User:Snk03/Edward Melcarth

Edward Melcarth

Edward Melcarth
Born	Edward Epstein (1914-01-31)January 31, 1914 Louisville, KY
Died	December 14, 1973(1973-12-14) (aged 59) Venice, Italy
Occupation	Artist
Political party	Communist

Edward Melcarth (January 31st, 1914- December 14th, 1973), was born as Edward Epstein in Louisville, Kentucky to a wealthy Jewish family. He changed his last name to Melcarth on February 10th, 1936, after he rejected his religion, to reflect that of a Phonecian God. ^,He was an openly gay, Jewish, and communist artist who preferred to work in painting and photography. His work did not follow Abstract Expressionism, which was popular at the time he was working and rather focused on figurative painting. He did this in a style he referred to as Social Romanticism, which used techniques similar to those of the Renaissance, rendering the mundane as extraordinary. The subject of his art included young heterosexual masculine men he had intimate relationships with, who occupied jobs as blue collar workers, sailors, hustlers, addicts, and trade positions. Often, the subjects depicted within his work, were shared within other artists' work as well, including his roommate and close friend, Thomas Painter. Painter was also Melcarth’s connection to the sexologist Alfred Kinsey, who would later study the theme of homoeroticism within Melcarth’s work.  Regarding other influential figures, Melcarth’s circle also included famous art collector Peggy Guggenheim (with whom Melcarth designed her famous ‘bat framed’ sunglasses), as well as notable art collector Malcolm Forbes, who would subsequently purchase most of Melcarth's estate after his death.

Career

Melcarth left Kentucky to pursue his personal interests and career, studied at Harvard University and Stanley Hayter’s Atelier 17 in Paris, a notable print studio where European modernists gathered and produced limited editions. His friends and patrons included Peggy Guggenheim, Gore Vidal, and Tennessee Williams. He taught at Parsons School of Design, Columbia University, the University of Washington, the University of Louisville, and the Art Students League. His works are in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art; the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the Art Institute of Chicago; the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Kinsey Institute, and the Forbes Collection.

His awards included a grant from the Institute of Arts and Letters in 1951, and its Childe Hassam purchase award in 1965, the Altman prize of the Chicago Art Institute in 1950, first prize for figure from the National Academy of Design in 1964 and its Thomas B. Clarke award in 1969.

FBI Investigation

In January of 1952, the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation opened an investigation against Melcarth due to potential Communist ties. The FBI files, which can be obtained through a Freedom of Information/Privacy Acts (FOIPA) request, detail information about his life and involvement with the Communist Party. Prior to presenting himself as openly homosexual, he married Joan Beer, a woman, in Paris during the summer of 1939. The couple eventually divorced and he did not remarry. During World War II, he served as a seaman in the United States Merchant Marine.

Melcarth’s involvement in the Communist Party was put on the radar in 1947, when he was officially a member of a Communist club in New York City. Following this initial involvement, it is said that he carried his Communist membership card with him and aligned with communist ideology for a majority of his life. In the Fall of 1951, he taught at the University of Louisville. The following year, he left the United States for Italy in February. Melcarth later returned to the United States in November of 1952. By 1953, he was residing in New York and it became his primary residence.

Legacy

Melcarth, although previously overlooked by art historians as an influential figure of modern art, has received recent recognition for his contributions to queer art. Today, Melcarth’s work is held in notable collections such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The lack of recognition given to Melcarth is speculated to be because of his identity as an openly gay, Jewish, and communist man.

Malcolm Forbes and his son, Christopher Forbes were avid collectors of Melcarth’s work throughout his career. After Melcarth’s death in 1973, Forbes purchased the majority of his estate. Besides Forbes, Peggy Guggenheim, Gore Vidal, and Tennessee Williams were also collectors of his work. In 2019, The Forbes Collection donated over 100 of Melcarth’s works to the Faulkner-Morgan Archive–a Kentucky-based nonprofit organization that focuses on preserving LGBTQ+ art history.

In 2018, in conjunction with the Faulkner-Morgan archive, two exhibits took place in Lexington, KY that showcased Melcarth’s work. The first, Edward Melcarth: Points of View, was hosted by the University of Kentucky Art Museum from January 13th to April 8th. In addition, a second exhibit showcasing his portraits, titled Edward Melcarth: Rough Trade, happened from January 13th to February 17th of the same year at Institute 193.