A survey of French painter Piet Mondrian's work reveals a steady progression of imagery from his densely branched trees of 1912 to color-filled broken grids and city-fueled patterns of the 1930s. For each generation this shift from representation to abstraction is discovered anew by artists in their studios around the world. From Kazmir Malevich's colorful scenes of Russian peasants working in the fields which evolved into the resolutely defiant and affirming freedom of the black square years later to American Lyonel Feininger's abstracted city streets - we can locate many influential artists of the last century who forged unique connections between the observed and the conceptual.
This traditional art historical trajectory comes to mind when looking at Susan Malloy's impressive body of work. Her work is marked by a focused attention to her surroundings and a sustained investigation of structure and color. Malloy has been drawing and painting for over six decades and this exhibition and catalogue are a tribute to her consistent work as she marks her 90th year. Continue reading from Susan Malloy in the Studio, p9
Susan Malloy (1924-2015) was born in New York City on Manhattan's West Side. She graduated from the Lincoln School and then from Skidmore College, which was the beginning of her art education. Susan's life as an artist began after she graduated from Skidmore while living in New York and attending the Arts Students League. The studio atmosphere at the "League" was an experience that opened her eyes to the world of emerging artists. She worked for two years in Will Barnet's graphics class. She also studied with Bob Blackburn in his workshop on 17th Street, learning more about printmaking.
Europe was mostly recovered from WWII when Susan left for six months to see places in France, Italy, and England. In Paris, Rome, and London the museums and places she learned about in books and art history classes could now be seen in real life. When she returned to New York, Susan moved to Bank Street in Greenwich Village. She began to exhibit her work in small galleries in association with other artists she knew.
In 1956 she attended an art workshop in Positano, Italy, a hill town on the shores of the Mediterranean that opened her eyes to new ways to see color. Susan returned to the U.S. that fall and soon met her husband-to-be, Edwin Malloy. They were married in 1957 in Westport, Connecticut. They lived in New York where their two children were born. In 1969, Susan and her family moved to Westport where she still lives and maintains her studio in the Frank Lloyd Wright-style house.
Susan was always able to keep painting and drawing in small studios wherever she lived but when she moved to the house at 1 Old Hill she worked in a large barn studio and held a life classes for fellow artists for ten years. She exhibited in many local juried group shows across New England and has presented eleven one-woman Exhibitions.
Susan has exhibited at Skidmore College, Hebrew Union College, Harvard Divinity School, and is part of numerous private collections. She has been involved with the Whitney Museum of American Art, The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, Westport Public Library, and has been a member of the Westport Arts Center for many years. Continue reading from Susan Malloy in the Studio, p43
