Edith Balas
Born (1929-06-20) June 20, 1929
Cluj, Kingdom of Romania
CitizenshipAmerican
EducationUniversity of Bucharest, M.A. (1952)
Alma materUniversity of Pittsburgh, Ph.D. (1973)
OccupationProfessor of Art History
Years active1977–present
EmployerCarnegie Mellon University
SpouseEgon Balas

Edith Balas (born June 20, 1929) is a Professor of Art History, College of Humanities & Social Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Biography

Balas was born in 1929 in Cluj (present-day Romania); she is a Holocaust survivor. She is the widow of the late mathematician Egon Balas, who was a fellow professor at Carnegie Mellon.[1]

Balas' main areas of interest are modern art (1890-1960), painting and sculpture, and the art of the Italian Renaissance.[2][3][4][5] In 2003, she curated an exhibition at the Frick Art Museum,[6] and several in Pittsburgh, Paris, New York and Budapest. She has been teaching at Carnegie Mellon University since 1977, and is also an Adjunct Professor of History of Art and Architecture at the University of Pittsburgh.

Balas is also a Holocaust survivor, having been sent to the Nazi death camp Auschwitz. In Bird in Flight: Memoir of a Survivor and Scholar, Balas tells her story of facing grim situations and becoming what she describes as a “professional survivor.” Balas named her memoir “Bird in Flight” after Constantin Brâncuși’s famous sculpture of the same name. “I consider it emblematic of my life,” she said.[7]

After the war, her husband was imprisoned by the communist authorities for three years, during which Balas raised their two daughters. She received an M.A. in Philosophy from the University of Bucharest in 1952.[8] She then emigrated to the United States with her husband, and received an M.A. in the History of Arts from Pittsburgh University in 1970 and a Ph.D. in 1973.

Works

  • Balas, Edith (2008). Brancusi and his world. Pittsburgh: Carnegie Mellon University Press. ISBN 978-0887484896.
  • Balas, Edith (2006). Brancusi & Romanian folk traditions. Pittsburgh: Carnegie Mellon University Press. ISBN 978-0887484599.
  • Balas, Edith (2004). Michelangelo's double self-portraits. Pittsburgh: Carnegie Mellon University Press. ISBN 978-0887484179.
  • Balas, Edith (2002). The Mother Goddess in Italian Renaissance art. Pittsburgh: Carnegie Mellon University Press. ISBN 978-0887483813.
  • Balas, Edith (1998). Joseph Csáky : a pioneer of modern sculpture. Philadelphia: American Philososphical Society. ISBN 978-0871692306.
  • Balas, Edith (1995). Michelangelo's Medici Chapel : a new interpretation. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society. ISBN 978-0871692160.
  • Balas, Edith (2002). The Holocaust in the painting of Valentin Lustig. Pittsburgh: Carnegie Mellon University Press. ISBN 978-0887483738.
  • Koerner, Henry (2003). The early work of Henry Koerner. Pittsburgh, Pa: Frick Art & Historical Center. ISBN 978-0970342553.
  • Balas, Edith (2010). Bird in flight : memoir of a survivor and scholar. Pittsburgh: Carnegie Mellon University Press. ISBN 978-0887485381.
  • Edith Balas, "Michelangelo's Medici Chapel: A New Interpretation", Philadelphia, 1995

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Edith Balas". Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
  2. ↑ Beck, James (July 1998). "Review: Michelangelo's Medici Chapel: A New Interpretation. Edith Balas". Renaissance Quarterly. 51 (2): 620–621. doi:10.2307/2901595. JSTOR 2901595. S2CID 192089735.
  3. ↑ Emison, Patricia (June 2005). "Review: Michelangelo's Double Self-Portraits by Edith Balas". Renaissance Quarterly. 58 (2): 600–602. doi:10.1353/ren.2008.0719. S2CID 162049348.
  4. ↑ Feinstein, Steve (2003). "The Holocaust in the Painting of Valentin Lustig (review)". Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies. 21 (3): 190–192. doi:10.1353/sho.2003.0013. S2CID 170695806.
  5. ↑ Thomas, Mary. "Art Reviews: Painter goes deep into both Holocaust history and his own story". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
  6. ↑ Thomas, Mary. "Art Review: Frick exhibits explore two artists' sense of loss". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
  7. ↑ (CMU), Carnegie Mellon University. "March 22: CMU's Edith Balas Pens Memoir Depicting Life as a Survivor and Scholar - Carnegie Mellon University - CMU". www.cmu.edu. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
  8. ↑ University, Carnegie Mellon. "Edith Balas - Center for the Arts in Society - Carnegie Mellon University". www.cmu.edu. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
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