Rosalyn Drexler: Pop Art's Overlooked Feminist Wrestler
Rosalyn Drexler, born in the Bronx in 1926, became a prominent Pop artist during the 1950s, utilizing images from magazines, newspapers, and movie posters. She created collages by enlarging these visuals and applying bright colors against simple, monochromatic backdrops, resulting in a noir style. In addition to her artistic endeavors, Drexler was a successful novelist, an Obie Award-winning playwright, a screenwriter, and a former professional wrestler known as “Rosa Carlo, the Mexican Spitfire.” Although overshadowed by male contemporaries like Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, her work confronted sexist portrayals of women. Notable pieces include Self-Portrait (1964), displayed in the 1964 First International Girlie Exhibit in New York, and Marilyn Pursued by Death (1963), which critiques media victimization.
Key facts
- Rosalyn Drexler was born in the Bronx, New York, in 1926.
- She began making sculptures in the 1950s and later explored painting and Pop Art.
- Drexler used scenes from movie posters, magazines, and newspapers as inspiration.
- She was a former professional wrestler in the 1950s known as 'Rosa Carlo, the Mexican Spitfire.'
- Her painting Self-Portrait (1964) was shown at the First International Girlie Exhibit in New York in 1964.
- Drexler and Marjorie Strider were the only women artists in that exhibition.
- Marilyn Pursued by Death (1963) is held by the Whitney Museum of American Art.
- Put It This Way (1963) is in the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.
- Self-Defense (1963) is at Garth Greenan Gallery.
- Lost Match (1962) is at the Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University.
Entities
Artists
- Rosalyn Drexler
- Andy Warhol
- Roy Lichtenstein
- Marjorie Strider
- Marilyn Monroe
- Richard Hamilton
- Olivia Richardson
Institutions
- Whitney Museum of American Art
- Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
- Smithsonian Institution
- Garth Greenan Gallery
- Rose Art Museum
- Brandeis University
- Artists Rights Society (ARS)
- DailyArt Magazine
- The Village Voice
- Getty Images
Locations
- Bronx
- New York
- United States
- America
- Britain
- Washington, DC
- Waltham
- MA