Blanche Phillips Howard (American, 1908-1979), Juno

mid-20th century, hammered and brazed brass sheet, labeled to underside with Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences (Chrysler Museum), accession number 63.70.171.
Approximately 66 x 21 x 23 in.
Blanche Phillips Howard was a sculptor and painter who lived in the San Francisco Bay area from 1942-1950 and again in the 1970s. Born in Mt. Union, Pennsylvania, Phillips studied in New York at the Cooper Union School of Art, the Steinhof Institute of Design, and at the Art Students League with instructor, Ossip Zadkine. After arriving in California she attended the California School of Fine Art (currently the San Francisco Art Institute) in the 1940s.

Blanche Phillips was associated with Louise Nevelson and other members of the “New Sculpture Group” while focusing on her expressionist abstractionist sculptures in New York in the 1950s, exhibiting these works regularly at the Stable Gallery.

Phillips exhibited internationally throughout her career including Mexico and the United Kingdom. In the 1970s she had several two person shows with her husband, artist, John Langley Howard (1902-1999), at the San Francisco Art Commission Gallery and the Bank of America Center also in San Francisco.

(Bio courtesy of Foster Gwin Gallery, San Francisco)
Collection of Norfolk Museum, 1963, Alfred Khouri Memorial Collection. Gift of John Langley Howard.
From the Collection of Professor Roberto Severino, Washington, D.C.
Additional high-resolution photos are available at www.lelandlittle.com