{{Short description|American artist (1936–2023)}} {{COI|date=February 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = Mira Lehr | image = MiraLehr.jpeg | caption = Lehr in 2015 | birth_name = Mira Tager | birth_date = {{birth date|1934|9|22}} | birth_place = Brooklyn, New York, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2023|1|24|1934|9|22}} | death_place = | education = School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston | alma_mater = Vassar College }}
'''Mira Lehr''' (September 22, 1934 – January 24, 2023) was an American multidisciplinary artist. Her work encompassed painting, design, sculpture, and video installation.<ref name="ArtHub">{{cite news| last = Turner | first = Elisa| title = Mira Lehr: Navigating Subtropical Florida's Vast Arc of Nature| newspaper = Hampton's Art Hub| location = New York| date = May 18, 2015| url = http://hamptonsarthub.com/2015/05/18/mira-lehr-navigating-subtropical-floridas-vast-arc-of-nature/}}</ref> Lehr created abstract works inspired by the natural world.
==Early life and education== Mira Lehr was born in Brooklyn, neighborhood of New York City,<ref name="ArtHub"/> on September 22, 1934.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Mira T. Lehr – Biography|url=https://www.askart.com/artist/Mira_T_Lehr/131175/Mira_T_Lehr.aspx|access-date=2021-02-23|website=Askart.com}}</ref> Her father, Charles I. Tager, was an inventor who patented an affordable, efficient version of the modern stapler.<ref name= "stapler" >{{cite news| last =Scaglione | first = Curtis| title = The Fastener Society | location = New York| date = | url = http://mystaplers.com/Books/Society.pdf}}</ref>
Lehr received a degree in art history from Vassar College in 1956,<ref name="tomboy">{{cite news| last = Tuite | first = Rebecca| title = Vassar Style| newspaper = Tomboy Style| location = New York| date = June 14, 2011| url = http://tomboystyle.blogspot.com/2011/06/word-vassar-style.htm}}</ref> where she studied under Adolf Katzenellenbogen, Wolfgang Lotz, and notable feminist historian Linda Nochlin.<ref name="Imprints">{{cite journal| last = Curtiss| first = Courtney| title = Mira Lehr: Visual Imprints| journal =Florida Design| issue = 13–4| date = August 2002| url = http://www.floridadesign.com/issues/13_4/pr2/mira_lehr1.html}}</ref> After college she did post-graduate work at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and received a Rockefeller scholarship that supported a studio in Carnegie Hall.<ref name="Imprints" /> Lehr studied with a range of artists through her career, including James Brooks, James Billmyer, Nieves Marshaleck Billmyer (Hans Hofmann School) and Robert Motherwell.<ref>{{cite web| last =Lehr| first =Mira| title =Mira Lehr Bio| year =2015| url = http://art.state.gov/artistdetail.aspx?id=151924}}</ref> Although she maintained her studio practice consistently, she didn't start widely exhibiting her work until the 1980s.<ref name="ArtHub" />
In 1960 Lehr moved back with her husband to Miami Beach, where she had been raised.<ref name="ArtHub"/> She described the lack of art scene and cultural vibrancy as being "like a desert island.”<ref name="ArtHub"/> She and a contingent of other female artists founded Continuum Gallery, which lasted into the 1990s. It was among the first women's co-op gallery spaces in the South East, and many of its founders are still involved with the now-bourgeoning Miami art scene.<ref name="ArtHub"/> Many art world luminaries came to lead workshops, speak and interact with the members, including Betty Parsons, John Chamberlain and Buckminster Fuller. Lehr was later selected by Fuller in 1969 to work on the first World Game Scenario Project at the New York Studio School.<ref name= "ignition" >{{cite news| last = Sperber | first = Irene| title = Mira Lehr: 209 Ignition| newspaper = ArtDistricts| location = Florida| date = 2011| url = http://artdistricts.com/mira-lehr-209-ignition/}}</ref>
==Artwork and themes== framed|right|Sand Bar, 2014, Mixed media on canvas, 54 x 72 inches Working with imagery from the natural world, Lehr creates layered abstract compositions with unconventional materials. 60 Minutes correspondent Morley Safer referred to her as "the mistress of light".<ref name="Dreamscapes">{{cite AV media| people = Jeanne Rejaunier| date =December 10, 2007| title =Dreamscapes| medium =video| language =english| publisher =Goodman and Simon Picture Company}}</ref> The lush flora of her Florida home has a profound influence on her aesthetic vocabulary. Lehr seeks to express the natural world's essence and patterns, so that her artwork expresses the reality of nature better than a naturalistic rendering.<ref name= "Imprints"/> On closer inspection, they reveal a myriad of contrasts — natural imagery with abstract gesture, dense planes with translucent washes, and rich, abraded textures with a crisp, contemporary structure.<ref name="ArtHub"/> Art historian Irving Sandler describes her use of imagery thus: “What makes Lehr's work different is the specificity of her references to nature. I was trying to think of any other artist working in this tradition who did it quite as explicitly as Mira did and I couldn’t come up with one."<ref name="Dreamscapes"/>
Lehr played with things intangible and impermanent- in her sculptures, for example, the shadows created on the wall are as much a part of the piece as the physical objects. With her use of poured resins in her paintings, the spaces that separate layers are integral marks themselves.<ref name="Oceans" >{{cite news| last = Tschida | first = Anne | title = Delicate Art of Our Fragile Oceans| newspaper = Knight Blog| location = Miami, Florida| date = October 25, 2013| url = http://knightfoundation.org/blogs/knightblog/2013/10/25/delicate-art-of-our-fragile-oceans/}}</ref>
Lehr's work has been noted for its environmentalist connotations; one exhibition, "The Pull of the Tide” in Miami, was particularly explicit about its intentions. Coastlines, which are fragile ecosystems, are threatened by pollution and development. While the sculptures are seductively beautiful, they are partially made of politically charged materials, including jute hemp, whose purpose is to prevent land from eroding. Lehr created forms that resemble jellyfish, which can regenerate themselves. She describes taking inspiration from the cycle of nature- we have polluted and overfished the oceans, but they are now threatening to encroach on our developed world.<ref name="Oceans"/>
==Asian influence== thumbnail|left|Sea Foam 1, 2014, Steel wire, resin, Japanese paper, ink, 24" x 36" x 16” Many critics have commented upon an Asian or Japanese influence, particularly in her choice of materials and processes; Lehr uses Japanese paper, ink, lacquer, and woodblock printing in her work.<ref name= "Website">{{cite web| last =Lehr| first =Mira| title =Mira Lehr| year =2015| url = http://miralehr.com| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20010406230651/http://www.miralehr.com/| url-status = usurped| archive-date = April 6, 2001}}</ref> The deliberate and balanced compositions are reminiscent of scroll-painted landscapes.<ref name="Exploding" />
Critic Courtney Powers Curtiss emphasized how Lehr's paintings have a spirituality associated with nature that is found in many Asian belief systems.<ref name="Imprints" />
Historian Eleanor Heartney's take: "The hanging moons, silhouetted bellflowers and expressive freestyle lines do evoke an Asian aesthetic. But in fact, Lehr was well on her way to this approach to art before she began to fully appreciate Asian art. Instead the connection must be sought at a deeper level. Lehr's work, like that of the Japanese masters, is based on a honing down, and a sense of disciplined restraint. Lehr's interest in haiku comes out of this approach. Like those highly structured and deeply minimalist poems, in which a whole world is evoked with a few words or a simple metaphor, she is interested in creating a reality in which a few forms and lines speak volumes."<ref name="Arc">{{cite book| last = Lehr| first = Mira with Eleanor Heartney, Thom Collins and Irving Sandler| title = Mira Lehr: Arc of Nature| publisher = Hudson Hills | date = May 2015| page = 19| isbn = 978-1555953911}}</ref>
==Later work== Lehr started experimenting with explosives in her work.<ref name="Exploding" >{{cite news| last = Tschida | first = Anne | title = Exploding the Image in a Sophisticated Manner| newspaper = Knight Blog| location = Miami, Florida| date = November 4, 2011| url = http://www.knightfoundation.org/blogs/knightblog/2011/11/4/exploding-the-image-in-a-sophisticated-manner//}}</ref> She uses gunpowder and fuses, which burn holes and leave imprints on her layered paintings. The resulting forms resemble lace with an uncontrolled, grainy quality. She describes her use of explosives as tying into the theme of creation versus destruction, which is integral to the cycle of nature.<ref name= "tomboy"/>
Lehr also expanded her practice to include resin, Japanese rice paper, and steel wire.<ref name= "Website"/> She also uses marine rope to create large scale mangrove root sculptures.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/visual-arts/article218725610.html|title='Environmentally, we're in trouble': A cry for help for Miami's coral reefs and mangroves|website=miamiherald|language=en|access-date=2018-12-19}}</ref>
==Career== Lehr exhibited widely in the United States, particularly New York and Florida, and internationally with the Art in Embassies program. Her pieces have been included in exhibitions and archives of the New Museum, the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, and the Getty Museum.<ref>{{cite web| title = Mira Lehr Biography| author = Kelly Roy Gallery| location = Miami, Florida| url = http://www.kelleyroygallery.com/biographies/mira-lehr}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=February 2021}}
In 2015 a retrospective, titled Mira Lehr: Mapping Nature, was held at Rosenbaum Contemporary in Florida.<ref>{{cite news| last = Fair| first = Audrey| title = Must-See Art Guide: South Florida| newspaper = Artnet News| location = New York| date = February 12, 2015| url = https://news.artnet.com/art-world/must-see-art-guide-south-florida-251613}}</ref>
Throughout her career she collaborated with design companies Holly Hunt and Stephanie Odegard, for whom she designed handmade rugs.<ref>{{cite news| last = Henry | first = Axon| title = High standards: Stephanie Odegard's vision includes beautiful things and human rights| newspaper = Miami Herald| location = Florida| date = February 4, 2007| url = http://www.miamiherald.com/living/article1927741.html}}</ref> In 2016, Lehr was invited to have a solo show at the Fairchild Tropical Gardens titled ''Second Nature.''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.fairchildgarden.org/Events-Community-Outreach/Events-Details/art-at-fairchild-presents-second-nature-by-artist-mira-lehr|title=Events - Art at Fairchild Presents Second Nature, by artist Mira Lehr|website=www.fairchildgarden.org|access-date=2018-12-19}}</ref> Shortly after, Lehr was commissioned to create an outdoor sculpture in celebration of the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens centennial.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://vizcaya.org/lost-spaces-and-stories.asp|title=Vizcaya Museum & Gardens - Lost Spaces and Stories of VizcayaMay 2016 - October 2017|website=vizcaya.org|access-date=2018-12-19}}</ref> This outdoor sculpture served as a performance set for the opera ''Dido and Aeneas''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://miralehr.com/beast/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181220230701/https://miralehr.com/beast/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=December 20, 2018|title=Installations|website=MIRA LEHR|language=en-US|access-date=2018-12-19}}</ref> In 2018 Lehr was selected for a museum wide exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, titled ''Tracing the Red Thread''. It referred to the complex environmental situation we find ourselves in today. USA Today named one of the must-see exhibitions of fall 2018.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://mocanomi.org/2018/09/mira-lehr-tracing-the-red-thread/|title=Mira Lehr: Tracing the Red Thread – Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami|date=6 September 2018 |language=en-US|access-date=2018-12-19}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/destinations/2018/09/10/museum-exhibits-fall/1233209002/|title=The best American museum exhibits this fall|website=USA TODAY|language=en|access-date=2018-12-19}}</ref> Artnet also listed the exhibition as one of "33 Museum Shows Worth Traveling For."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.artnet.com/art-world/fall-2018-museum-shows-1318328|title=From Mark Bradford in Baltimore to Victor Hugo in LA: 33 Museum Shows Around the US Worth Traveling For|date=2018-09-05|website=artnet News|language=en-US|access-date=2018-12-19}}</ref> The exhibition subsequently traveled to Fritz Gallery, and to the Orlando Mennello Museum of American Art in 2020. Mangrove sculptures from the exhibition were part of a special project at Pinta Miami, Ad-Astra, held at Mana Contemporary during Art Basel 2018.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.pintamiami.com/Sections/Projects-Section-AD-Astra|title=Projects Section - AD-Astra|website=www.pintamiami.com|language=en-US|access-date=2018-12-19}}</ref> 2019 also included a solo show at the Jewish Museum of Florida.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.miaminewtimes.com/arts/mirror-maze-numbers-in-nature-exhibit-frost-science-museum-miami-11282860|title=Frost Science's New Exhibit Shows Math Is All Around Us|last=Accioly|first=Juliana|date=2019-10-22|website=Miami New Times|access-date=2019-10-28}}</ref>
==Personal life and death== Lehr died on January 24, 2023, at the age of 88.<ref>{{cite news |title=Muere la artista plástica ecofeminista Mira Lehr a los 88 años |url=https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/en-espanol/espectaculos/gente/articulo/2023-01-25/muere-la-artista-plastica-ecofeminista-mira-lehr-a-los-88-anos |access-date=3 February 2023 |work=The San Diego Union-Tribune |date=25 January 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title='Godmother of Miami's art scene', Mira Lehr, has died aged 88 |url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2023/02/01/godmother-of-miamis-art-scene-mira-lehr-has-died-aged-88 |access-date=3 February 2023 |publisher=The Art Newspaper |date=1 February 2023}}</ref>
==Publications== * Lehr, Mira with Eleanor Heartney, Larry Littany Litt, Cristina Maria Molina (September 2018). ''Mira Lehr: Tracing the Red Thread.'' Silver Hollow Press. {{ISBN|9780998956879}}. * {{cite book | last = Lehr | first = Mira with Eleanor Heartney, Thom Collins and Irving Sandler | title = Mira Lehr: Arc of Nature | publisher = Hudson Hills | date = May 2015 | isbn = 978-1555953911}} * {{cite book | last = Barter | first = Judith | title = American Modernism at the Art Institute of Chicago | publisher = Yale University Press | date = 2009}} * {{cite book | last = Clemence | first = Paul and Julie Davidow | title = Miami Contemporary Artists | publisher = Schiffer Publishing Ltd. | date = 2007 | isbn = 9780764326479}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://miralehr.net Official website]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lehr, Mira}} Category:1934 births Category:2023 deaths Category:20th-century American women artists Category:21st-century American Jews Category:21st-century American women artists Category:American contemporary artists Category:Artists from Brooklyn Category:Artists from New York (state) Category:Jewish American artists Category:School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts alumni Category:Vassar College alumni