Loretta Dunkelman

Naoussa Series, Chausable, 1973
oil-wax chalk and pencil on paper
7 1/8 x 10 1/4 inches
18.1 x 26 cm

A founding member of A.I.R. Gallery, Loretta Dunkelman mounted six solo exhibitions with the groundbreaking feminist gallery from 1973–1987, and has been a fixture in lower Manhattan since the 1960s. In 1971, she began a series of large-format works on paper which represent some of the earliest examples in the contemporary movement of major art works made with drawing techniques and materials. She returned to painting in oil on canvas after 1979, continuing to mine natural motifs, including landscapes and the windows of sky enveloping them. Her interest in color and light are evident in the suite of large-format oil paintings made between 1986-88 after spending time in Richmond, Virginia. The luminous, layered surfaces of these works evoke her earlier explorations in pencil on paper.

Dunkelman (b. 1937, Paterson, NJ) lives and works in New York, New York. She earned an MA from Hunter College in 1966, where she studied under Tony Smith and Ad Reinhardt, and a BA in art from Douglass College (Rutgers University) in 1958. Notably, Dunkelman’s large works on paper were included in Women Choose Women at the New York Cultural Center (New York, NY); Of Paper at the Newark Museum (Newark, NJ); American Drawings 1963-73 at the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York, NY); New Painting: Stressing Surface at The Katonah Gallery (Katonah, NY) alongside works by Brice Marden, Robert Ryman, and Ralph Humphrey; Whitney Biennial 1973: Contemporary American Art at the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York, NY); and New York Now at the Phoenix Art Museum (Phoenix, AZ). She has participated in group exhibitions at P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center (Queens, NY); Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University (Ithaca, NY); Tucson Museum of Art (Tucson, AZ); and 55 Walker (New York, NY), among others.

Her work is in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., Hunter College, New York, City University Graduate Center, New York, Picker Art Gallery, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY, and Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ. She is the recipient of three National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, an Esther and Adolph Gottlieb Foundation grant, and a New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship. She has taught at Cornell University, Virginia Commonwealth University, UC Berkeley and the Art Institute of Chicago.

  • Born

    Paterson, NJ 1937. Lives and works in New York, NY

    Education

    • 1966 | MA, Hunter College, New York, NY

    • 1958 | BA, Douglass College (Rutgers University), New Brunswick, NJ

    One-Person Exhibitions

    • 2024 Engrossed in the Shell (the Sky and the Circle), Polina Berlin Gallery, New York, NY 

    • 1987 1708 E. Main Gallery, Richmond, VA
      A.I.R. Gallery, New York, NY

    • 1983 A.I.R. Gallery, New York, NY

    • 1981 A.I.R. Gallery, New York, NY

    • 1978 A.I.R. Gallery, New York, NY

    • 1975 Paintings and Drawings 1970-75, Fine Arts Center, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI

    • 1974 Alms Gallery, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH
      A.I.R. Gallery, New York, NY

    • 1973 A.I.R. Gallery, New York, NY
      Douglass College, New Brunswick, NJ

    Selected Group Exhibitions

    • 2026 13 Women Artists, Zürcher Gallery, New York, NY

    • 2025 Edges and Horizons, Hunter Dunbar Projects, New York, NY
      Untitled Exhibition (for Jenni), Gordon Robichaux Gallery, New York, NY

    • 2024 Emotional Intelligence II, Polina Berlin Gallery, New York, NY
      Loft Law: Photographs by Joshua Charow, Westwood Gallery NYC, New York, NY

    • 2019 Women on the Leading Edge: Douglass College at 100, Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ

    • 2018 This Must Be the Place (curated by Jenni Crain and Miles Huston), 55 Walker, New York, NY

    • 2011 No Nonessential Conversations below 10,000 feet, Ceres Gallery, New York, NY

    • 2008 The 183rd Annual: An Invitational Exhibition of Contemporary American Art, National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts, New York, NY
      A.I.R. Gallery Retrospective: 1972-79, Werkstätte Gallery, New York, NY
      A.I.R. Gallery: The History Show, A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn, NY and Tracey/Barry Gallery, Bobst Library, New York University, New York, NY

    • 2007 An Eclectic Eye: Selections from the Dan Leach Collection, Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ
      Cool Aid, Andre Zarre Gallery, New York, NY

    • 2005 Artists on the Edge, Mabel Smith Douglass Library, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ

    • 2000 Yaddo Centennial Arts Festival, New York, NY

    • 1998 25 Years of A.I.R., Kingsborough Community College Art Gallery, City University of New York, Brooklyn, NY

    • 1997 Generations, A.I.R. 25th Anniversary, A.I.R. Gallery, New York, NY

    • 1996 Mary H. Dana Women Artists Series 25th Year Retrospective Exhibition, Mason Gross School of the Arts Galleries, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ

    • 1994 One Hundred Hearts, Contemporary Art Institute, New York, NY
      Group Exhibition, 128 Gallery, New York, NY 

    • 1992 The 1.5 Show (curated by Yvonne Muranushi and Russet Lederman), 148 Duane Street, New York, NY

    • 1991 A.I.R. Print Portfolio-Women Making History-1976, A.I.R. Gallery, New York, NY

    • 1989 Michael Walls Gallery, New York, NYNY in NJ, Rabbet Gallery, New Brunswick, NJ

    • 1987 Faculty Show, Anderson Gallery, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA

    • 1986 Let's Play House (curated by Miriam Schapiro), Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, New York, NY

    • 1985 The Gathering of the Avant Garde: The Lower East Side 1950-79, Kenkeleba Gallery, New York, NY
      New York Loft Tenants Exhibition, Governor's Office, World Trade Center, New York, NY

    • 1984 Visiting Artist Exhibition, Hopkins Hall Gallery, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
      Artists Call, Westbeth Gallery, New York, NY
      Art and the Suburban Experience, New York Institute of Technology, New York, NY

    • 1983 Faculty Shows/Faculty Invites, Bennington College Art Gallery, Bennington, VT
      Twenty Contemporary Women, Picker Art Gallery, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY

    • 1981-82 Kulturhuset, Stockholm and Lunds Konsthall 
      Helen Schein Gallery, Boston, MA
      The Women Artist Series at Douglass College, Tenth Anniversary Retrospective, Douglass College, New  Brunswick, NJ

    • 1980 Structure, Narrative, Decoration, McIntosh/Drysdale Gallery, Washington, DC 
      From the 16th Floor, Hunter Gallery, Hunter College, NY

    • 1979 New York Now, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ
      Cornell Artists, Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester, Rochester NY 
      Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

    • 1978 Works of A.I.R. Artists, Ginza Kaigakan, Tokyo, Japan
      Overview: An Exhibition in Two Parts by the A.I.R. Gallery, P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, Queens, NY

    • 1977 Cornell Artists, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
      Kathryn Markel Gallery, New York, NY
      Webb and Parsons Gallery, New Bedford, NY

    • 1976 Broward County Community College, Ft. Lauderdale, FL

    • 1975 Six A.I.R. Artists, Windham College, Putney, VT
      The Year of the Woman, Bronx Community Museum, Bronx, NY

    • 1974 New Painting: Stressing Surface, The Katonah Gallery, Katonah, NY (Catalogue essay by Klaus Kertess)
      Smith College, Northampton, MA
      New Abstract Drawings, Women's Interart Center, New York, NY
      Waves, An Artist Selects, Cranbrook Academy of Art/Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI and Grand Rapids Art Museum, Grand Rapids, Ml

    • 1973 Of Paper, Newark Museum, Newark NJ
      Whitney Biennial of Contemporary Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, NY
      American Drawings 1963-73, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
      The City University Graduate Center Mall, New York, NY
      Women Choose Women, The New York Cultural Center, New York, NY (Catalogue essay by Lucy Lippard)
      IX Painters, Fordham University, Lincoln Center, New York, NY

    • 1972 Opening Group Show, A.I.R. Gallery, New York, NY 
      Kent State Invitational, Kent State Art Galleries, Kent, OH 
      13 Women Artists, 117 Prince Street, New York, NY                   
      The Riderless Boat, Willard Gallery, New York, NY

    • 1971 Retrospective for a Critic, The Gene Swenson Collection, University of Kansas Art Museum, Lawrence, KS

    Awards and Fellowships

    • 1993 National Endowment for the Arts, Visual Artist Fellowship in Painting

    • 1991 Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation, Individual Grant1986 New York Foundation for the Arts, Artist Fellowship
      Virginia Commonwealth University, Faculty Grant

    • 1984 Hand Hollow Foundation Fellowship

    • 1982 National Endowment for the Arts, Visual Artist Fellowship in Painting

    • 1981 MacDowell Colony Fellowship
      Yaddo Fellowship

    • 1976-77 American Association of University Women Fellowship

    • 1975-76 New York State Council on the Arts, CAPS Fellowship

    • 1975 National Endowment for the Arts, Visual Artist Fellowship in Painting

    Selected Collections

    • Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

    • Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.

    • Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ

    • Hunter College, New York, NY

    • City University Graduate Center, New York, NY

    • Picker Art Gallery, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY

    • The University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH

    • Spencer Art Museum, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS

    • The Chase Manhattan Bank, New York, NY

    • Bellevue Medical Center, New York, NY 

    • Bristol Myers Squibb, Lawrenceville, NJ

  • Art Spiel | Loretta Dunkelman | The $650 Show Art History Forgot, Thirteen Women, One Wet Floor, Zero Permission

    Artforum | Loretta Dunkelman | Loretta Dunkelman Exhibition Review by Daniel Belasco

    The Brooklyn Rail | Loretta Dunkelman | Loretta Dunkelman: Engrossed in the Shell (the Sky and the Circle)

    Cultured Magazine | Loretta Dunkelman | 87-Year-Old Painter Loretta Dunkelman Hasn’t Had a New York Solo in Almost Four Decades. That’s Changing This Fall

Loretta Dunkelman in her studio, New York, New York, 2024