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Dianne Blell

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Dianne Blell
Dianne Blell in 2019
Born1943 (age 81–82)
NationalityAmerican
EducationBachelor of Fine Arts, Master of Fine Arts
Alma materUniversity of San Diego, College for Women, San Francisco Art Institute
Known forPhotography
AwardsJohn Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, New York Foundation for the Arts Grant, National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship
Websitedianneblell.com

Dianne Blell (born 1943) is an American multimedia artist and fine art photographer recognized for her staged photographs and conceptual tableaux that integrate photography, performance, painting, and installation art. Blell's work references classical mythology, art history, and romantic literature, constructing sets and costumes to reinterpret historical artworks in contemporary multimedia compositions. Her career spans from early performance pieces to digital photocompositions in the 1980s and more recently, explorations of objects and artifacts.

Early life and education

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Blell was born in 1943[1] in Los Angeles, California, and grew up in Chicago and La Jolla. In her teenage years, her family moved to La Jolla, California, and she became exposed to contemporary art at The Art Center in La Jolla, where she took life drawing courses. In 1970, she enrolled at the San Francisco Art Institute, where she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Master of Fine Arts degrees.[2]

Work

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In the mid-1970s in San Francisco, Blell staged performances such as Surrealism and the Blues (1975) inspired by Magritte. For the installation, she occupied an abandoned storefront space, appearing as a figure in a high window while blues music played, creating a scene reminiscent of a living surreal tableau.[3][4] During this time Blell showed at Tom Marioni's salon in San Francisco.[5]

One of Blell's conceptual works from this period was Odalisque (1976). The work took the form of a provocative billboard project installed in San Francisco’s North Beach nightlife district.[6][7] The piece received coverage in newspapers[specify] ranging from local outlets to those in China—where it became known as "Nude Mocks Broadway."[8] Documentation from the piece is held in multiple private collections and institutions, including the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Archives.[9][6]

In 1978, Blell had a solo exhibition in the MATRIX program at the University Art Museum in Berkeley titled Portrait of a Lady for a Contemporary Collection.[10] Materials from the exhibition, are held in the Dianne Blell / MATRIX 9 archive[10] and are documented in the book Matrix Berkeley: A Changing Exhibition of Contemporary Art 1978–79. After 1978, Blell began developing a series of staged allegorical scenes. During this time, Blell returned to school between 1981 and 1982, studying 35mm and large-format photography at both the International Center of Photography (ICP) and Parsons School of Design.[2] In this work, Blell reproduces and reinterprets the work of David, Ingres and other "master" painters.[11] Art critic Donald Kuspit noted that Blell's method of re-staging classical images as "photo-tableaux" effectively "breathes new aesthetic life into them."[12] During this time, Blell produced the series Charmed Heads and Urban Cupids[13] based on classical portraits of women from art history and fashion photography.[13] In these images, Blell herself appears as the model, styled in high-fashion contemporary designer clothing and posed in scenarios that juxtapose the romantic imagery of cherubs and demi-goddesses with modern urban settings.[14] Another image, Future Perfect, portrays Blell as Psyche with the Three Mile Island in the background.[15]

In the early 1980s she had the solo shows, Various Fabulous Monsters and The Pursuit of Love at the Leo Castelli Gallery. Her series, The Pursuit of Love, focused on scenes of courtship and romance drawn from Neo-Classical paintings.[16][17]

In 1990, Blell created her Wildlives exhibit. The exhibit featured photographs of wildlife in their natural habitats, particularly focusing on Africa's diminishing animal populations.[2][18][19]

After learning to use PhotoShop in 2000, Blell created the series Desire for the Intimate Deity, inspired by the mythology of Hindu folklore.[20] In the mid-2010s, Blell began photographing standalone objects and artifacts that held personal or historical significance.[12]

Personal life

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Blell lives and works between New York City and Bridgehampton, Long Island.[21]

Collections

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A photograph by Blell was gifted to the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art,[1] and the Chazen Museum of Art collection.[22] Blell's documentary photographs of 911 Ground Zero are held in the collection of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.[23][24][25]

The Smithsonian American Art Museum holds an archive of her papers and ephemera.[26] In 2012, Blell was invited to participate in an oral history interview by the Archives of American Art (Smithsonian Institution).[2]

Awards

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Blell received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1989,[27] and a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Fellowship.[28]

References

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  1. ^ a b The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Love Fleeing Slavery (collection entry, Object 1984.1157). Accessed 2025. (Blell’s birth year 1943 noted) [1]
  2. ^ a b c d "Oral history interview with Dianne Blell, 2012 June 21–28 | Interview with James McElhinney | Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution". www.aaa.si.edu. Retrieved 2025-04-02.
  3. ^ Houston Center for Photography, Spot magazine, Fall 1984, profile of Dianne Blell (noting her birth in Los Angeles and early performances).
  4. ^ "Pre-1979 Performance & Installations". Dianne Blell. Retrieved 2025-04-23.
  5. ^ McClintock, Andrew. "Tom Marioni: MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) 1970-1984. Interview by Andrew McClintock" (PDF). San Francisco Art Quarterly. May–June 2013 (13): 50.
  6. ^ a b "Blell, Dianne". BAMPFA Art Collection. Retrieved 2025-04-04.
  7. ^ "NEHMA | Collection - Odalisque". artmuseum-collection.usu.edu. Retrieved 2025-04-04.
  8. ^ "Nude Mocks Broadway (Odalisque)". collection.bampfa.berkeley.edu. Retrieved 2025-04-23.
  9. ^ "Art Collection | CollectionSpace". webapps.cspace.berkeley.edu. Retrieved 2025-04-04.
  10. ^ a b "Dianne Blell / MATRIX 9". BAMPFA. 2014-12-22. Retrieved 2025-04-23.
  11. ^ Thornton, Gene (1986-03-02). "PHOTOGRAPHY VIEW; WHEN TABLEAUX VIVANTS FLOWERED IN THE MAGAZINES". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-04-03.
  12. ^ a b Segal, Mark. "Dianne Blell: Beauty, Archetypes, and Artifacts | The East Hampton Star". www.easthamptonstar.com. Retrieved 2025-04-23.
  13. ^ a b Connor, Maureen (1980-03-01). "Diane Blell". Artforum. Retrieved 2025-04-03.
  14. ^ Archibold, Randal C. (2001-10-21). "A NATION CHALLENGED: THE DISPLACED; For Artists Who Lived Near Towers, Disaster Brings Its Own Palette". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-04-03.
  15. ^ "Dianne Blell | Future Perfect (1979-2005) | Artsy". www.artsy.net. Retrieved 2025-04-23.
  16. ^ "Dianne Blell | Certainty in the Land of Enigmas (1988-1990)". www.artsy.net. Retrieved 2025-04-23.
  17. ^ "Dianne Blell Photographs : Modern Dreams of Ancient Times - UWDC - UW-Madison Libraries". search.library.wisc.edu. Retrieved 2025-04-24.
  18. ^ Leo Castelli Gallery records, 1957–1999, Archives of American Art (Smithsonian Institution): Exhibition file "Wild Lives: Photographic Portraits Documenting Africa's Vanishing Wildlife," 1991.
  19. ^ Castelli Gallery, Exhibitions 1991: Dianne Blell "Wild Lives," Sept. 21 – Oct. 12, 1991 (420 West Broadway).
  20. ^ Jean Dykstra, "Dianne Blell: The Intimate Deity," Photograph Magazine, Sept/Oct 2007.
  21. ^ Landes, Jennifer. "Opinion: A Groaning Board of Art | The East Hampton Star". www.easthamptonstar.com. Retrieved 2025-04-04.
  22. ^ "The Origin of Drawing | 810". Chazen Museum of Art. Retrieved 2025-04-24.
  23. ^ Owczarek, Nina (2023-05-23). Prioritizing People in Ethical Decision-Making and Caring for Cultural Heritage Collections (1 ed.). London: Routledge. doi:10.4324/b23092. ISBN 978-1-003-32119-4.
  24. ^ "9/11 Memorial Timeline". timeline.911memorial.org. Retrieved 2025-04-14.
  25. ^ Archibold, Randal C. (2002-04-01). "Searing Memories, Etched in Art; The Imprint of Sept. 11 Emerges, Sometimes Subtly". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-04-14.
  26. ^ "Collection Search:Dianne Blell". Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 26 April 2025.
  27. ^ John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, Fellows listing 1989.
  28. ^ Princenthal, Nancy; Dowley, Jennifer (2001). A creative legacy : a history of the National Endowment for the Arts Visual Artists' Fellowship Program, 1966-1995. UMass Amherst Libraries. New York : H.N. Abrams in association with the National Endowment for the Arts. ISBN 978-0-8109-4170-0.
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