Mary Heilmann, Painter Who Challenged Minimalism, Dies at 86
Mary Heilmann, an American artist celebrated for her vibrant abstract artworks, passed away on Friday night at a Riverhead, New York hospital due to complications from a fall sustained a week prior. She was 86 years old. Born on January 3, 1940, in San Francisco, Heilmann pursued studies in English literature, ceramics, and sculpture at UC Berkeley. In 1968, she relocated to New York, shifting from sculpture to painting amid limited exhibition avenues for women. Her distinctive style, marked by geometric shapes and bold colors, received acclaim later in her life, highlighted by a significant retrospective at the New Museum in 2007. Additionally, she showcased 45 chairs at the Whitney Museum in 2015.
Key facts
- Mary Heilmann died at age 86 on Friday evening in a hospital in Riverhead, New York, from complications of a fall a week earlier.
- She was born on January 3, 1940, in San Francisco.
- She studied English literature, then ceramics and sculpture at the University of California, Berkeley.
- In 1968, she moved to New York, initially working as a sculptor before turning to painting.
- Her first major museum retrospective, 'Mary Heilmann: To Be Someone', opened at the New Museum in New York in 2007.
- Her work influenced artists Laura Owens, Jessica Stockholder, and Elizabeth Peyton.
- She also designed furniture, including angular plywood chairs from 2002.
- In 2015, 45 of her chairs were shown on the terrace of the new Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.
Entities
Artists
- Mary Heilmann
- Laura Owens
- Jessica Stockholder
- Elizabeth Peyton
Institutions
- New Museum
- Whitney Museum of American Art
- University of California, Berkeley
- The New York Times
- Museum of Modern Art
Locations
- Riverhead
- New York
- San Francisco
- United States
- California