Dahlov Ipcar (American, 1917-2017)
Ipcar was a prolific painter, sculptor, and printmaker who achieved international acclaim for the children’s books she authored and illustrated. Her vibrant works depict flora and fauna in exploratory and imaginative ways.
The daughter of prominent artists William and Marguerite Zorach, Ipcar was surrounded by creativity from an early age and grew up immersed in Greenwich Village’s art scene of the 1920s. She was often the subject of her parents’ art as well. After spending summers in Maine as a child, Ipcar returned in 1936 to live and work with her husband. She painted farm animals inspired by the couple’s rustic lifestyle. After publishing her 1965 book, Calico Jungle, Ipcar’s style became noticeably more geometric, which became her trademark.
In 1939, at age 21, she was the first woman and the youngest artist to be featured in a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Throughout her life, Ipcar wrote and illustrated more than thirty children’s books and was commissioned to paint several murals for libraries, post offices, and schools. She was the recipient of the Maine Governor’s Award, University of Minnesota’s Kerlan Award for Children’s Literature, and Farnsworth Art Museum’s Maine in America Award.
