Minnie Klavans

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Minnie Klavans
Minnie Klavans at her one woman show at the Mickelson Gallery (Washington, DC) on March 29th 1972.
Born	(1915-05-10)May 10, 1915 Garrett Park, Maryland, U.S.
Died	September 19, 1999(1999-09-19) (aged 84)[1] Washington, DC

Minnie Klavans (May 10, 1915 - September 19, 1999) was an American artist whose work is held by the Smithsonian Museum of American Art,^[2] the Baltimore Museum of Art, the American University Museum,^[3][4] the Corcoran Museum of Art (now at the George Washington University Textile Museum), and White House collection among others. She found her talent in painting and sculpture later in life, starting her career after age 40. Klavans exhibited in Washington DC, New York City, Madrid, and Bilbao, Spain with an exhibit that toured six Spanish cities including Bilbao, Barcelona and Valencia. She studied primarily at American University. Her work is largely non-representational hard edge abstract, acrylic on canvas. Klavans worked in acrylic, watercolor, and felt-tip pen on handmade paper (which she made), rice paper, canvas, linen, metal, cardboard and cloth.

Life and work[]

Childhood, education, and early experience[]

Minnie Klavans (née Farber) was born in Garrett Park, Maryland on May 10, 1915. She was the second child of Eastern-European Jewish immigrants, Samuel Farber (1882 -1956) and Annie Farber (née Koblen, 1877- 1943). She had an older brother, Leon Farber (1932-2008), who was a jazz percussionist and a younger brother Melvin Farber (1925-1951), a pilot and World War II bombardier who died in a training accident. Melvin's death impacted Klavans’ work throughout her life. As the daughter of an immigrant family, Klavans worked from a young age to help make ends meet.

College and family[]

Klavans graduated from high school at the age of 15 in 1930, and headed to Wilson Teacher’s College in Washington, D.C., with a full scholarship. Two careers were open to women in the 30s, teaching and nursing. When she completed her teaching studies in 1934, she taught middle school for four years before becoming personnel officer at the US Department of War in 1939. She quickly moved up to manage a department of over 50 female typists responsible for communications. During World War II, she was head of communications and reported directly to the then Under Secretary of War, Robert P. Patterson. Minnie Farber married Elmer Klavans in 1937 and they remained married until his death in 1980.

Klavans stayed in her position at the War Department until 1943 when she was required to leave since she had become pregnant with her first child. Pregnant women were not allowed to work while visibly showing in those days. She birthed three children: A. Sue Klavans (Simring), January 14, 1944; Judith L. Klavans, November 7, 1946; Richard A. Klavans, January 22, 1948.

Early artistic career[]

Klavans’ artistic career had an unusual start. She first went back into her children’s classrooms to do simple artistic activities, such as helping children create collages with cutouts and glue, and then making mobiles from wire coat hangers and found objects. Like other women artists of the time, e.g. Alma Thomas, one of Klavans’ primary outlets for her artistic skills was in the schools. With this inspiration, Klavans started painting whatever she could find in her home, from outside benches to walls to murals. Through these outlets, Klavans found a way to express her artistic drive in home-based ways but as her husband’s business grew, and as the children grew, she found that she needed more.

In 1951, Klavans enrolled in a silversmithing course at the YMCA and started working on design, soldering, stone-setting and other metalwork. Her designs were intricate, complex, exacting and time-consuming. She set up a small workshop in an unused corner in the dark musty basement of her home and worked assiduously on the many complicated phases of her creations. Just over one year after starting her silversmithing, she entered a pin into the Smithsonian Institution's Metropolitan State Art Contest and placed first in silversmithing 1953. She continued with metalwork for another year, entered a bracelet and again, won a first-place award in 1954. At that point, although she continued silversmithing on the side, Klavans decided to move to graphic art and painting. She wanted to go bigger as she gained confidence, and wanted to move out of a corner in the basement into fuller artistic expression.

In 1956, she signed up for a painting class at the YMCA in Washington D.C. Her first experience was in realism since she was learning how to use oils to accurately depict perspective, and the details of light and color for fruit, vases, and other still life objects. The discipline of this course and others to follow gave her the foundation and principles of visual art that led to her later abstract work but she soon felt compelled to discover more of the inner soul of her artwork. An early success came with an entry into the Charles County Maryland art fair, where she took first place for a semi-abstract still life of yellow roses.

Furthermore, as Klavans gained technical proficiency, she began to seek additional training. In 1957, she started studying at American University with Luciano Penay (formerly Luciano Pena y Lillo), then a newly hired Professor of Art and now Professor Emeritus. Professor Emeritus Luciano Penay taught several generations of art students at American University. His primary teaching style (which was not common in the art world at the time) was to encourage students to try out new ideas, methods, media and materials and to explore innovative approaches. He wanted to see his budding artist take risks with their ideas and expand into unexplored artistic areas and experiences. This was in direct contrast with the prevailing approach to teaching art in most academic settings at the time which was inclined to follow principles which were assumed to be incontrovertibly true. This was exactly the match that Klavans needed at this time in her nascent career. She was ready to explore, create, and break out of realism.

In 1958, Klavans co-established a group of 11 painters who, for the next 35 years worked under the tutelage of Professor Pinay, known to all just as Luciano. Each artist brought their work to a session of criticism and support every week, and they created a close-knit trusting group of colleagues. Group 11, as it was known, held several group shows in galleries in Washington, Maryland and Virginia including the Mickelson’s Gallery and the Emerson Gallery.

After four years of study, Klavans was ready to arrange some solo shows. She started small and with trepidation, as an older female artist in a male-dominated field.

Middle and later artistic career[]

At this stage in her career, Klavans truly broke free of her initial rigid training; she explored and expanded into mixed media and started working on very large works. She took the moulded cardboard structures from packing material and created a work of cardboard embedded in canvas and then primed and painted with acrylics. She started working in metal on canvas, as well as creating metal sculptures of dresses (a feminist ahead of her time) which she painted in her bold abstract style. She worked with silk, and stretched silk instead of canvas as the basis for her artwork. Klavans created unusual pieces where she sewed onto linen and then stretched the linen on the frame to create shapes. These pieces were very time-consuming since predicting the patterns before stretching was a formidable challenge; many times she needed to remove the linen from the frame, undo stitching, re-sew and then re-stretch. Her “housewife’s skills” as a seamstress and dressmaker came in handy as she envisioned the results of her stitching after mounting on a frame. No material was off-limits, no shape and no color. While living her full life as a suburban wife and mother, Klavans also lived a full life as an innovative artist and creator.

Personal life[]

Minnie Farber Klavans grew up in Washington DC and Maryland. Her father ran the grocery store at 4600 Waverly Ave, Garrett Park, MD 20896, next to the railroad tracks. The family lived above the store, which was typical of new immigrant families in the early 20th century. She had one older brother, Leon, a jazz drummer, and a much younger brother, Melvin, who died in an Air Force training accident after having served in WWII as a bombardier. She married Elmer Lee Klavans in 1937, whom she had met as a child since the two families were neighbors in the Trinidad Section of Washington DC before the Farbers moved to Maryland.

Minnie Klavans gave birth to Sue Klavans (m. Steve Simring) in 1944, to Judith Lynn Klavans (m. Evelyne Tzoukermann) in 1946, and to Richard Alan Klavans (m. Nancy Germeshausen) in 1948. She relished her time with the children, especially doing projects in art and music. She and her husband bought property in Nanjemoy, Maryland in 1956 and together they created a warm environment for her family and friends to gather. Her husband died in 1980 after a long illness at the age of 64. At her death, she was survived by eight grandchildren: Eric Simring (Karen Schrock Simring), Kira Simring (Greg Adair), Owen Simring, Ivan Klavans Rekosh, Lisa Klavans-Rekosh, Alyssa Klavans (James Paine), Sarah Klavans, Elia Klavans Tzoukermann and Mina Klavans Tzoukermann.

Minnie was an infamous gatherer of people. She was an excellent cook, Southern style, her specialties being deep-fried corn fritters, southern style smoked meat, apple pie, and cinnamon buns. Although a shy younger person, in her middle years she found joy in welcoming groups of friends and family. At the same time, she spent many long hours working alone in her studio until the wee hours of night (and morning) in deep focus on her art. She had an unusual balance of introversion which served her art, and extroversion which served to connect her with colleagues, family and friends.

Later years, death[]

Still active in the last decade as an artist, Klavans helped start the Institute for Learning in Retirement at American University. A pianist, she taught a course about the impact in the 19th century of art on music and vice versa. She continued to paint, draw and create multimedia works until her death from cancer at age 84.

Artistic Style[]

Klavans’ early works reflect her classical training with a rebellious twist. Her early works were primarily still life's reflecting the disciplined teaching style of the era, although this discipline was useful in her later work to achieve the perfection she desired. The next phase was semi-abstract where objects could be (somewhat) recognized with some imagination. She branched into some landscape work at this phase. The next phase was pure abstract, hard-edge large pieces of acrylic on canvas. She started this phase primarily in black and white, and then started exploring explosive and energetic color combinations. In the 1980s, she worked intensively in the Washington Workshop Inc., founded and run by Lou Stovall, the master printmaker. During this period, Klavans explored silkscreen printing which required that she learn a completely new set of skills Klavans brought her knowledge of color and her disciplined approach to shape to her prints, which number among her most well-received pieces. In the 90s, she moved to painting on rice paper, and to single-line black and white drawings which required intense focus and control. She juxtaposed the stark black and white works with the vibrant exploration of color in the drawings on paper. In the mid-90s, Klavans worked in the Pyramid Atlantic studio to learn papermaking from the artist Helen Frederick, and she soon incorporated papermaking to create new works of art. As a result of working on rice paper and then exploring the art of papermaking, Klavans created a series of scrolls.

Reactions to her work[]

Klavans has had pieces accepted in the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, The National Museum of Women in the Arts, the Baltimore Museum of Art, and the White House rotating collection. She has had numerous one-woman shows and group shows in Washington DC, New York, and Madrid, Spain. Reactions to her work describe how she “novel and fluent”, “courageously unorthodox”, “counter positioning of large monochromatic areas supported by a play of intermittent and diversified planes, but always within a rigorous chromatic equilibrium”, “inventive”, “sensuous”, “cutting-edge”. The scrolls were described by one reviewer as follows: “Klavans exercises great chromatic freedom, using a brilliant and often vibrant rainbow of tonalities. Color and shape emerge as a primary means of expression; visually proclaiming joy, a zest for life, and optimism. The free-floating organic shapes are usually contained, defined by a darker hued line, recalling the hard-edged geometric style she abandoned two years ago.”

Recognition[]

Although Klavans made extraordinary progress during her career development, she was still above all a housewife, which definitely impacted her ability to make a grander impact. Despite this handicap, she was able to achieve recognition for her creativity and innovative approach to her works on canvas, paper, cardboard, tin, linen and in printmaking.

Shows and collections include:

• Watkins Gallery, Washington D.C. 1964
• Emerson Gallery, McClean Virginia 1965
• Corcoran Gallery of Art - Juried Area Show, Washington D.C. 1965
• Two West Fifth Gallery, Fredericksburg Maryland 1966
• Mickelson Gallery Group Show, Washington DC 1966
• Invitational Show for Dedication of the National Bureau of Standards, Washington D.C. 1966
• Mickelson Gallery (Four Man Show), Washington D.C. 1967
• Cisneros Gallery, New York City, New York (one man show) 1967
• Baltimore Museum of Art, Juried Art Show - Award Winner, Baltimore, Maryland 1967
• Mickelson Gallery (Group Show), Washington D. C. 1967
• Corcoran Gallery of Art - Juried Area Show, Washington D.C. 1967
• Institute of Hispanic Culture
• One Woman Show, Madrid, Spain 1968
• Museum of Modern Art, Bilbao, Spain (One Woman Show) 1969
• Smithsonian Institution, National Collection of Fine Arts,
• Permanent Collection 1969
• White House Exhibition 1970
• Mickelson Gallery Group Show 1971
• Mickelson Gallery - One Woman Show 1972
• Corcoran Gallery of Art, Painting entitled “Nanjemoy”
• Accepted in Permanent Collection 1972
• Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore Maryland 1972
• Maryland Annual Exhibition (juried show) 1972-73
• Ethel Putterman Gallery, Orleans, Massachusetts 1976
• Plum Gallery, Kensington, MD (one woman show) 1977
• National Museum of Women in The Arts, Washington, DC (permanent collection and catalog) 1986
• The George Washington University Museum , Painting
• Accepted in Permanent Collection and Displayed in “Art in Washington DC in the 1960s” Exhibit 2016

In the news[]

“Minnie Klavans..exhibition in Madrid may be considered one of the best of the season. One can characterize her type of abstract art by the counter positioning of large monochromatics areas supported by a play of intermittent and diversified planes, but always within a rigorous chromatic equilibrium. The entire effect of the work produces one of those reactions that only the presence of truly fine art can bring out” Popovici, La Prensa, 1968.

“In the art of Minnie Klavans at the Michelson Gallery, there is a different kind of abstraction — … eclectic in its intellectual and stylistic underpinnings….” Washington Star, 10/26/1969.

“...abstract compositions in black ink on white paper and in sticherey on brown raw silk. Both exceedingly good….” Washington Daily News, 9/13/1971.

“Artist Minne Klavan (sic) …has reached an artistic decision which is novel and fluent. ….courageously unorthodox ....” Agnes Vaghi in Maryland News, 3/23/1972.

“....completely abstract, although a feeling for the landscape upon which she bases some of them comes through clearly…. geometric shapes that overlap and interlock in a manner vaguely reminiscent of early cubist work….” Jo Ann Lewis, The Gallery Scene, The Evening Star, 3/13/1972.

“....The inventive Minne Klavans is showing her latest work…a series of 60-foot scrolls – some small and some huge and spectacular – all covered with brightly colored, intuited abstract signs and symbols which one “reads” by unrolling the scrolls, oriental style. It is a sensuous and happy visual adventure she spins while viewers “oh” and “ah” at p[articularly satisfying passages. There are also some fine silk-screen prints based on the scrolls, editioned in Lou Stovall’s Washington Workshop.” Jo Ann Lewis, The Washington Post. 10/22/1977.

“Synthesizing Western and Eastern artistic concerns, Klavans creates visual moods through abstract relationships of color, form, and line…. Rather than conventionally hanging on a wall, the scrolls lay horizontally on low pedestals and are to be unrolled and read in this position. The viewer hovers over the works, engaging in the physical act of unrolling and the visual experience of interpreting the scrolls. In effect, the spectator is a participant. His encounter with the words is a private experience enhanced by his close proxibility to them, resulting in an intimate exchange. Klavans exercises great chromatic freedom, using a brilliant and often vibrant rainbow of tonalities. Color and shape emerge as a primary means of expression; visually proclaiming joy, a zest for life, and optimism. The free-floating organic shapes are usually contained, defined by a darker hued line, recalling the hard-edged geometric style she abandoned two years ago. The biomorphic forms rhythmically dance, complemented by and contrasting to the white background. In each work, a straight, thin black line runs the entire length of the scroll. This line writes compositional elements in much the same way a plot unifies literary expressions. With a concern for ‘opposing forces which work together,’ Klavens (sic) successfully integrates control and spontaneity….” Karen Alexis, Unicorn Times, 11/77.

References[]