Semester

Spring

Date of Graduation

2023

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MA

College

College of Creative Arts

Department

Art History

Committee Chair

Kristina Olson

Committee Co-Chair

Rhonda Reymond

Committee Member

Megan Leight

Abstract

In 1941, Elizabeth Rockwell (1920-1998) opened Outlines, a modern art gallery in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Outlines would come to have one of the most impressive chronologies of a modern art gallery of its time, however it receives little to no attention in any type of academic history. Rockwell herself was an important figure in Pittsburgh, had the ability to understand avant-garde art, but also to solve problems within her community. Rockwell was curating shows of similar caliber of those produced by her peer, Peggy Guggenheim, however, she does not share the same level of fame. In this thesis, I will discuss the artists who were exhibited at Outlines, and the events and workings of this Pittsburgh gallery, and gallerist. This thesis strives to give credit to one of modern arts’ important champions in America working outside of the center of the art world in New York. This paper will also examine the impact of the artists on Elizabeth Rockwell herself, and how the works she exhibited in the 1940s shaped her subsequent endeavor, a gallery and store space still operating in Pittsburgh, Contemporary Craft. Finally, I draw evidence from Elizabeth Rockwell’s own scrapbook records, my interviews conducted with Philip Pearlstein, Outlines’ single surviving exhibiting artist; art critic Blake Gopnik; Rockwell’s daughters, Cathy and Alex Raphael; and a number of her other associates. My research aims to highlight Elizabeth Rockwell Raphael’s efforts in the Pittsburgh community, beginning with Outlines gallery. Through the gallery Rockwell Raphael exposed those in the Pittsburgh community to modern art while cultivating her own interests and shaping her own interests and knowledge for her future endeavors.

Embargo Reason

Publication Pending

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Available for download on Tuesday, April 23, 2024

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