Abstract Painting Signed Mary Lorenc

Found only one other painting by the same artist on live auctioneers but no info on her.

 

I am not finding anything besides the one on Liveauctioneers either.

 

That's probably a pseudonym. Those look like other names maybe? I'm having trouble deciphering the scribbles that resemble the alphabet.

 

Aeryln?
Mary Life?
ALORENC?
Aerylic?
Acrylic. Wow. She needs to regain herself. Fast.
Mary Life To Paint Acrylic. Inspiring but I'm not that into it...

 

It may be Marcin Lorenc, but I'm still looking. Just for you. I typically don't vomit on a canvas and scribble messages.
Mary was misspelled because whoever it is May be foreign or religious.

 

On second thought, I'll let you decipher what looks like Adivial but isn't individual.

 

c'mon.....that says ACRYLIC ...!

 

If this is her, she apparently studied under Jan Matulka at the Art Students League, N.Y., in a circle of artists labeled "The Communists", from 1929-1931.
https://books.google.com/books?id=P...ODAF#v=onepage&q="mary lorenc" artist&f=false

 

It seems she studied and socialized with a group of artists, some who later became quite famous, under an instructor named Jan Matulka at Art Students League in New York City somewhere between 1928 - 1930-something. The students rented their own facilities when Matulka lost his teaching postion with Art Students League so they could continue studying with him.

From there, according to some 1940s links to Newpapers.com it looks like she became a medical artist at New York University College of Medicine (if it's the same Mary Lorenc).

Mary Lorenc is mentioned in this book:
Irene Rice Pereira: Her Paintings and Philosophy By Karen A. Bearor

Mary Lorenc also mentioned in the writings of Dorothy Dehner.
Memories of Jan Matulka (by Dorothy Dehner)
David Smith and I came to know Jan Matulka as a teacher in the Art Students League before we knew him as a painter. Among the large number of students who passed through his class, we considered ourselves part of a core group consisting of Richard Abernathy, Lucille Corcos (Levy), Francis Criss, Burgoyne Diller, Alfred Kraemer, Bella (Anne) Kroll, Edgar Levy, Mary Lorene, George McNeil, Irene Rice Pereira, Jim Robertson, and Peter Sekaer.......

We were devastated when we learned in 1931 that Matulka would not be able to continue at the League. The reason given was that his enrollment was not sufficient to keep him on. With only thirteen or fourteen registered students, his class did not meet the minimum requirement of an enrollment of seventeen. Our despair was short-lived. It turned into action when Matulka got together with us to create a special private class. This project was discussed at many meetings, mostly with Matulka present. We found studio space on West Fourteenth Street between Seventh and Eight Avenues. A large proportion of the students were part of this effort: Lucille Corcos (Levy), Burgoyne Diller, Al Kraemer, Edgar Levy, Mary Lorenc, Irene Rice Pereira, and Jim Robertson were especially active. Romana Javits, head of the Picture Department at the New York Public Library, where Lorenc worked, helped with her advice...

You can't see or read the articles at NewsPapers.com unless you subscribe, but Google gives tiny clips.
March 18, 1945
Indianapolis, Indiana · Page 79
A sterile gown is Mary Lorenc's work uniform This girl attends operations and ... who is on the staff of the New York University College of Medicine, has worked on ...

January 5, 1948
The Ottawa Journal from Ottawa, · Page 8
Mary Lorenc, medical artist for the New York University college of medicine, .... She was a student at the Art Students' League and interested in the study of ...

So, it looks like you can connect her with a famous artist/art instructor and some famous artists she studied with.

 

Sniped by anundverkaufen!

 

I like your in depth post better though!

 

Thank you so much for the great info.
Some of Jan Matulka students became quite famous. But they are all dead.
I could not find anything on Al Kraemer, Bella Kroll and James Robertson.
It seems odd to combine medical illustration with abstract art. But if I read it right, my painting is dated 1978. Maybe Mary Lorenc went back to painting after her carrer at the hospital was over.

 

I did try searching Google's newspaper archives for the articles above, or anything else that had her name in it, but came up with nothing. Google doesn't have The Indianapolis Star or The Ottawa Journal archived. Can't find an obit for her anywhere, either.

 

Forgive me if someone snagged these already from THE NEW YORK TIMES. On May 5, 1929 announced as winner of the Arts Students League Fellowship and summer resident artist to the Tiffany Foundation.

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9C01E4D71338E23ABC4D53DFB3668382639EDE

February 22, 1942, article mentioning she was included in an exhibition of Czech painters living in New York City.

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9403E5D7173CE33BBC4A51DFB4668389659EDE

And November 28, 1942 real estate announcement that she and "Lydia Buechi" had rented an apartment at 330 East 31st Street (which seems like an odd address.)

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9E02E3DD173FE33BBC4051DFB7678389659EDE

Debora

 

According to the census, Lydia Buechi was 42 in 1940 and gave her profession as "medical writer." They could have been colleagues.

Debora

 

Here's a book for which she did the medical illustrations. Published 1969.

http://www.worldcat.org/title/involuntary-movement-disorders/oclc/161609

Debora

 

Thanks you. Enough material for a short bio of hers.
Maybe that is why she never got famous, being a med illustrator and maybe painted on a side.
Maybe she can get a recognition one day and I keep the piece as a an investment
By the way, do you know any cases when artist was unknown for many years after his/her death and one day she/he got famous?

 

Vincent Van Gogh

Debora

 

True but he died young. Maybe if he had lived longer he would have get more attention at some point. But who knows...

 

Well, a more recent example and someone who died in old age...

Vivian Maier

Debora