Philemona Williamson: Difference between revisions

{{Infobox person

| name = Philemona Williamson

| death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} or {{Death-date and age|Month DD, YYYY|Month DD, YYYY}} (death date then birth date) -->

| death_place =

| other_names =

| known_for = ''Seasons''

| occupation = Artist

}}

 

==Biography==

 

Her African-American parents were employed by a wealthy Greek family, and she grew up in their Manhattan home.

She recalls a diversity of cultures but no racism when growing up.{{sfn|The World & I|1999}}

Her father was the chauffeur and her mother the housekeeper.

She said of the environment in the home on [[Sutton Place, Manhattan|Sutton Place]] that she and her parents maintained "a kind of quiet gentility" while their employers were involved in an endless "Greek passion play."{{sfn|Farrington|2004|p=323}}

 

Williamson has worked at [[Parsons School of Design]], The Getty Institute for Education in the Arts, [[New York State Council on the Arts]], [[University of North Carolina Chapel Hill]], [[Bard College]], [[Rhode Island School of Design]] and [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]].{{sfn|Jersey Arts}}

As of 2010 she lived and worked in [[Upper Montclair, New Jersey]], with a studio in Bloomfield.{{sfn|Smith|2010}}

 

In her words, "My paintings are of pre-adolescent girls and boys, children on the cusp of adulthood. The figures struggle to balance their innocence and awkwardness with their newfound sexuality. The figures are involved in their own drama when the observer discovers them; it is a surprise to both. The questions begin at this point…Who are these children? What are they doing and why? Ethnicity and gender are questioned."{{sfn|Jersey Arts}}

 

 

Her ''Folktales from Around the World'' (2003) is a set of four glass mosaic murals at the Glen Oaks Campus School in Queens.{{sfn|June Kelly Gallery|2010}}

Her work is held by the [[Sheldon Museum of Art]] in [[Lincoln, Nebraska]]; the [[Mint Museum]] in [[Charlotte, North Carolina]]; [[Hampton University]] museum in [[Hampton, Virginia]]; Mott-Warsh Art Collection, [[Flint, Michigan]]; Reader's Digest Art Collection and AT&T.{{sfn|June Kelly Gallery|2010}}

==Exhibitions==

 

Williamson's work has been displayed in many group and individual exhibitions in locations such as [[State University of New York at Old Westbury|SUNY College]] in [[Old Westbury, New York]]; the [[John Michael Kohler Arts Center]] in [[Sheboygan, Wisconsin]], the [[African American Museum (New York)|African American Museum]] in [[Hempstead (village), New York|Hempstead, New York]]; the [[Queens Museum of Art]] in New York City, the [[Montclair Art Museum]] and the [[Bronx Museum of the Arts]] in New York City.{{sfn|Towson University}}

Selected solo exhibitions:{{sfn|June Kelly Gallery|2012}}

*1988: ''Philemona Williamson: Recent Paintings'', The Queens Museum of Art, Queens, New York

*1999: ''Time and Memory: Paintings by Philemona Williamson'', John Michael, Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI

*2000: ''New Paintings'', June Kelly Gallery, New York

*2003: ''New Paintings'', June Kelly Gallery, New York; catalogue

*2006: ''New Paintings'', June Kelly Gallery, New York

*2008: "Sudden Passage", essay by Cynthia Nadelman, June Kelly Gallery, New York

*2009: Philemona Williamson Exhibition, curated by Bertha Gutman, Delaware County Community College, Media, PA; brochure

*2010 November: ''Fractured Tales'', June Kelly Gallery, New York{{sfn|ArtSlant}}

==References==

'''Citations'''

'''Sources'''

{{refbegin}}

|title=Philemona Williamson

|author=ArtSlant

|title=Philemona Williamson Lecture

|author=CBS Baltimore

|date=2004-12-30|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-516721-4}}

|author=Harpers Magazine

|title=Williamson, Philemona

|author=Jersey Arts

|title=Philemona Williamson

|work=Mutual Art

|title=Strong, Colorful Surreal Paintings by Philemona Williamson at June Kelly Gallery |date=November 13, 2010

|author=June Kelly Gallery

|title=Philemona Williamson

|author=June Kelly Gallery |year=2012

|date=2003-03-01|publisher=Pomegranate|isbn=978-0-7649-2447-7}}

|author=Mutual Art |title=Philemona Williamson (American)

|title=Artwork: Seasons (Philemona Williamson)

|work=NYC Subway

|last=Rosenfeld |first=Robbie |year=2007

|title=Philemona Williamson "Fractured Tales"

|last=Smith |first=Alexa

|date=2 October 2010 |work=NYC Art Gallery Exhibits

|title=Philemona Williamson: Half-Remembered Dreams

|date=February 1999

|author=The World & I

|author=Towson University

|title=PHILEMONA WILLIAMSON: NEW WORK

{{refend}}

 

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williamson, Philemona}}

[[Category:1951 births]]

[[Category:21st-century American painters]]

[[Category:People from the Upper East Side]]