Marie Zimmermann
Zimmermann in her studio in 1914
Born(1879-07-17)July 17, 1879
Brooklyn, New York City, US
DiedJune 17, 1972(1972-06-17) (aged 92)
Punta Gorda, Florida, US
EducationPacker Collegiate Institute
Art Students League of New York
Pratt Institute
Known forDesigner and maker of jewelry and metalwork

Marie Zimmermann (June 17, 1879 – June 17, 1972) was an American designer and maker of jewelry and metalwork.[1] She is noted for fine craftsmanship and innovative design in a variety of different mediums and styles. Calling herself “a craftsman” rather than an artist, she employed many different crafts in her work such as metalsmithing, carving, painting, and sculpting. A 1926 article in the Brooklyn Eagle by Harriette Ashbrook called her "perhaps the most versatile artist in the country".[2]

Early life and education

Zimmermann was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1879, the fourth of five children to well-off Swiss immigrants John and Marie Zimmermann.[3][4] Her family purchased a farm in 1882 along the Delaware River near Milford, Pennsylvania, to serve as a weekend and summer home. The family farm strongly influenced Zimmermann's creativity.[4] Against her father's desire for her to go into medicine, she pursued a career in the decorative arts and worked toward mastery of metalworking.[5][4] She was educated at the Packer Collegiate Institute, the Art Students League of New York, and the Pratt Institute.[6]

Career

Over 25 years, Zimmermann worked ten to twelve hours a day to master all of the different crafts she wanted to use in her art.[2][5] The earliest record of her employed work is the annual arts and crafts exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago from December 16, 1902 to January 10, 1903.[7] By 1910 Zimmerman had commissions from around the country and opened her own studio in the National Arts Club in New York.[4] She lived in New York and ran her studio at the National Arts Club from about 1910 to 1937.[8] At the age of 33, she designed a large family vacation home in Pike County that shows the rustic elegance of the Arts and Crafts movement and is now a historic site.[7]

Inspiring by Cellini and Michelangelo to master a wide range of media and techniques, Zimmermann designed metalwork in a wide range of media (gold, silver, bronze, copper and iron), vessels, daggers and irons, light fixtures, stained-glass windows, garden gates, furniture, and jewelry. Much of her eclectic work was inspired by diverse historical precedents, including ancient Egyptian, Greco-Roman, and Chinese forms. She experimented freely with materials, surface, color and applied ornament.[9]

Many of Zimmermann's pieces were useful as well as decorative. One example, a candlestick with an electric light in the back, combined elegance with utility. The electric light would provide enough illumination for people to see, and the candles would provide atmosphere.[10] Zimmermann used many of her own pieces in her own home and therefore knew the work from the client/user’s perspective as well as the maker/designer’s.[1] She hired and trained six assistants to help execute her designs.[2]

Later life

Zimmermann closed her studio at the National Arts Club in 1937 and retired in 1940. Her whole family had died during a span of five years. The government was also urging her to do better bookkeeping, especially in regards to the valuable materials she was using.[11] She eventually left New York City to settle on the family farm.[12]

Zimmermann was an avid fisher and hunter, and lived for over forty years with her life partner Ruth Allen (1884–1969), a former actress and screenwriter.[13]

Moving to Punta Gorda, Florida, in 1969, Zimmermann died in Florida on her 93rd birthday in 1972.[7][14] Her ashes were scattered on the family farm.[12]

Style

Zimmermann created in many different styles, and her work cannot be confined to one artistic movement.[1] Her works were created within the diverse movements that were common in the United States during her lifetime. Her life in central New York was exposed to the latest stylistic influences and her artistic curiosity. Examples of the Belle Époque, the Aesthetic Movement, the Arts and Crafts Movement, Greek and Egyptian Revival, Art Deco, and Modernism can be found in her works. To gain inspirations from all over the world, she built an extensive personal library.[7]

Awards

Zimmermann won the Logan Prize for Jewelry and Silverware from an exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1924.[1]

Legacy

After her retirement, Zimmermann lost some of her public recognition. In the 1980s, her nephew decided to continue her legacy by placing her art in various museums.[15]

Works by Marie Zimmermann are included in the collections of the Columbus Museum (the Persian Box, in silver and ivory with applied lapis lazuli, pearls, jade and malachite), the Art Institute of Chicago,[16] Carnegie Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art,[17] Metropolitan Museum of Art,[18] Minneapolis Institute of Art,[19] Museum of Fine Arts in Boston[20] and Wolfsonian-FIU.[21] Her papers are held at the Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library.[12]

The Marie Zimmermann Farm was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.[22]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 The Ganoksin Project. "[Ganoksin] Marie Zimmermann - From Tiaras to Tombstones". Ganoksin.com. Retrieved 2012-05-03.
  2. 1 2 3 Ashbrooke, Harriette (6 June 1926). "Woman Master of a Dozen Crafts". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  3. ↑ Waters, Cunningham & Barnes 2011, p. 20.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Friends of Marie Zimmermann". Friends of Marie Zimmermann. Retrieved 2019-03-09.
  5. 1 2 "Never Heard of Her: Marie Zimmerman". Unladylike. Retrieved 2019-03-09.
  6. ↑ "Innovative, Versatile, Independent: The Multi-Talented Craftsmanship of Marie Zimmermann | Two Red Roses Foundation". tworedroses.com. Retrieved 2020-02-13.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "The Work of Marie Zimmermann - Ganoksin Jewelry Making Community". Ganoksin. Retrieved 2020-02-13.
  8. ↑ "Rare Gold, Baroque Pearl, Emerald, and Pink Sapphire Ring, Marie Zimmermann | Sale Number 2693B, Lot Number 475 | Skinner Auctioneers". www.skinnerinc.com. Retrieved 2020-02-13.
  9. ↑ Kahn, Eve M. (2011-11-17). "Arts and Crafts Pioneer Is Subject of New Book". The New York Times. Retrieved 2020-02-13.
  10. ↑ Edgerton, Giles (February 1922). "An American Worker in the Crafts". House & Garden. pp. 28–29+79.
  11. ↑ "Life and Influence". friendsofmariezimmermann.org. Retrieved 2017-03-11.
  12. 1 2 3 "Marie Zimmermann papers". Winterthur Library. Retrieved 2022-10-09.
  13. ↑ Waters, Cunningham & Barnes 2011, pp. 2–3, 117.
  14. ↑ Waters, Cunningham & Barnes 2011, p. 174.
  15. ↑ "Career and Works". friendsofmariezimmermann.org. Retrieved 2017-03-11.
  16. ↑ "Marie Zimmermann". The Art Institute of Chicago. 1878. Retrieved 2019-03-09.
  17. ↑ "Marie Zimmermann | LACMA Collections". collections.lacma.org. Retrieved 2019-03-09.
  18. ↑ "Box ca. 1910-1920". www.metmuseum.org. Retrieved 2019-03-09.
  19. ↑ Marie Zimmermann (c. 1910). "Centerpiece bowl". Minneapolis Institute of Art. Retrieved 01 Mar 2019.
  20. ↑ "Pair of bangles". Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. 2019-01-06. Retrieved 2019-03-09.
  21. ↑ "American Art Deco Sterling Silver Box by Marie Zimmermann". Q ANTIQUES AND DESIGN. Retrieved 2019-03-09.
  22. ↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.

Works cited

  • Waters, Deborah Dependahl; Cunningham, Joseph; Barnes, Bruce (2011). The Jewelry and Metalwork of Marie Zimmermann. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300181142.
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