Shirley Gorelick (1924-2000): Painter of Humanist Realism

Shirley Gorelick (1924-2000) was an American artist who evolved a distinctive realist technique that allowed her to create penetrating psychological portraiture, often on a large scale. This profusely illustrated book is the first in-depth study of Gorelick’s oeuvre. Her development is traced from the early influences of Cubism, Surrealism, and Abstract Expressionism to her artistic maturity as a painter of compelling realist works. Gorelick’s creative achievements are revisited and illuminated through interviews, artist’s statements, press releases, published reviews, and detailed discussions of her major themes and important works.Shirley Gorelick’s acrylic paintings, silverpoint drawings, and intaglio prints were exhibited widely in the 1970s and early 1980s. Her work was lauded by reviewers in the New York Times, Newsday, Soho Weekly News, Long Island Press, Arts Magazine, Feminist Art Journal, and Womanart. In 1979, Ellen Lubell aptly declared that Shirley Gorelick deserves consideration with the leading figure painters of the day. She was also an early member of SOHO 20 Gallery (est. 1973), the second artist-run, all-women exhibition space in New York City, and was among the founders of Central Hall Artists Gallery (est. 1973) in Port Washington, New York, the first cooperative of its kind on Long Island.