Lilly Fenichel, who died in Albuquerque, NM in August 2016 at 89 years old, has created a vital body of work, spanning several generations of seminal artistic movements throughout America’s major cultural centers, and established a prominent place in the pantheon of 20th century American art. Fenichel was an integral part of the early sixties Beat Generation movement, an important and very powerful female amongst the male-dominated abstract expressionists, and the epitome of the LA ‘Cool School,’ before later becoming a key player in the artistic communities of Taos and Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Born in Vienna, Austria, Fenichel and her family fled the Nazis in 1939 upon the onset of World War II. Her uncle was the psychoanalyst Otto Fenichel; and so not surprisingly, Freudian psychology has played a significant role in her personal development and artistic outlook.
At the age if 13, Fenichel relocated with her parents to Hollywood, CA just as LA’s burgeoning art scene emerged. Her education began at The Chouinard Art Institute, LA (1946-47), then she attended The California School of Fine Arts (now, The San Francisco Art Institute, from 1950-1952), studying under esteemed instructors such as Hassel Smith, Edward Corbett, David Park and Elmer Bischoff. Her paintings from this period, a combination of strong graphic elements and geometric structure, reflect the gestural expressionism associated with a younger generation of the Bay Area School. Although the Beats adhered to a counter-conservative culture philosophy, the women of the movement were ironically marginalized which did not sit well with the feisty and fiercely independent Fenichel. She was famously vocal on this topic. While painting in Los Angeles she was friends with the members of the “Boys Club,” which included Ed Moses, Ed Ruscha, Larry Bell and Billy Al Bengston, as well as the like of Sam Francis, Rudi Gernreich, Aldous Huxley and Noel Harrison amongst others.
The abstractions Fenichel displayed in her first exhibition, a joint show of painting with Philip Roeber, at the Lucien Labaudt Gallery in 1951, were as sombre as any canvases by the most disillusioned of (Second World War) veterans. These paintings showed little in common with the work of Corbett or Smith, but were more in line with the brooding palette and rugged paint handling of ex-GIs like Jack Jefferson and Frank Lobdell. Although Fenichel insisted that she “tried to approach each canvass as a new statement” – and indeed, taken together, her work shows a creative range of compositional strategies and a gritty elegance all of their own – her paintings indicate how fully she had absorbed the San Francisco sensibility that gave coherence to the Bay Area School.
In 1952, Fenichel moved to New York City where she felt female artists garnered more respect, sharing a studio with Harlan Jackson and teaching art classes at The Museum of Modern Art. Here she was active socially in studio and watering hole gatherings such as Hans Hoffman’s studio and the infamous Cedar Bar, and friends with Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollack, Franz Kline, and Miller Resnick, among others. Her paintings from this period drew strong inspiration from these artists while maintaining her unique character.
After an initial visit to Edward Corbett’s studio in Taos, New Mexico during the 1950s, Fenichel like many artists, fell in love with the town’s light and landscape, and returned often. She soon became a member of the Taos artist community, referred to as The Taos Moderns (along with Clay Spohn, Agnes Martin and Beatrice Mandelman), and set up her art studio here from 1980-84. At this time, Fenichel explored three-dimensional forms, working in wood and fiberglass, while her paintings became layered with glazes and synthetic polypropylene. Fenichel eventually moved to Corrales and Albuquerque, where she had a wonderful studio built behind her home in which she loved to spend time painting. For almost four decades, Fenichel remained a key figure in the South West art scene.
Over the years, Fenichel worked consistently, unafraid to tackle new subjects and experiment with new media and tools. Her output was prolific, varied, and always original to her specific artistic vision. Avoiding “trends” in contemporary art, she once told a journalist, “I do not make hemline art”. Fenichel liked to emphasize that she was not an Abstract Expressionist, but merely a “non-objective” painter, considering labels of any kind were a capitulation to the art world’s commercial packaging. She continued working until the last few months of her life.
Lilly Fenichel’s long career produced exquisite and exemplary work over many artistic eras. Amid a male-dominated art world, she was able to thrive as an outspoken, critic of the times, ever the rebellious and consummate perfectionist. She had shows in major museums and galleries. Her last solo exhibition was a comprehensive retrospective at David Richard Gallery in Santa Fe.