Marguerite Zorach (1887). Marguerite Zorach was an American Fauvist painter, textile artist, and graphic designer, and was an early exponent of modernism in America. She won the 1920 Logan Medal of the Arts. Marguerite Thompson was born in Santa Rosa, California. Her father, a lawyer for Napa Valley vineyards, and mother were descended from New England seafarers and Pennsylvania Quakers. While she was young, the family moved to Fresno and it was there that she began her education. She started to draw at a very young age and her parents provided her with an education that was heavily influenced by the liberal arts, including music lessons in elementary school, and four years of Latin at Fresno High School. She was one of a small group of women admitted to Stanford University in 1908. Half Dome, Yosemite, CA, 1920,watercolor over graphite While at Stanford, Thompson continued to show aptitude for art, and rather than completing her degree, she traveled to France at the invitation of her aunt, Harriet Adelaide Harris. Marguerite visited the Salon d'Automne the very day that she arrived in Paris. Here, she saw many works by Henri Matisse and Andre Derain, known as the Fauvists, or Wild Beasts. The Fauvists became known for their use of arbitrary colors and spontaneous, instinctive brushwork. Thompson's encounters with these works had a strong impact on her. It was the intention of her aunt that Thompson attend the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, but Thompson was turned away as she had never drawn a nude from life. Harris then attempted to have Thompson enrolled at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere, to study under the academic painter Francis Auburtin. Thompson had no interest in the formulas of academic painting and instead she chose to attend the post-impressionist school Academie de La Palette, where she studied under John Duncan Fergusson and Jacques-Emile Blanche. The academy encouraged her to pursue her own interests and paint in a style that was uniquely her own. She exhibited at the 1910 Societe des Artistes Independants, and the 1911 Salon d'Automne, both renowned for their modernist themes. While in Paris, she socialized with Pablo Picasso, ex-patriate Gertrude Stein, Henri Rousseau, and Henri Matisse through her Aunt Addie's connections. At the Academie de La Palette, she first met her future husband and artistic collaborator, William Zorach. William admired her passionate individuality, and he said of her modernist Fauvist artwork I just couldn't understand why such a nice girl would paint such wild pictures. After Paris, she took a lengthy tour of the world with her aunt in 1911-12. They visited Jerusalem, Egypt, India, Burma, China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Hawaii. Impressed with the foreign places she had seen and eager to write about her experiences, she sent articles to her childhood newspaper, the Fresno Morning Republican. This trip would also have a huge effect on her art, influencing her to paint even more abstractly than she had in the past, sometimes even completely flat. She also began to produce brightly colored Fauvist landscapes with thick black outlines. The trip ended with a return to California in 1912. After Thompson returned to Fresno, she spent July and August in the mountains to the north-east of Fresno around Big Creek and Shaver Lake. The lower Sierra Nevada mountains appealed to her because of their immensity and natural beauty. Ultimately, her parents' disapproval of her artistic pursuits would end her time there and cause her to destroy a large amount of her work. Upon her return to the US, she exhibited in Fresno and Los Angeles. Soon, she moved to New York City and married William Zorach the same day, December 24, 1912. The couple immediately began to collaborate artistically. Both entered artwork in the 1913 Armory Show. Their success continued as both were invited to participate in the 1916 Forum Exhibition of Modern American Painters. It was at this time that William and Marguerite began to experiment with other art forms such as poetry. Marguerite gave birth to a son, Tessim Zorach, in 1915, and a daughter, Dahlov Zorach, in 1917. Eventually, the pair settled in Greenwich Village and fondly called their house the Post-Impressionist studio. It became a meeting place of sorts, reminiscent of small salons in Paris for artists to collaborate and share ideas. At Marguerite's insistence the family spent the summers in the countryside of New England. In 1922, they visited Gaston Lachaise at Georgetown, Maine, and later bought a house. They were friends with Marsden Hartley, F. Holland Day, Gertrude Kasebier, and Paul Strand. Marguerite also served as the president of the modernist New York Society of Women Artists in the mid-1920s.
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