Manon Cleary’s paintings and drawings are often based on photographs she has taken. Her paintings and graphite almost appear quite photo-realistic. Whether capturing a detail of a budding orchid or the movement of human form, Cleary has the ability to render every strand of hair, emotional feeling, and flicker of light. She was awarded the 14th Annual Mayor’s Art Award, for Sustained Excellence in an Artistic Discipline in Washington, DC, in 1999. Her work is included in such museum collections as the Chicago Art Institute, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, The Brooklyn Museum, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art.
MANON CLEARY (1942-2011)
EDUCATION:
1964 •B.F.A., Washington University, St. Louis, MO; 1968;•M.F.A., Tyler School of Art, Temple University Philadelphia, PA (First year of study:, Tyler in Rome, Italy, 1965)
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
2009• Addison/Ripley Fine Art, Washington ,DC , Manon cleary: New Pastels; (Reviews, Cara Ober, ART NEWS, November 2009, page 122, and John Blee, The Georgetowner )
2007• DCAC, District of Columbia Arts Center, Washington, DC, Herb’s Choice: “Manon Cleary: Skyscapes “, curated by Lea-Ann Bigelow.
2006• WAM at Emerson Gallery, Washington, DC, “Manon Cleary: A ThirtySix Year Retrospective”, curated by Jean Lawlor Cohen, (catalog), (Reviews, Washington Post, Washington Times, Georgetowner)
2005• Waddle Gallery, NOVA, Loudoun Campus, Sterling, VA “Manon Cleary: Drawings
2000• PASS, Washington, DC, “Self Portraits: Breathless”.
1999• Addison/Ripley Gallery, Washington, DC, “Exotic Bloom Series”, Review, Washington Post, Art In America by joe Shannon, Washington Times, Joanna Shaw Eagle)
1998• Abraham Lubelski Gallery, New York, NY, “Manon Cleary and the Villa of Mysteries”, curated by Lee Klein.
1997• Maryland Art Place, “The Body in Question”, Baltimore, MD, curated by Lee Fleming. (catalog), (Reviews, Baltimore City Paper, Washington Review)
1996• Corcoran Gallery of Art,”Art Sites 96”, Washington, DC.( Review, Washington Post)
1994• Addison/RipleyFine Arts, “Movement Series”, Washington, DC.(Review Washington Post)
1991• .Rosenthal Gallery, “Mystery Series”, Chicago, Il
1989,84,80,• Osuna Gallery, “,Washington, DC. (Review, Washington Post, Washington Times, Museum and Arts Magazine)
1987• Tyler Gallery, State University of New York at Oswego, NY, “Manon Cleary: Drawings
1985• Gulbenkian Foundation: Centro de Arte Moderna (Ten Year Retrospective), curated by Jose Sommer Ribero and Josaphine Greco, (catalog by Lee Fleming) Lisbon, Portugal.
1984&81•FIAC, Grand Palais, Paris, France.(Review l’oeil, 81)
1982• Iolas/Jackson Gallery, New York City,(Review in Art inAmerica by Garret Henry)
1979• A.J.Wood Gallery, ‘‘Philadelphia, PA
1979,77.74• Pyramid Gallery, Washington, DC
1972• Franz Bader Gallery, Washington, DC
SELECTED RECENT GROUP EXHIBITION
•2010• Katzen Art Museum, American University, Washington, DC, Catalyst: 35 Years of Washington Project for the Arts”, curated byJames Mahoney, (catalog),
•2008• Kalamazoo Institute of Art Museum, “The Figure Revealed: ContemporaryAmerican Figure Painting and Drawings”, Kalamazoo, MI, curated by Deneise Lisiecke, (catalog), 25 leading American Figurative Artists From the Past 3 decades.
•John A. Wilson Building City Art Collection,Washington, DC, “Heart of DC: Building the Collection”, curated by Sondra Arkin, (catalog),
•WAM at Pepco’s Emerson Gallery Herb White: A Taste for Art, Washington, DC, curated by Sarah Tanguy, (catalog)
•University of Virginia, Bayley Museum, “Masquerade”, Charlottesville, VA,
•2006-7• Through EXHIBITS USA AND THE MID ATLANTIC ART ALLIANCE, Traveling to: Masur Museum, Monroe, CA;; Wayne Stark University Center Galleries, College Station TX; Perspective Gallery, Blacksburg, VA; Museum of Texas Tec University, Lubbock, Texas; California State University Dominguez Hill, Carson CA; “By Any Means: “Works From the National Drawing Invitatationals”, curated by Donald Perry.
•2006• Mint Museum, “A Mint Menagerie: ’Critters from the Collection”, Charlotte, VA.
•2005• Warehouse Gallery through WPA/Corcoran, “SEVEN”, curated by F. Lennox Campello, Washington, DC
•2001• BaleyiMuseum of the University of Virginia, “Masquerades,” Charlottesville, VA”
•Sully Gallery, Longwood Center For The Visual Arts, Longwood College, “Ultra Real”, Farmville, Virginia, (catalog)
•2000• RAP, “Under The Influence: Manon Cleary And Her Students, A Retrospective”,
Rockville, MD
•National Museum of Women in the Arts “Gardener’s Delight”, Washington, DC
•1999-00•The Art Institute of Chicago, “Contemporary American Realist Drawings,” Chicago, IL, (catalog).
OTHER SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS VENUES:
Salve Regina Gallery, The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC; McLean Project For The Arts, McLean, VA;;American Embassy,Valetta, Malta; Baumgardner Gallery, Washington, DC; Gallery K, Washington, DC; The Center Gallery, Institute of the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA; Gallery 128, New York, NY; Most Gallery,Almaty, Kazakhstan; The State Art Museum, Karaganda, Kazakhstan; Gallery Stendhal, New York, NY; Tribes Gallery, New York NY; Kasteev State Art Museum, Almaty, Kazakhstan; Holter Museum, Helena, MT; Ozone Gallery, New York, NY; DCAC, Washington, DC; Alternative Museum, New York, NY; Emerson Cultural Center; Pend Oreille Arts Council, Sandpoint, ID; Boise State University/Inkvision Gallery, Boise, Idaho; MOCA, Washington, DC; Dimock Gallery, George Washington University, Washington, DC; Marsha Meteyka Gallery, Washington, DC; Nohra Haime Gallery, New York City, NY; Edna Carlsten Gallery, University of Wisconsin; College of Fine Arts and Communication, Stevens Point, WI; Norman Eppink Art Gallery, Emporia State University, Emporia, KS; Gallery 303, Brigham Young University,Provo, UT; Picker Gallery, Colgate University,Hamilton, NY; The University Gallery, University of Florida,Gainesville, FL; Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, USSR; Georgetown University, Washington, DC; Shepherd College, Shepherds-town, WV; Holtzman Gallery. University of Maryland at Towson, Towson, MD; Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, DC; State Department Art in Embassy Program, Havana, Cuba; Jane Haslem Gallery, Washington, DC; The Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH; Huntsville Museum, Huntsville, AL ;Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, FL;;; Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, IL; Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, AK; Oklahoma Museum of Art, Oklahoma City, OK; Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH; The National Academy of Design, New York City, NY; Squires Gallery, Virginia Polytechnical Institute, Blacksburg, VA;The Art Gallery, Montgomery College, Rockville, MD; Rosenberg Gallery, Goucher College, Towson, MD; Schuster Gallery, Gannon University, Erie, PA; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA; Fendrick Gallery, Washington, DC; Joseloff Gallery, Hartford Art School, University of Hartford, West Hartford, CT; Taft Museum, Cincinnati, OH; Institute of Contemporary Art of the Virginia Museum, Richmond, VA; Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY; Galerie Asbæk, Copenhagen, Denmark; Herning Højskole, Herning, Denmark; Harold Reed Gallery, New York, NY; Chuck Levitan Gallery, New York. NY; Sebastian/Moore Gallery, Denver, CO; Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego, San Diego, CA; Århus Kunst Museum, Århus, Denmark; Asbæk Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark; Malmo Kunsthall, Malmo, Sweden; Museum of Contemporary Art, Findland; Instituto De Cultura Hispanica, Madrid, Spain; National Society of Fine Arts, Lisbon, Portugal; American House, Berlin,Germany; American Cultural Center, Bucharest,Hungary; National Museum of Fine Arts,Valetta, Malta; Museum Nacional de Soares Dos Reis, Oporto, Portugal; Metropolitan Museum and Art Center; Miami, FL; Moore College of Art,Philadelphia, PA; Pratt Graphic Center, New York City, NY;; The Fort Worth Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX; Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla, CA; Museum of Pennsylvania State University, State University, PA;.
ARTIST IN RESIDENCIES:
1997, Bridge Association, Cosmic Observatory Project, Astronomical Institute of The Academy of Science in the Tien Shan Mountains, Kazakhstan, through a grant from Mobil Oil of Kazakhstan and Coca cola of Kazakhstan,
1996;Bridge Association, House of Composers, Tau Turgeon Valley, Kazakhstan, through Most Art Gallery, Mobil Oil of Kazakhstan, and ,CokaCola of Kazakhstan.
1984 Ucross Foundation, Ucross, Wyoming
1980 Herning Hojskøle, Herning, Denmark, six month residency.
GRANTS, AWARDS, HONORS:
2000 • Individual Artist Grant through the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities
1998 • 14th Annual Mayor’s Art Awards, Sustained Excellence in an Artist Discipline, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY:
(Books) include): Rat, by Jonathan Burt, Reaktion Books, UK (page 77), 2006; Dictionary of Contemporary American Artists: Sixth Edition, Paul Cummings, St. Martin’s Press, 1994, (p. 179); Membrane: Spring 1995, Nigel Hinshelwood, Membrane, (cover and pp 68-73); Drawing from Life, Clint Brown, Cheryl McLean, Holt Reinhart and Winston, 1992, (pp 105,106, 231,232)) ;and Second Edition, 1997; Contemporary American Realism Since 1960, by Frank Goodyear, Jr., New York Graphic Society, Boston, in association with the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, 1980, (pp. 79 and 193); An American Bestiary, Mary Sayre Haverstock, Harry Abrams, Inc., Pub., New York, 1979 (pp. 224 and 225.);100 American and European Drawings: A Portfolio, by Nathan Goldstein, Prentice-Hall, 1982; Roman vole’ by Francois Nourissier de l’Academie Concourt, Bernard Grasset, Paris, (cover) 1996; Contemporary American Realist Drawings: The Jalene and Richard Davidson Collection at the Art Institute of Chicago ,1999, by Ruth Fine, Rayond Hernandez-Duran, and Mark Pascale, AIC Press and Hudson Hill Press, (pp 9, 18,19, 36, 119 120 ,130); International Exhibitions Foundation Publication, 1984, Twentieth Century American Drawings: The Figure in Context, by Paul Cummings, (pp 38, 40, 41).
(MAGAZINES include): Art in America, “Manon Cleary at Iolas/Jackson”, by Gerrit Henry, 1982, Summer Issue; American Artist, “Graphite: A Collectors Choice,”by Ann Geracimos, June,1984 issue; Art in America, “Manon Cleary at Addison/Ripley”, by Joseph Shannon, Febuary 2000, (page 134- 135); NIGHT, An Appreciation: Manon Cleary and Robert Azank at Addison/Ripley Gallery, by Lee Klein, Summer, 1999 issue; Gathering Of The Tribes #7: 1997. (page 75); The Sciences, New York Academy of Sciences, January, 1987 (cover and pages 30, 31, 33 and 34); Images and Issues, “Beyond Refinement: Washington, DC”, by Lee Fleming, Winter 1980-81; L’oiel, “FIAC 81, les chevaliers de l’avant-garde international”, October 1981; Architectural Issue, work reproduced in article on American Embassy in Lima Peru, October, 1996; Art in America, “Those Who Stay”, by David Tannous, July/August, 1978; Washingtonian Magazine, October issue, 2005; Washington City Paper, ”Queeen of Beverly Court”, by John Metcalfe, 6/2/04 issue; Who’s Who in American Art, Jacques Castell Press, Tempe, AZ,Vol. #15, through current issue ; ART NEWS, by Cara Ober, Nov. 2009, pp 122.
SELECTED PUBLIC AND CORPORATE COLLECTIONS: Stevens Corporation, Little Rock, AK; Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Hickory Museum, Hickory, NC; American Embassy, Lima, Peru; Chicago Art Institute, Chicago, IL; Kasteev State Art Museum, Almaty, Kazakhstan; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC; Rutgers’ University, Camden, NJ; University of Virginia, Bayley Museum Charlottesville, VA; Ponce Museum, Ponce, Puerto Rico; Marietta Cobb Museum, Marietta, GA; Norman Eppink Gallery, Emporia State University, Emporia, KS; Mint Museum, Downtown, Charlotte, NC; Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, UT; The State University of New York, Tyler Gallery, Oswego, NY; Colgate University, The Picker Art Gallery, Hamilton, NY; Southwestern Bell Corporation, Texas; The University of the District of Columbia, Washington, DC; Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, Rochester, NY; George Washington University, Washington, DC; Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ.
