- Elsie Driggs
Infobox Artist
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name = Elsie Driggs
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birthdate = 1898
location =Hartford ,Connecticut
deathdate = 1992
deathplace =New York City, New York
nationality = American
field =Painting
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awards =Elsie Driggs (born in 1898 in
Hartford ,Connecticut - diedJuly 12 ,1992 inNew York ,New York ) was an American painter mostly known for her contributions to thePrecisionism movement of the 1920s, as well as her floral and figurative paintings inwatercolor , pastels, and oils later on in her career. Her works are in the collections of theFine Arts Museums of San Francisco , theWhitney Museum of American Art (New York), theJames A. Michener Art Museum (Pennsylvania), and theColumbus Museum of Art (Ohio), among others.Career
Driggs studied at the
Art Students League of New York and inItaly (whereFuturism influenced her) and eventually found herself in New York City where she became successful in the 1920s. In New York, she began to paint "the modern landscape of factories, bridges, and skyscrapers with geometric precision and almost abstract spareness." [http://www.michenermuseum.org/bucksartists/artist.php?artist=67] However, it was in 1926 when she painted her most famous work, "Pittsburgh", which is a painting of smokestacks of aPittsburgh steel factory. The painting has a black tone to it and depicts the murky and polluted atmosphere of Pittsburgh industrial life in what Driggs felt had an ironic beauty and intrigue. One year later, she painted another acclaimed work entitled "Queensborough Bridge". In the 1930s, Driggs left her Precisionist works for more "whimsical watercolors and figurative paintings as well as murals for theWPA " [http://www.michenermuseum.org/bucksartists/artist.php?artist=67] Driggs married painterLee Gatch and eventually found herself inLambertville, New Jersey , dedicating her efforts to Gatch's career. In the 1960s, Driggs experimented with mixed media constructions and figurative paintings in pastels and oils. Until her death, Driggs was considered the most underrated and long-lived of the Precisionist painters.Quotes
"Driggs explores abstraction and figurative art with warmth and wit." - Sally Friedman
External links
* [http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/driggs_elsie.html Artcyclopedia.com]
* [http://www.askart.com/AskART/artists/search/Search_Grid.aspx?searchtype=MUSEUMS&artist=24162 Askart.com]
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