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Irma Cavat

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Irma Cavat
Born1928
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
DiedFebruary 16, 2020
EmployerUniversity of California, Santa Barbara
StyleSurrealism, Modernism
MovementAbstract expressionism
SpouseZubel Kachadoorian
Children2

Irma Cavat (1925 – February 16, 2020) was an American visual artist. She was associated with the Abstract Expressionists[1] but painted and worked primarily in a surreal and modernist style. From 1965 to 2000, Cavat was an Assistant Professor of Art at the University of California, Santa Barbara,[2] where she lived until her death.

Early life and education

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Irma Cavat was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1925.[3] She became a professional artist in her early 20s. She was the older sister of medical anthropologist Carol Laderman. She took courses in drawing, sculpture, art history and painting at Académie de la Grande Chaumière,[4] New York University, The New School for Social Research, the Brooklyn Museum Art School and the Academy of Allied Arts. She also studied independently with sculptors Jose De Creeft and Alexander Archipenko, and painter Hans Hofmann. She lived in Rome, Italy, from 1955 to 1964, where she received a grant from the Fulbright Program, married painter Zubel Kachadoorian and gave birth to daughters Nika and Karina.[3]

Career and work

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As a young artist, Cavat modeled for surrealist artist Rene Magritte and became part of the Abstract Expressionist group, befriending Elaine and Willem De Kooning, Jackson Pollack, and Larry Rivers.[5] Over her career, she worked across media, including paint, clay, metal, marble, jewelry and collage. She was also commissioned to paint murals in Haiti, Greece, and the United States.[4]

In 1995, in collaboration with landscape architect Isabelle Greene and Nobel laureate Walter Kohn, Cavat helped create the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation's Sadako Peace Garden on the 50th anniversary of the Hiroshima tragedy.[6] Noted kinetic sculptor George Rickey spent many winters with his family in a studio on Cavat's property in Santa Barbara.[7]

Cavat was awarded residencies at Yaddo in New York, the McDowell Colony in Maine and the Djerassi Foundation in Northern California. She was exhibited widely in the United States and Italy, and her works are in the permanent collection at the Art, Design and Architecture Museum of the University of California, Santa Barbara[8] and in various private collections. She was exhibited at New York City's Museum of Modern Art in 1956[9] and was reviewed in Artforum,[2] American Riviera Media,[1] Los Angeles Times, New York Herald Tribune and elsewhere. A review of her 1966 exhibition at the Phoenix Art Museum offered praise for her use of color and noted her works incorporating cloth and newsprint.[10] A retrospective of her work was held at Legacy Art Santa Barbara in July 2024.[11]

Cavat died on February 16, 2020, in Santa Barbara.[3]

References

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  1. ^ a b Paloma, Ninette; Cavat, Nika. "The Light in Santa Barbara". American Riviera Media. Retrieved 2024-07-08.
  2. ^ a b Von Breton, Harriette (December 1966). "Los Angeles: Santa Barbara". Art Forum. 5 (4): 60.
  3. ^ a b c "Santa Barbara News-Press Obituaries: Cavat, Irma". Santa Barbara News-Press. June 21, 2021. p. 4.
  4. ^ a b Heller, Jules; Heller, Nancy G. (2013). "Cavat, Irma (1928-)". North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century: A Biographical Dictionary. Routledge. p. 119. ISBN 978-1-135-63882-5.
  5. ^ Athnasios, Angela (April 21, 2023). "Picture of the Week: Maxine in Rome by Irma Cavat". Wayne State University.
  6. ^ "Sadako Peace Garden". Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. August 12, 1995.
  7. ^ Donelan, Charles (September 14, 2021). "Belinda Rathbone's 'George Rickey: A Life in Balance' Captures the Late Artist's Local Impact". Santa Barbara Independent.
  8. ^ "Art on the Table: Food and Drink from the Permanent Collection". Art, Design & Architecture Museum, UC Santa Barbara. December 9, 2014.
  9. ^ "Irma Cavat". MoMA. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
  10. ^ J.D.H. (December 25, 1966). "Not, Op, Not Pop--but Irma Cavat Work Impresses". The Arizona Republic. p. 18.
  11. ^ "Still Light: Irma Cavat Art Retrospective | Art Show Opening Reception | JULY 6, 2024". Legacy Art Santa Barbara. Retrieved July 8, 2024.

Further reading

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  • Allen Blagden, Irma Cavat: Recent Paintings. University of Virginia: The Galleries. 1982. p. 40.
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