Milton Warren Douthat: artist, naval architect
They met at the Art Students League, married soon after her first marriage ended.
George Brodsky (1901-1999); married for a few months in 1929
1930: Blossom Margaret Douthat
September 16, 1899
Calvaria, Russia
1988
New York City
Russian Jew
to 1912: Russia
1914-1927: New York New York
1928 - 1935: Chicago, Illinois
1933: 1207 N. State St., Chicago, Illinois
1935: New York, New York
1940: Honolulu, Hawaii
about 1942-1946: Kansas City, Missouri
1946 and later: -MacDougal St., New York, New York
1948: Provincetown, Massachusetts
Chicago, Illinois
New York, New York
Mixed Media, Painter-Acrylic, Watercolorist
about 1924-1926: Art Students League, New York, New York with Boardman Robinson
1927-1929: Moscow Art Academy, Moscow, Russia with David Sternberg and others
1929: Paris (met Marc Chagall there)
Paris
Cityscapes
Figure
Floral still life
Genre
self-portraits
1922-1929: No-Jury Society of Artists, Chicago, Illinois
1926: Opportunity Gallery (gouaches)
circa 1929: Moscow Museum, Moscow, Russia
1930: The Ten, Marshall Field Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
1930: Knoedler Galleries, New York, New York (solo; works from Russia and Paris)
1931: Knoedler Galleries, New York, New York (solo; many paintings of her daughter)
1933: Chicago Woman's Club Prize, Annual Exhibition of Works by Chicago and Vicinity Artists, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
1934: Chicago Society of Artists Silver Medal, Annual Exhibition of Works by Chicago and Vicinity Artists, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois - Harvest
correspondence in Rhys Caparn Papers at Syracuse University
correspondence in Judson Crews papers at Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas
correspondence in Sherwood Anderson Papers at The Newberry, Chicago, Illinois
Angel was home schooled as a child. Her father fled religious persecution and settled in New York, where she joined him in 1914; a sister and brother who refused to leave Russia later perished during the Holocaust.
Her father was artistically talented, sketching in his spare time, and he encouraged Rifka to do the same, but she was 25 before she took up art seriously. She later said "her desire to create art was born out of the turmoil of her early life and her need to find peace of mind."
While a student of Boardman Robinson at the Art Students League of New York, she was especially inspired by fellow students John Sloan, Ernest Fiene, Emil Ganso, Ben Shahn, Max Kuhn and Alfred Maurer. She posed for Kuhn in the 1920s, and Ganso recommended her to Erhard Weyhe who selected several of her gouaches for his Weyhe Gallery. But Robinson encouraged her to quit school and focus on her spontaneous style.
Her first husband, George Brodsky, encouraged her to try watercolor painting. She showed some of her works to Sloan, who used his influence to get her work into some exhibitions.
In 1927, Angel returned to Russia for two years to visit a sister. While studying there, she was influenced by the styles of Matisse and Cezanne. On the way home she spent time in Paris, visiting museums and sketching.
Angel was one of the first artists in the United States to use a true encaustic technique, mixing beeswax with pigment in muffin tins and fusing according to a formula developed by her husband.
She was part of the Easel Division of the Illinois Federal Art Project.