Ida Abelman, born Ida York as the child of immigrant parents, shared the traits of many Depression Era artists. Her father was a politically active cap-maker. Abelman inherited both his political passion and his interest in crafts. She was educated in New York schools, academies, and colleges and married Larry Abelman, another artist, at age 19. She and her husband had a productive, if penurious, existence in Greenwich Village. Abelman produced lithographs for the activist publication Art Front, notably "My Father Reminisces" (May, 1937). She joined the anti-fascist group The American Artists Congress, and was hired for a major WPA exhibition on public housing in Sioux City, Iowa, where she also taught lithography. She received two commissions for murals in federal Post Offices. After the war, she and her husband, like many artists of that era, moved to Long Island, settling in Sag Harbor, where she lived until her death.My Father ReminiscesWonders of Our Time
Critical Analysis
Abelman's work often dealt with themes relating to the American experience of immigration, poverty and class-related strife. She was unsentimental in addressing these issues, resulting in a number of powerful works. She often depicted the role of technology in modern life, integrating the forms of technology with those of nature, while dramatizing the contrasts between technology and human existence. Her style departed from strict socialist realism into a more abstract and constructivist vein. Her lithographs - and even her murals - evoked silhouettes of their main themes, bringing them out against a more neutral background and adding drama to her work.
