Minnie Klavans

Minnie Klavans (May 10, 1915 – September 19, 1999) was an American artist whose work is held by the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, the Baltimore Museum of Art, the American University Museum, among others.

Life and work Early life Minnie Klavans (née Farber) was born in Garrett Park, Maryland on May 10, 1915. She was the second child of Eastern-European Jewish immigrants, Samuel Farber (1882–1956) and Annie Farber (née Koblen, 1877–1943). She had an older brother, Leon Farber (1932–2008), who was a jazz percussionist and a younger brother Melvin Farber (1925–1951), a pilot and World War II bombardier who died in a training accident.

Education Klavans studied at Wilson Teachers College in Washington, DC, graduating in 1935. From 1939 to 1943 she worked as a personnel officer in the War Department. and the American University Museum.

Death Klavans continued to paint, draw and create multimedia works until her death from cancer at age 84.

Exhibitions and collections

Klavans has had pieces accepted in the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, The National Museum of Women in the Arts, the Baltimore Museum of Art, and the White House rotating collection. She has had numerous one-woman shows and group shows in Washington DC, New York, and Madrid, Spain. Selected shows and collections include:

Watkins Gallery, Washington D.C. 1964 Corcoran Gallery of Art – Juried Area Show, Washington D.C.1965 Invitational Show for Dedication of the National Bureau of Standards, Washington D.C. 1966 Mickelson Gallery (Four person show), Washington D.C. 1967 Cisneros Gallery, New York City, New York (solo show) 1967 Baltimore Museum of Art, Juried Art Show – Award Winner, Baltimore, Maryland 1967 Corcoran Gallery of Art – Juried Area Show, Washington D.C. 1967 Museum of Modern Art, Bilbao, Spain (One Woman Show) 1969 Smithsonian Institution, National Collection of Fine Arts, White House Exhibition 1970 Mickelson Gallery – One Woman Show 1972 Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore Maryland 1972 Plum Gallery, Kensington, MD (one woman show) 1977 National Museum of Women in The Arts, Washington, DC (permanent collection and catalog) 1986 Accepted in Permanent Collection and Displayed in “Art in Washington DC in the 1960s” Exhibit 2016

Reception Klavan's work has been reviewed in multiple publications including Popovici, La Prensa, 1968; Washington Star, 10/26/1969; Washington Daily News, 9/13/1971; The Gallery Scene, The Evening Star, 3/13/1972; Maryland News, 3/23/1972; and the Unicorn Times 11/77.

Jo Ann Lewis wrote in The Washington Post (10/22/1977): "....The inventive Minne Klavans is showing her latest work...a series of 60-foot scrolls – some small and some huge and spectacular – all covered with brightly colored, intuited abstract signs and symbols which one "reads" by unrolling the scrolls, oriental style."