25 Facts About Elizabeth Olds

Elizabeth Olds was an American artist known for her work in developing silkscreen as a fine arts medium.

Elizabeth Olds was a painter and illustrator, but is primarily known as a printmaker, using silkscreen, woodcut, lithography processes.

Elizabeth Olds studied under George Luks, was a Social Realist, and worked for the Public Works of Art Project and Federal Art Project during the Great Depression.

Elizabeth Olds was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota to a middle-class family.

Elizabeth Olds's mother was an art historian, and her mother exposed Elizabeth Olds and her sister, Eleanor, to art through visits to the Walker Art Center and Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Elizabeth Olds's art was first documented in her high school yearbook, featuring a cartoon sketch of a goose at tea.

In 1921, Elizabeth Olds received another scholarship to study at the Art Students League of New York where she studied under George Luks.

The early style of Elizabeth Olds reflects Luks's influence on her art.

In 1925, with the help of Elihu Root and some bankers, Elizabeth Olds was funded to travel to France.

In 1926, Elizabeth Olds became the first woman awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship, and was granted further travel in Europe.

Elizabeth Olds was fairly sheltered from the Great Depression when she returned to the US in 1929.

In 1932, Elizabeth Olds viewed Jose Clemente Orozco's nearly finished murals at Dartmouth College, and was inspired by his expressive use of form and political themes.

Elizabeth Olds completed the project, but she became frustrated with the monotony of painting portraits.

Under the PWAP, Elizabeth Olds created a series of lithographs featuring the bread lines, shelters, and clinics of the Great Depression.

From 1935 until the early 1940s, Elizabeth Olds was a nonrelief employee for the Works Progress Administration-Federal Art Project in the Graphic Arts Division in New York, where she helped younger artists in the silkscreen unit.

Elizabeth Olds joined the American Artists' Congress, Artists Union, and other groups with similar interests.

Elizabeth Olds became friends with Harry Gottlieb, another nonrelief artist who focused on industrialism.

Elizabeth Olds is an accomplished graphic artist and has made a considerable number of serigraphs outside the Project, in addition to her long experience in lithography.

Elizabeth Olds's work was included in the 1940 MoMA show American Color Prints Under $10.

Elizabeth Olds submitted and reproduced 10 prints in The New Masses in 1936 and 1937, a leftist magazine at the time.

Elizabeth Olds's art reflected her leftist political views, but her social and political awareness at the time.

In three of her books, Elizabeth Olds wrote about firefighters, trains, and oil, educating her readers about industrialism.

Elizabeth Olds's papers are held at the University of Texas.

Elizabeth Olds had close friendships with Harry Gottlieb, Berenice Abbott, and Elizabeth McCausland.

In 1972, Elizabeth Olds retired to Sarasota, Florida where she worked until her death in 1991.