Biography
Born in Windsor, Vermont, on November 12, 1917, Dahlov Ipcar grew up in New York City's Greenwich Village. While she showed artistic talent at an early age, her parents William and Marguerite Zorach–both famous artists–did not believe in "art instruction" per se. Consequently, Dahlov was never enrolled in art schools or art courses as a child.
Nevertheless, the Zorachs provided their personal encouragement and inspiration, allowing Dahlov the freedom to develop her own unique style. Her parents sent her to some of Manhattan's most progressive schools–City and Country, Walden, and Lincoln School of Teachers College–all of which provided an atmosphere which nurtured her creativity.
The Zorach family spent many summers on the Maine coast in order to escape the heat and bustle of New York City. Maine provided a contact with nature, which would leave a lasting impression on Dahlov. When she married in 1936, she and her husband Adolph Ipcar eventually moved to a small dairy farm in Georgetown, Maine, where she lived for the rest of her life.
Dahlov and her husband enjoyed the challenge of simple country living without modern conveniences. They cut their own wood and ice, they even read by kerosene lamps–up until 1948 they had no electricity. Indoor plumbing and central heating would come even later. While farm chores and raising two sons were more than a full time job, Dahlov continued to pursue her career as an artist and author.
In 1939 she had her first solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the first of many solo shows over the next forty years. Dahlov's works are now in the permanent collections of many important art institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney, and the Brooklyn Museum in New York. She is also represented in all the leading art museums of Maine, as well as in many corporate and private collections throughout the country.
In 1945 she illustrated The Little Fisherman, her first children's book, for author Margaret Wise Brown. Since then Dahlov went on to write and illustrate thirty children's books of her own. She has also written four fantasy novels for a slightly older audience, as well as a volume of short stories for adults. While her art in general might be described as colorful and cheerful, her writings for adults turn to a darker, almost grim intertwining of reality and fantasy.
In the 1940s and ‘50s, Dahlov's art was influenced by the prevailing style of Social realism, as best illustrated by her paintings of farm workers accompanied by their heavy draft horses and domestic farm animals. By the ‘60s and ‘70s, although she remained outside of the art movements of the day, her work began to take on a new and more abstract direction.
Dahlov's love of nature, especially jungle animals, led her to experiment with a more fanciful approach. One of her children's books, Calico Jungle, represents a turning point in her artistic style; the intricate patterns and geometric designs which she developed within those pages were to become her artistic signature.
In addition to easel paintings, illustrations, and soft sculptures, Dahlov has also completed ten large scale mural projects for public buildings, two for U.S. Post Offices in LaFollette, Tennessee and Yukon, Oklahoma. Her murals may be seen at several locations in Maine as well; including the children's room at the Patten Free Library in Bath, and a 106 ft. panorama of Maine animals in the Narragansett Elementary School, Gorham. Golden Savannah, a 21 ft. mural of African wildlife is currently installed in the atrium of the Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children in Springfield, Massachusetts.
In 1972, Dahlov and her husband together received the Maine Governor's Award for "significant contributions to Maine in the broad field of the arts and humanities." She has also received three honorary degrees from The University of Maine, Colby, and Bates colleges. In April of 1998, The University of Minnesota honored Dahlov with The Kerlan Award for Children's literature. In 2012, The Farnsworth Museum gave Dahlov the Maine In America Award, an honor given to an individual or group who has made an outstanding contribution to Maine and its role in American Art. She joins previous recipients, Alex Katz, Robert Indiana, Andrew Wyeth, Paul Caponigro, John Wilmerding and Will Barnet.
Dahlov lived her remaining years to the fullest, continuing to paint in spite of increasing difficulties with macular degeneration. Her biennial exhibits continued in 2013 and 2015. Dahlov’s 10th decade of creativity was best captured in an interview she gave to Nicolette Jones of the London Telegraph in 2015:
“I think painting keeps me alive”
She finds, though, that “creative ideas are still coming.” She enjoys her life, and the daily company of raccoons and foxes. She is glad of her continuing popularity. The thronged attendance at her exhibitions has made her realize that her books taught a generation to appreciate her art. “It is nice to be appreciated. I thought I was out on a limb. Now everyone seems to like what I do.”
It is not the response, though, that makes Ipcar continue to work. “If I don’t paint, I feel restless,” she says. “You go on doing it anyhow, whatever the reception.”
Though she passed away February 10th, 2017 at age 99, Dahlov continued to produce her fanciful works at her home and studio right up to the end.
Read more about her life and art in her own words.
In Memory of Dahlov Ipcar (1917 - 2017) and Adolph Ipcar (1904 - 2003)
