October 14, 1971
The primal bonds between man and beast is the dominant theme of THE ENDURING BEAST, an exhibition of drawings and paintings by Miriam Beerman, which will be on view at The Brooklyn Museum from November 11 through January 2.
In her work, whose subjects include lizards, bats, tortoises, monkeys and the lower primates, the artist explores the similarities of facial and bodily expression between man and beast, often finding them interchangeable.
“I see a certain sublime beauty even in those creatures classified by some as abominable,” notes Miss Beerman, "while man, although capable of infinite spirituality, is often reduced to a primordial state.”
Born in Providence, Rhode Island, Miss Beerman is a Brooklyn resident, whose home and studio is fortuitously located opposite the Brooklyn Museum. After graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design, she studied under Yasuo Kuniyoshi at the Art Student’s League and Adja Yunkers at the New School. Recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship in 1951, she spent two years in Paris studying with William Stanley Hayter at Atelier 17.
For the past three years she has conducted art workshops at The Brooklyn Children’s Museum, MUSE, where she is currently preparing a travelling exhibition designed for schools and neighborhood museums dealing with curious animal creatures whose physical characteristics are their means of survival.
Miss Beerman is also editor and illustrator of a book entitled The Enduring Beast, to be published by Doubleday & Co. next year. Included in the anthology are such poets as Robert Lowell, Marianne Moore, Pablo Neruda, and Daniel Berrigan. Her work is represented in the permanent collections of The Brooklyn Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art and in many private collections.
THE ENDURING BEAST is an interdepartmental exhibition, chosen by the departments of Prints & Drawings, Jo Miller, curator, and Paintings & Sculpture, Sarah Faunce, curator.
Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1971 - 1988. 1971, 060-61. View Original
