, November 22–December 21, 1964, Spencer Memorial Gallery, Anne Helioff artist file, Woodstock Artists Association & Museum Archives, Woodstock, NY; postcards: Vectors Paintings and Sculpture, May 3–24, 1959, Riverside Museum, and Vectors Eleventh Annual Art Exhibition, October 9–27, 1967, Manufacturers Hanover Trust, Ben and Evelyn Wilson Papers, George Segal Gallery, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ.
2. Catalog, Vectors Eleventh Annual Art Exhibition, October 9–27, 1967, Manufacturers Hanover Trust, Ben and Evelyn Wilson Papers.
3. Ibid.
4. Exhibited twice, see postcards: Vectors Art Exhibition (1957) and Vectors 7th Annual Exhibition. See also “140 years of cultural programming,” 92nd Street Y, accessed January 31, 2018, https://www.92y.org/about-us.aspx.
5. Exhibited three times, see show listings: “Exhibitions in Galleries and Museums this Week,” New York Times, September 17, 1961, X23, ProQuest Web; “Art Shows,” New York Times, July 5, 1964, 16X, ProQuest Web; and “What’s New in Art,” New York Times, December 11, 1966, 192, ProQuest Web.
6. Sanka Knox, “Donnell Library to Open Tuesday,” New York Times, December 7, 1955, 78, ProQuest Web.
7. Dore Ashton, “Serigraph Society Display is at Museum,” New York Times, May 7, 1959, 30, ProQuest Web.
8. Emily Yurberg, phone conversation with the author, January 23, 2018.
9. “New York Hilton Midtown Celebrates 50 Years of Legendary Service and Extraordinary Achievement,” Hilton Wordwide, accessed August 23, 2018, http://news.hiltonworldwide. com/ConnectPlus/tip/?aid=23329.
10. “Many Art Shows Set for Holidays,” New York Times, December 7, 1958, 156, ProQuest Web.
11. “Exhibitions in Galleries and Museums this Week.”
12. “Art Shows.”
13. “What’s New in Art.”
14. Postcards: Vectors 6th Annual Exhibition, Vectors 7th Annual Exhibition, Vectors 8th Annual Exhibition, Vectors Exhibition of Contemporary Painting and Sculpture (1964), and Vectors Eleventh Annual Art Exhibition.
15. Institutional collections include: 92nd Street Y Archives, New York, NY; Mary Heisig artist file, Brooklyn Museum of Art Library Collections. BMA artist files; Records of the Women’s City Club of New York, Inc., d.b.a. Women Creating Change, 1915-2011, Archives & Special Collections, Hunter College Libraries, Hunter College of the City University of New York, New York City; Ben and Evelyn Wilson Papers, George Segal Gallery, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ; Sophie Corwin, Sidney Delevante, Theodore Fuchs, Helen Gerardia, Mary Heisig, Anne Helioff, Irving Lehman, Frances Manacher, Ben Wilson, and Evelyn Wilson Art and Artist Files, Smithsonian American Art and Portrait Gallery Library, Smithsonian Libraries, Washington, DC; Irving Lehman papers, Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries; and Anne Helioff artist file, Woodstock Artists Association & Museum Archives, Woodstock, NY.
16. Personal correspondents include: Mark’s daughter Judith Tanur and son Reuben Mark, as well as Laden’s daughter Nina Laden, Manacher’s daughter Susan Lyons, Rutkoff’s nephew Stephen Lesser, the Shaiers’ daughter Ellen Shire, Sklar’s daughter Judith Trepp and granddaughter Selina Trepp, Somkin’s son Steven Somkin, Stein’s son Carl Stein, the Wilsons’ daughter Joanne Jaffe, and Yurberg’s daughter Emily Yurberg.
17. This research is ongoing, especially to determine timeframes, in conversations with Ellen Shire and Judith Trepp via e-mail messages to author, February 2018 to the present.
18. Joanne Jaffe, e-mail messages to author, March 18 and 20, 2019.
19. “Transcript of Employment: Burstyn, Jerome,” Francis V. O’Connor papers, 1920–2009. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution; “Biographical/Historical Note,” Irving G. Lehman papers, 1942-1980, accessed March 27, 2018, https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/irving-g-lehman-papers-7877; “From the Studio: Ida and Eugene Somkin duo exhibition,” The East Hampton Star, accessed September 6, 2018, http://easthamptonstar.com/Archive/1/Studio-33; “Biography,” Ben Wilson American Artist, accessed January 19, 2018, https://benwilsonamericanartist.org/bio/; “Fellow WPA Artist Evelyn Perlman, Ben’s Future Wife,” Ben Wilson American Artist, accessed January 19, 2018, https://benwilsonamericanartist.org/portfolio/scrapbook/fellow-wpa-artist-evelyn-perlman-bens-future-wife/; “Vladimir Yoffe,” New Deal Art Registry, accessed January 20, 2018, https://www.newdealartregistry.org/artist/Yoffevladimir/#.
20. Sophie Corwin and Anne Helioff, Art and Artist Files; “What’s New in Art,” New York Times, December 18, 1966, x36, ProQuest Web.
21. Artist resume, Sidney Delevante Art and Artist Files; Artist resume, Irving Lehman Papers; Exhibition announcement, Libbie Mark: Paintings and Collages, May 16–June 2, 1962, Libbie Mark Provincetown Fund Collection; “Exhibitions,” Ben Wilson American Artist, accessed January 19, 2018, https://benwilsonamericanartist.org/exhibitions/
22. Artist resume, Irving Lehman Papers; Frances Manacher Art and Artist Files; “Exhibitions,” Ben Wilson American Artist; “Abraham Yurberg,” Ward-Nasse Gallery, accessed July 15, 2016, http://www.wardnasse.org/2200p179.htm.
23. Student Registration Records, Archives of the Art Students League of New York.
24. Sophie Corwin, Anne Helioff, Libbie Mark, and Mary Shaier: “Partial List of Hofmann Students Per Era,” Color Creates Light: Studies with Hans Hofmann, accessed July 15, 2016, http://www.colorcreateslight.com/studentsccl.html; Delevante Art and Artist File; Gerardia “Line Form Color,” Blanton Museum of Art exhibition, accessed February 28, 2019, https://blantonmuseum.org/rotation/line-form-color/; Robert Laden resume, Collection Nina Laden.
25. Lehman Art and Artist File; “John Stoehrer, 1910-1999 [obit],” Daily Star (Oneonta, NY), accessed October 9, 2017, https://www.ancestry.com/boards/surnames.stoehrer/2/mb.ashx; “Biography,” Ben Wilson American Artist.
26. “Ethel Stein, Who Created Intricate Textile Art, Dies at 100,” New York Times, accessed September 11, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/12/obituaries/ethel-stein-who-created-intricate-textile-art-dies-at-100.html.
27. Jane H. Lii, “Envelope, Please. Makeup Whiz Has Designs on an Oscar,” New York Times, March 10, 1996, CY10, ProQuest Web.
28. Jason Rosenfeld, Ben Wilson: From Social Realism to Abstraction (Montclair, NJ: George Segal Gallery, Montclair State University, 2017), 72.
Jennifer Uhrhane has worked in curatorial, collections management, and registrarial roles in museum, corporate and private art collections for almost 20 years. She also consults with artists and families regarding art collection/archive documentation, management and estate planning. Uhrhane holds a BFA in photography from Rhode Island School of Design, a Certificate in Museum Studies and Administration from Tufts University, and an MA in Art History from Boston University.
