ETHEL MAGAFAN (AMERICAN 1916 -1993),
SILENT PEAKS
woodcut, signed, titled, dated 1981 and numbered 20/100 in pencil
33cm x 45cm
Mounted, framed and under glass.
Note: Ethel Magafan and her twin sister Jenne Magafan were born in Chicago, Illinois in 1916.. At Broadmoor Art Academy (later renamed the Colorado Springs Fine Art Center) the pair met Frank Mechau, who hired both as assistants, allowing them to continue learning at the school from 1936-1938. Mechau, as well as fellow teachers Boardman Robinson and Pepino Mangravite, would have a great influence on both of the budding artists. From 1937 to 1943, Ethel was commissioned to paint her first of seven government sponsored murals, the first located in the US Post Office in Auburn, Nebraska. This commission made Ethel, age 26, the youngest artist in America to receive such an honour. Other New Deal Works Progress Administration (WPA) murals included the US Senate Chamber, the Recorder Deeds Building, and the Social Security Building in Washington D.C.. After government sponsorship for public murals began to dwindle in the 1940s, Ethel refocused her career on easel painting and successfully earned her first solo exhibition in 1940 at The Gallery of Contemporary Art in New York. Ethel collaborated with her sister to create seven joint exhibitions during the course of their careers. Choosing this noncompetitive route strengthened the pair’s bond, yet allowed them to maintain their own artistic styles. The sisters resided in California for nearly five years until, in 1945, the twins permanently relocated to Woodstock, New York after hearing great things from friends about the art colony. After settling, Ethel developed an increasing focus within her work, particularly for horses and abstract landscapes. She met fellow artist Bruce Currie at an artist’s party and the two were married in 1946. Both sisters won Fulbright Scholarships and Tiffany Foundation Awards which allowed Ethel to travel to Greece and Jenne to Italy. Less than a week after their return to the United States in 1952 Jenne died of cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 36. Ethel stated that the loss of her sister was “a tragedy from which I have never fully recovered”. Ethel was elected an Academician of the National Academy of Design in 1968. Following this achievement, she taught art throughout the 1970’s at both the University of Georgia and Syracuse University. Her stature within the art world was solidified in 1971 when the United States Department of Interior requested that Ethel tour and draw sketches throughout the Western U.S. These sketches were later exhibited at the National Gallery in Washington and then sent on a national tour by the Smithsonian Institution. She painted her last mural, “Grant in the Wilderness,” in 1979 at the Fredericksburg National Military Park in Virginia. From 1962 to her death in 1993, she had 19 solo gallery shows.