Lyn Blumenthal

Summary

Lyn Blumenthal (1949-1988) was an American video artist and writer. She and Kate Horsfield founded the Video Data Bank in 1976.

Lyn Blumenthal
Born1949 (1949)
Died1988 (aged 38–39)
NationalityAmerican
Alma materSchool of the Art Institute of Chicago
Known forVideo art
Memorial(s)Lyn Blumenthal Memorial Fund

Biography edit

Blumenthal was born in 1949 in Chicago, Illinois. Her parents were Sunoll and Frima Horwitch Blumenthal.[1] In 1976, while attending the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, she and Horsfield founded the Video Data Bank to conserve their taped interviews with video artists.[2] She graduated with a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1976.[3]

In the 1980s Blumenthal was examining the politics of media. Dedicated to the application of feminist theory to video practice, Blumenthal's early 80s art tapes explore issues of female identity and sexuality as a crisis of representation.[4] Her 1984 video Arcade, in collaboration with Carole Ann Klonarides and the painter Ed Paschke, was included in the 1989 touring exhibition Making Their Mark: Women Artists Move into the Mainstream, 1970-1985.[5] One of her final projects was released in 1987. It is a six-part collection of interviews of women artists entitled What Does She Want?[6]

Blumenthal died of a heart attack on July 21, 1988, in Manhattan, New York City.[1] In her honor the Video Data Bank created the Lyn Blumenthal Memorial Fund to support artists in the media arts.[7]

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Lyn Blumenthal, 39, An Artist and Writer". The New York Times. 27 July 1988.
  2. ^ Juhasz, Alexandra (2001). "Kate Horsfield". Women of Vision: Histories in Feminist Film and Video. University of Minnesota Press. pp. 95–106. ISBN 978-0-8166-3371-5.
  3. ^ Handy, Amy (1989). "Artist's Biographies - Lyn Blumenthal". In Randy Rosen; Catherine C. Brower (eds.). Making Their Mark. Women Artists Move into the Mainstream, 1970-1985. Abbeville Press. pp. 240–241. ISBN 0-89659-959-0.
  4. ^ "Lyn Blumenthal | Video Data Bank". www.vdb.org. Retrieved 2020-07-06.
  5. ^ Stein, Judith E.; Wooster, Ann-Sargent (1989). "Making Their Mark - Art with an Agenda". In Randy Rosen; Catherine C. Brower (eds.). Making Their Mark. Women Artists Move into the Mainstream, 1970-1985. Abbeville Press. p. 138. ISBN 0-89659-959-0.
  6. ^ New media futures : the rise of women in the digital arts. Cox, Donna J.,, Sandor, Ellen,, Fron, Janine. Urbana, IL. 2018. ISBN 978-0-252-05018-3. OCLC 1032708552.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  7. ^ "Lyn Blumenthal Memorial Fund". Video Data Bank. Retrieved 22 April 2014.

External links edit

  • Lyn Blumenthal Memorial Fund