Most of the 26 artworks in this show have never been exhibited before, and were created during the last four years of Lehr’s life.
The nationally acclaimed, eco-feminist artist thrived on exhibiting her newest art, and she was looking forward to audiences seeing some of her most recent paintings at this show. Because of this, the exhibition includes one of Lehr’s last works, which she completed in January of 2023.
Nature’s Rallying Cry: Honoring Mira Lehr coincides with Women’s History Month in March, and Earth Day in April.
|
“The C. Parker Gallery is thrilled to bring Mira Lehr’s important artworks to the northeast for this show. Lehr was a pioneer in the arts, a leader in environmental activism, and a champion of women. Lehr’s vision of a better world shines through in this exhibition,” says Tiffany Benincasa, owner of the C. Parker Gallery.
|
“This collection gives tribute to both Mira Lehr and some of her final artworks. During the week of Art Basel Miami Beach, I was honored to work with Mira at her home studio, where she invited me to collaborate on selecting works. As we continued this selection process into January, I could not have imagined this would be the last time Mira Lehr would personally plan an exhibition,” adds Tiffany Benincasa.
|
This is the first exhibition of Mira Lehr’s work after the death of the nationally acclaimed eco-feminist artist, who passed away on January 24 of this year.
|
Northeast U.S. show in Greenwich features some of Lehr’s last paintings, for audiences in the Tri-State region: at the C. Parker Gallery through April 26.
|
Progression, by Mira Lehr
|
Because Lehr is recognized for co-founding one of the country’s first women-led artist collectives more than sixty years ago, and due to her environmental art activism, Tiffany Benincasa chose the dates for this exhibition to include both Women’s History Month and Earth Day.
|
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York recently acquired three of Lehr’s works for the museum’s permanent collection, in September of 2022. A year before her passing, Skira Editore (one of the world’s leading art book publishers), published a 400-page monograph honoring Mira Lehr’s artistic career, which began in the 1950s throughout several decades until 2023.
|
Her work can be seen in American Embassies around the world, sounding Lehr’s clarion call to save the environment across Europe, Asia and Latin America.
|
In 1969, the visionary Buckminster Fuller selected Lehr as one of only two artists for his groundbreaking World Game Project to spearhead sustainability and nurture the planet ‒ it was a year before the very first Earth Day, and was the catalyst for Lehr’s inspiration to devote her art to the cause of nature.
In December of 2022 during Art Basel Miami Beach, Lehr’s work was selected for three concurrent exhibitions for Miami Art Week.
|
Things That Change (Grids of Active Planetary Events), by Mira Lehr
|
Working with imagery from the natural world, Lehr created layered abstract compositions with unconventional materials. The lush flora of her Miami Beach home/studio was a profound influence on Lehr’s aesthetic vocabulary.
|
Her nature-based imagery encompassed painting, design, sculpture and video installations. Lehr’s processes included non-traditional media – she ignited and exploded fuses across her canvas with gunpowder and fire. The flames burned holes and left imprints on her paintings.
|
She layered delicate Japanese paper, applied resin, dyes and welded steel. She described her use of explosives as tying into the theme of creation versus destruction, which to Lehr is integral to the cycles and beauty of nature. The CBS 60 Minutes correspondent Morley Safer referred to her as “The Mistress of Light.”
|
The art historian Irving Sandler described her use of imagery: “What makes Lehr’s work different is the specificity of her references to nature. I was trying to think of any other artist working in this tradition who did it quite as explicitly as Mira does, and I couldn’t come up with one.”
|
|
Blazing a Path for Women Artists in the 1960s
|
Lehr inspired new generations of women artists as a mentor and as a collaborator. Prior to her return from New York back to her hometown of Miami Beach in 1960, Lehr studied and worked in Manhattan as an artist.
|
There, in 1950s New York, she met some of America’s most prominent artists during the pivotal mid-Century era of American art, including: Joan Mitchell, Lee Krasner, Helen Frankenthaler, and Ludwig Sander. She studied with James Brooks, Ludwig Sander, Robert Motherwell, and within the Hans Hofmann circle.
Upon returning to Miami in 1960, she was shocked at the lack of an art scene, especially the plight of women artists. “Women artists felt stranded and hopeless in Miami,” said Lehr. “I was determined to change that.”
|
She co-founded one of the country’s first co-ops for women artists who were excluded from the male-dominated art world. It was called Continuum and thrived for more than 30 years, shining a spotlight on Miami Beach’s fledgling art scene.
|
Lehr convinced many of the famous masters from New York to visit Miami Beach, throughout the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, where they led workshops for her league of women artists and helped foster the evolution of the art community in South Florida.
|
All of this was well before Art Basel made it to Miami, leading art critics to recognize Mira Lehr as “The Godmother of Miami’s art scene.”
|
Snow Falling Softly / Red Wave, by Mira Lehr
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
