Joyce Reopel

Joyce Reopel (1933–2019) was an American painter, draughtswoman and sculptor who worked in pencil, aquatint, silver- and goldpoint, and an array of old master media. A Boris Mirski Gallery veteran, from 1959–1966,[1] she was known for her refined skills and virtuosity. She was also one of very few women[2][3] in the early group of Boston artists that included fellow artist and husband Mel Zabarsky, Hyman Bloom, Barbara Swan, Jack Levine, Marianna Pineda, Harold Tovish and others who helped overcome Boston's conservative distaste for the avant-garde, occasionally female, and often Jewish artists later classified as Boston expressionists. Unique to New England, Boston Expressionism has had lasting national and local influence, and is now in its third generation.

Joyce Reopel
BornJanuary 21, 1933
Worcester, MA
DiedJanuary 16, 2019
Portsmouth, NH
EducationWorcester Art Museum School; Ruskin School of Drawing & Fine Arts, Oxford University
Known forsilver- and goldpoint drawings, paintings and sculpture
StyleBoston Expressionism
Spouse(s)Mel Zabarsky
AwardsAmerican Academy of Arts & Letters: Arts & Letters Award; Ford Foundation Grant; National Institute of Arts & Letters (NIAL) Grant; Radcliffe Scholar; Yale-Norfolk Fellowship; Harvard/Radcliffe Bunting Institute Fellowship
Websitehttps://www.joycereopel.com

Work

Known for her finely wrought detail and lush sensuality,[4] New York Magazine called Reopel "an artisan as well as an artist," while praising her renderings of the figure because "[t]he artist seems consistently to search out that which lies behind the physical trait. And having discovered it, she presents it in whispers, with unusual understatement and economy."[5] The results range from expressive realism to subtle surrealism and outright grotesquerie.

A student of sculptor Leonard Baskin at the Worcester Art Museum School, then known as the “Mini-Met,”[6] Reopel shared his fascination with the human form, and his interest in fine arts printing, woodcut, sculpture, etching and typography.[7][8] Her earliest work can be seen in a 1953 version of T.S. Eliot's The Hollow Men, which she illustrated and helped typeset as an art student,[9] as well as many of the catalogues for her 1960s and 1970s aquatint, silver- and goldpoint exhibitions at Boston's Boris Mirski Gallery[1] and, in New York, the Corber Gallery[5][10] and founder Bella Fishco's Forum Gallery.[11][12][13]

As Reopel's work matured, its subtly emotive, even melancholy, rendering of its subjects, were often lyrical in the vein of fellow Boston Expressionist Arthur Polonsky.[14] Her distinctive palette evolved from glints of silver, gold and lead-gray in the early years to subtle tones of grayed blue and green when she turned to oil painting.[4] Her old-master technical skill, meanwhile, reflected an interest in history that was also sometimes reflected in her depictions of historical themes or classical icons.

Education, Awards & Honors

A graduate of the Worcester Art Museum School, Reopel also spent two years studying at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Arts at Oxford University. Earning recognition and laudits for her work, Reopel was the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including a Radcliffe Institute Fellowship at the Bunting Institute (since renamed the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard) and a grant as a Radcliffe Scholar for Independent Study; a fellowship to Yale Norfolk School of Art; a grant then under Princeton's aegis at the National Institute of Arts & Letters (NIAL); a Ford Foundation grant in sculpture and drawing; the American Academy of Arts & Letters Arts & Letters Award; and a research grant from Wheaton College.

Exhibitions

Collections & Archives
  • Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA
  • Canton Museum of Art, OH
  • Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, NH
  • Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
  • Joyce Reopel Historic Preservation Papers, Portsmouth Atheneaum
  • Museum of Art, Durham, NH
  • Ohio State University, Columbus
  • Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA)
  • RISD Museum
  • Sloan Art Library, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
  • Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis
  • Worcester Public Library, Worcester Biography Files
  • University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Publications/Notable Reproductions
  • The Hollow Men, WAM Press, Reopel and Sorenson, 1953
  • Joyce Reopel: Drawings in silverpoint and goldpoint, November 9th through December 4th, 1965
  • Joyce Reopel: Drawings in silverpoint, goldpoint, and pencil: January 22nd through February 15th, 1969
  • The Liberal Context, Issues 1–9, 1-17. Edited by Cudhea, David W., with Anne Chiarenza, Gobin Stair, Orloff Miller. Published by College Centers Committee of American Unitarian Association in cooperation with Liberal Religious Youth (LRY) Inc. Art by Joyce Reopel and others, 1961-1966

Personal life

Born in Worcester, MA in 1933, and raised in nearby Auburn, Reopel was the only child of homemaker Ada (née Anderson) and musician Ernest Reopel.[15] In 1955, Reopel married painter and fellow Worcester Art Museum School graduate Mel Zabarsky. Her other professional endeavors included time spent teaching at the Swain School College of Design, the University of New Hampshire and elsewhere.[16] In 1976, her life-long interest in politics[17] helped win her a two-year term in the New Hampshire House of Representatives.[16] A respect for history and passion for architecture led to her interest in preservation, the documented history of her own house,[18] and the founding of the Portsmouth Historic Commission.[15]

Bibliography
  • Painting in Boston: 1950-2000. Lafo, Rachel R. University of Massachusetts Press, 2002; ASIN B01F9GI2FE
  • The New Humanism: Art in a Time of Change. Schwartz, Barry. Praeger Publishers, 1974; ISBN 978-0715368251
  • Collected Visions: Women Artists at the Bunting Institute, 1961-1986, Cambridge, Mass.: Mary Ingraham Bunting Institute, Radcliffe College, 1986; ISBN 978-0960177424
  • New England Women. Walkey, Frederick P. Decordova Museum, 1975; ASIN B015L4Y6MW
  • Audience: The Quarterly Review of Literature & the Arts, Vol. 5, Issue 3. Audience Press, 1958; ISBN 9780960177424
  • Humanism in New England Art, De Cordova Museum Publisher, Lincoln, MA, 1970; ISBN 1-55849-364-6

Notes
  1. "Smithsonian Institution: Smithsonian Online Virtual Archives". A Finding Aid to the Boris Mirski Gallery Records, 1936-2000, bulk 1945-1972, in the Archives of American Art. Jun 15, 2019.
  2. Collected visions: Women artists at the Bunting Institute, 1961-1986. Cambridge, MA: Mary Ingraham Bunting Institute, Radcliffe College. 1986. ISBN 978-0960177424.
  3. Walkey, Frederick P. (1975). New England Women. Lincoln, MA: Decordova Museum.
  4. DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park (2002). Painting in Boston, 1950-2000. Lincoln, MA: Univ of Massachusetts Press. ISBN 1-55849-364-6.
  5. Gruen, John (Feb 10, 1969). "Art in New York: Trickery without Gimmickry". New York Magazine: 54.
  6. Waschek, Matthias (May–June 2019). "Inventing and Reinventing the Worcester Art Museum". Art New England. May–June 2019.
  7. Michelson, R. (June 15, 2019). "Leonard Baskin: Gehenna Press Printwork". Gehenna Press Printwork — Leonard Baskin — R. Michelson Galleries.
  8. Moore, Scattergood (Jun 15, 2019). "The Art of Printmaking". The Art of Printmaking.
  9. Bair, Lorne (Jun 12, 2019). "101 Books from the Library of Ben and Bernarda Bryson Shahn and Lorne Bair Rare Books" (PDF). Lorne Bair. p. 17. Retrieved Jun 12, 2019.
  10. Cober Gallery, New York (1965). "Joyce Reopel: Drawings in Silverpoint and Goldpoint, November 9th Through December 4th, 1965".
  11. "Forum Gallery". About Forum Gallery. June 15, 2019.
  12. "Forum Gallery records, 1961-1990 | Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution". Smithsonian: Archives of American Art. Forum Gallery records, 1961-1990. June 15, 2019.
  13. "Forum Gallery (New York, N.Y.) | Archives Directory for the History of Collecting". The Frick Collection: Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in America. June 15, 2019.
  14. Marquard, Bryan (April 18, 2019). "Arthur Polonsky, Boston Expressionist artist and teacher, dies at 93 - The Boston Globe". The Boston Globe.
  15. "Joyce Reopel Zabarsky: Obituary, 1933-2019". Seacoast Online. Jan 25, 2019. Retrieved June 15, 2019.
  16. "Zabarsky candidate for house". The Portsmouth Herald. Aug 4, 1976. Retrieved May 9, 2019.
  17. Cudhea, David W. (1961–1966). "The Liberal Context". The Liberal Context.
  18. "Joyce Reopel Zabarsky Historic Preservation Papers (MS067)". Joyce Reopel Zabarsky Historic Preservation Papers (MS067) | Portsmouth Atheneaum. June 15, 2019.
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