Archives of American Art

A Finding Aid to the Shirley Gorelick Papers, 1939-2008, 2016 (bulk 1939-1980s) in the Archives of American Art

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.goreshir
Creators:
Gorelick, Shirley, 1924-2000
Dates:
1939-2008
2016
bulk 1939-1980s
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
4.8 Linear feet
Repository:
The papers of painter Shirley Gorelick measure 4.8 linear feet and date from 1939-2008, 2016, with the bulk of the material dating from 1939-1980s. The collection documents Gorelick's life and career through biographical material, personal and professional correspondence, scattered writings, professional files recording her involvement with art collectives and galleries owned and/or run by women, printed and photographic material, and nine sketchbooks and loose sketches.

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
The papers of painter Shirley Gorelick measure 4.8 linear feet and date from 1939-2008, 2016, with the bulk of the material dating from 1939-1980s. The collection documents Gorelick's life and career through biographical material, personal and professional correspondence, scattered writings, professional files recording her involvement with art collectives and galleries owned and/or run by women, printed and photographic material, and nine sketchbooks and loose sketches.
Biographical material includes resumes and some early employment and education records. Personal correspondence primarily records the first years of Gorelick's marriage and provides insight into her early career through detailed correspondence with her husband, Leonard Gorelick. Professional correspondence is with multiple art galleries, organizations, and institutions primarily relating to exhibitions, pricing of her artwork, sales, and press reviews of her work, including by Lawrence Alloway who corresponded with Gorelick.
Scant writings include artists statements and notes as well as two papers Gorelick wrote as a student.
Professional files include price lists and an inventory of Gorelick's fine art collection, and also document her involvement with SOHO 20 and Central Hall Gallery and her contribution to The Sister Chapel installation.
Printed material documents Gorelick's extensive exhibition history through announcements, catalogs, and press reviews of her solo and group exhibitions and related awards.
Gorelick's sketchbooks comprise 9 volumes with some additional loose sketches enclosed, primarily containing figure studies in pencil. The series also includes an etching and a pencil study.
Photographic material provides what appears to be a comprehensive catalog of Gorelick's artwork from the 1960s through the 1980s, including slides and photos of many of her paintings, intaglio prints, and silverpoint drawings, as well as some of the models Gorelick worked with repeatedly. Also found are photos of Gorelick including portraits, studio photos, and photos of her with friends, colleagues, and family, and of Gorelick at events including exhibition openings and installations.

Arrangement

Arrangement
The collection is arranged as seven series.
  • Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1942-2000 (Box 1; 7 folders)
  • Series 2: Correspondence, 1939-1994 (Box 1; 0.7 linear feet)
  • Series 3: Writings, 1942-circa 1980s (Box 1; 4 folders)
  • Series 4: Professional Files, circa 1960-1996, 2016 (Box 1; 7 folders)
  • Series 5: Printed Material, circa 1940s-2008 (Boxes 2-3, OV 7; 1.8 linear feet)
  • Series 6: Sketchbooks, circa 1960s-circa 1980s (Boxes 2, 6; 0.3 linear feet)
  • Series 7: Photographic Material, 1960s-1990s (Boxes 3-5; 1.7 linear feet)

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
New York and Washington, D.C. painter Shirley Gorelick (1924-2000) is known primarily for her large-scale portraits in acrylic. Gorelick described her work as "psychological portraiture," that depicted couples and families through an intimate and empathic lens.
Gorelick was born Shirley Fishman in Brooklyn, New York. Her education involved studying with Chaim Gross, Moses Soyer, and Raphael Soyer, and then with Serge Chermayeff at Brooklyn College where she earned her B. A. in 1944. Gorelick subsequently earned an M. A. at Teachers College, Columbia University, briefly attended the Hans Hofmann School of Art in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and also studied with Betty Holliday in Port Washington, Long Island. In 1944 Gorelick married Leonard Gorelick, a dentist with a passion for art and science.
Gorelick's early work was influenced by Cubism, Surrealism, and Abstract Expressionism, but she ultimately gravitated towards realistic, figurative portraits painted from photographs and direct observation. While working primarily in acrylic, she was also known for her silverpoint drawings and intaglio prints. Working with middle-aged couples and family groups repeatedly in the 1970s and 1980s, Gorelick's work explores the psychological state of her subjects as they directly engage the viewer.
In 1973, Gorelick was a founding member of Central Hall Gallery, a cooperative run by all women artists in Port Washington. She also had six solo exhibitions and participated in numerous group shows at SOHO 20, the second all-women artist-run exhibition space in New York City. She was one of thirteen women artists who collaborated on The Sister Chapel, painting a nine-foot portrait of Frida Kahlo for the installation which premiered at P.S. 1 in Long Island City in 1976.
Gorelick's work was widely exhibited, particularly in the 1970s and 1980s, and she is represented in the collections of the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Provincetown Art Association and Museum, the Baltimore Museum of Art, and the Brooklyn Museum, among others.
Gorelick died in Washington D.C. in 2000.

Administration

Author
Stephanie Ashley
Sponsor
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided in part by The Shirley Gorelick Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The collection was donated to the Archives of American Art in 2021 and 2022 by Jamie Gorelick, Shirley Gorelick's daughter.
Existence and Location of Copies
The bulk of the collection was digitized in 2023 and is available on the Archives of American Art website.
For printed material only covers and relevant pages of publications have been digitized. Items not digitized include duplicates, and some transparencies and negatives for which prints exist.
Processing Information
The collection was processed, and a finding aid prepared by Stephanie Ashley in 2022 and was digitized in 2023 with funding provided by The Shirley Gorelick Foundation.

Using the Collection

Terms of Use
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Preferred Citation
Shirley Gorelick papers, 1939-2008, 2016. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Painters -- Washington (D.C.) Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Women painters Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sketchbooks Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Women artists Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Portrait painters -- New York (State) -- New York Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Portrait painters -- Washington (D.C.) Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sister Chapel (Art installation) Title Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Gorelick, Leonard Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Soho 20 (Gallery) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Central Hall Gallery (Port Washington, N.Y.) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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