Unidentified photographer, Doris Seidler at her Irving Place studio, 1958-62. Courtesy Doris Seidler Estate.
Unidentified photographer, Doris Seidler at her first New York exhibition, Wittenborn Gallery, ca. 1960-63. Courtesy Doris Seidler Estate.
Doris Seidler, Luna Composition No. 3 City, 1952. Etching and aquatint, plate: 16 ¾ x 14 in. (42.5 x 35.6 cm); sheet: 22 5/8 x 18 in. (57.5 x 45.7 cm). Philadelphia Museum of Art. Purchased with the Thomas Skelton Harrison Fund, 1952 (1952-31-29). Courtesy Doris Seidler Estate.
Doris Seidler, Improbable Hound, 1952. Engraving with burin and power drill, plate: 4 x 11 15/16 in. (10.1 x 30.3 cm); sheet: 4 13/16 x 12 13/16 in. (12.3 x 32.5 cm). Doris Seidler Estate, New York. Courtesy Doris Seidler Estate.

85. Doris Seidler

Life Dates1912-2010
Place of BirthLondon, England
Place of DeathGreat Neck, NY, USA
Birth NameDoris Falkoff

Born in London, England, Doris Falkoff was the oldest child of Jenny and Isadore Falkoff.1 In 1935 she married Bernhard Seidler, a Jewish immigrant almost eighteen years her senior who had established himself as a fur trader. Two years later, in 1937, the couple welcomed the birth of their only child, David. Fearing the spread of the continental conflict to England, the Seidlers sailed for the United States in June 1940, shortly after the Battle of Dunkirk. The family tried living in England following the end of the war, but returned to the United States in 1947 and settled permanently in Great Neck, New York. Seidler, who had dabbled as an amateur artist, found her way to Atelier 17 in 1950 and remained affiliated with the studio until 1953. Her earliest intaglio prints combine the fractured planes of cubism with the dreamlike visions of surrealism. As she gained technical competence, she excelled in building layers of textures to produce abstractions, cityscapes, and “moonworlds,” the latter a particular fascination. The camaraderie among Atelier 17’s members and their shared sense of purpose served as great motivators for Seidler.2 She formed friendships with Dorothy Dehner, Minna Citron, and Jan Gelb, among others, and participated in a loose network of printmakers based in the Great Neck area that included Dolly Perutz, Pauline Astor, and Agnes Karlin Mills. After Atelier 17, Seidler turned her attention to woodcuts. She very actively exhibited her prints during the 1950s and 1960s, including many group shows and her first solo show of prints at Wittenborn Gallery in 1954.

Archives

Doris Seidler papers, New York, New York

Selected Bibliography

Affleck, Roy. “Collage Creations.” Sussex Gazette, September 19, 1991.

“Art in New York: Uptown.” Time, March 20, 1964.

Exhibition of Copper Engravings & Aquatints by the American Graphic Artist Doris Seidler. Great Yarmouth, England: Great Yarmouth School of Arts & Crafts, 1956.

McNay, Michael. “Doris Seidler Obituary.” The Guardian, December 12, 2010.

Polier, Betsy. “Seidler at Roko.” Park East, March 19, 1964.

Preston, Stuart. “Doris Seidler.” New York Times, March 21, 1964.

Rabinowitz, Lisa Weinberg. “The Web of Experiences: Printmaking in the United States.” Ed.D., Columbia University Teachers College, 1977.

Seidler, Doris. “Douglass Howell – Papermaker.” Impression, no. 4 (Fall 1958): 6–9.

Wishart, Lutrelle. “Art in Asheville.” Asheville Citizen-Times, September 27, 1964.

Notes

  1. Susan Stedman, manager of Seidler’s estate, has facilitated access to important archival materials and the artist’s work. ↩
  2. Lisa Weinberg Rabinowitz, “The Web of Experiences: Printmaking in the United States” (EdD diss., Columbia University Teachers College, 1977), 37. ↩