Shifra Goldman

Shifra Goldman (née Meyerowitz; July 18, 1926 – September 11, 2011) was an American art historian, feminist, and activist.[1] She had a probing intellect and a sense of "brutal" honesty.[2] She also had an "encyclopedic" knowledge of art history and a passion for Chicana/o art.[3]

Shifra Goldman
Born
Shifra Meyerowitz

(1926-07-18)July 18, 1926
New York City
DiedJuly 11, 2011(2011-07-11) (aged 84)
Los Angeles, California
NationalityAmerican
Alma materUniversity of California, Los Angeles;
California State University, Los Angeles
Occupationart historian
Spouse(s)John Garcia

Life

Goldman grew up in New York City and moved to Los Angeles after World War II.[2] Her parents, a trade unionist mother and a political activist father came from Poland and Russia and both exposed Goldman to art and politics at an early age.[4]

Goldman went to the High School of Music and Art in New York. When her family moved to Los Angeles, Goldman enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).[4] During her time there, she became involved in civil rights. She took part in the student boycott against barbers in Westwood who would not cut the hair of Black Veterans.[4] Goldman did not finish her degree at this time; instead she chose to dedicate herself to civil rights for Mexican-Americans.[5] She lived in East Los Angeles, where she learned to speak Spanish and in 1952 married John Garcia.[5]

Her marriage to Garcia lasted a short time and later she had another brief marriage.[5] For some time, Goldman worked in a factory[5] and then as a bookkeeper to support herself and her son, Eric Garcia.[4] During this time, she continued to be a civil rights activist and was subpoenaed to appear at the panel of the House Un-American Activities Committee where she did not answer any of their questions.[5]

In the 1960s she returned to UCLA to complete her B.A. in art.[4] Goldman received a M.A. in art history from California State University, Los Angeles (1966)and returned to UCLA to get her PhD in art history in 1977.[4] When Goldman chose her doctoral topic for her PhD, she had to wait several years for a faculty member to approve her choice of modern Mexican Art.[4]

She taught at Santa Ana College, until 1992.[5]

She helped save the "America Tropical" mural, by David Alfaro Siqueiros.[6]

Goldman had an impressive collection of archival material relating to art and artists which she donated to the California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives at UC Santa Barbara.[5]

She died in Los Angeles from Alzheimer's disease.[5]

Works
  • Mexican muralism: its social-educative roles in Latin America and the United States, Institute of Latin American Studies, University of Texas, Austin, 1980
  • Contemporary Mexican Painting in a Time of Change 1981; University of New Mexico Press, 1995, ISBN 978-0-8263-1562-5
  • Dimensions of the Americas: Art and Social Change in Latin America and the United States. University of Chicago Press. 1994. ISBN 978-0-226-30124-2.
  • Shifra M. Goldman, Tomás Ybarra-Frausto (eds) Arte Chicano: a comprehensive annotated bibliography of Chicano art, 1965-1981, Chicano Studies Library Publications Unit, University of California, 1985, ISBN 978-0-918520-09-8

Quotes

"I was never in the mainstream, never in all my life. I was born on the margins, lived on the margins, and have always sympathized with the margins. They make a lot more sense to me than the mainstream."[4]

References
  1. "Shifra Goldman, key advocate for Latino art, dead at 85". The Los Angeles Times. September 13, 2011.
  2. Guzman-Lopez, Adolfo (20 September 2011). "RIP: Shifra Goldman, 85, Longtime Champion of Chicano, Latin American Art". KCET. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  3. Vallen, Mark (13 September 2011). "¡Shifra Goldman - Presente!". Art for a Change. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  4. Gallegos, Kathy (20 September 2011). "Shifra Goldman: Obituary" (PDF). KCET. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  5. Woo, Elaine (19 September 2011). "Shifra Goldman dies at 85; champion of modern Mexican art". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  6. "SHIFRA GOLDMAN | 5 Painting the Walls | Departures". KCET. Retrieved 2011-12-20.
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