Natalie van Vleck

Natalie Van Vleck (October 19, 1901 – December 25, 1981) was an American visual artist and the founder of Flanders Nature Center & Land Trust. She is considered among the earliest women modernist visual artists working in a cubist style.

Early life and education Natalie Van Vleck was born on October 19, 1901 in New York City, the only child of Edward Wakeman Van Vleck and Bertha Macy Van Vleck. Her father was a stockbroker and his side of the family descended from the founders of New Amsterdam, now known as New York City, while her mother was part of the Macy family of New York. The home of the affluent household was in Morristown, New Jersey. As a child, Van Vleck attended the private Brearley School in New York, graduating in 1919. While at the Brearley School she would study after school and on the weekends at the Art Students League of New York under the mentorship of portrait painter Agnes Richmond. In a letter sent to Van Vleck in response to a question about full-time study at the League, Agnes Richmond wrote:

I would enter Mr. Henri's class, and try it at once...you will find him interesting and very likeable but do not take any teacher too seriously. Look inside yourself to see what you are developing in your own way. Art schools kills as many artists as they make. You have something very precious of your own. That means, take all you can from Mr. Henri and everyone you study with, but study yourself along the way. In 1921 and 1922 she took classes with Max Weber, which turned her artistic influence to cubism and abstraction. After her travels she returned to New York City and opened a studio at 149 E 45th Street, where she explored creating wood carvings and other art media and held an exhibition.

Natalie Van Vleck died on December 25, 1981, in her home. Mattatuck Museum (2018–2019) Harvard Art Museums Woodbury Public Library The Little Shop, Woodbury Inn (1937) Town & Country Club, Hartford (1938) Brown-Lambertson Galleries (1932) Macy Galleries (1928, 1933)