Marguerite Zorach (American, 1887-1968)
Zorach was a painter, textile artist, and graphic designer. Born in California, Zorach left for France at a young age to live with her well-connected aunt who exposed her to the world of art. She socialized with Pablo Picasso, Henri Rousseau, and Gertrude Stein. Her Aunt Addie brought Zorach on a world tour, visiting Jerusalem, Egypt, Brume, India, China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Hawaii. Inspired by Fauvist painters, Zorach used bright colors and experiments with line and form. Her portrait of Harry Hathaway consists of a simple outline and depiction of the film director, but she uses blues and reds for his hair and body, exemplifying the Fauvist ideals of employing non-realistic colors.
After marrying American sculptor, printmaker, and writer William Zorach in 1912, the couple started a Post-Impressionist studio in New York. The Zorachs spent their summers on the countryside of New England, and eventually resided on Georgetown Island, Maine. In 1920, she won the Logan Medal of Artists, and, in 1925, she became the first president of the New York Society of Women Artists, an avant-garde group of women painters. In 1964, Marguerite and William Zorach received honorary degrees from Bates College. Her works remain in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Farnsworth Museum of Art, Rockland; and the Brooklyn Museum of Art.
