Lilly Fenichel

Thomas W. Leavitt writes, All of Lilly Fenichel's paintings are related to nature, even when they are abstract to the point of being non-objective. And be it cloud forms or structures emerging from the picture plane, the predominant mood has been serious and often sombre. She appears to have been burdened by her awareness of nature, exploring its qualities deeply yet warily. Just You Just Me, Fenichel's newest work, however, is an invitation to celebrate the most joyous of nature's gifts and of human experience: sensual, physical love. Born in Vienna, Fenichel fled the Nazi's with her family in 1939, living briefly in England, then moving to Los Angeles where she studied art at Chouinard Art Institute and City College. At the California School of Fine Arts (later the San Francisco Art Institute) as an abstract expressionist, Fenichel later worked with Elmer Bischoff, Hassel Smith, David Park, and Edward Corbett, who later became a part of the Taos Moderns group. Fenichel visited Corbett in Taos, later moved there and became a significant member of the Taos art community, developing enduring friendships with artists Bea Mandelman and Louis Ribak.