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Esphyr
Slobodkina
(the name is pronounced ess-FEER sloh-BOD-kee-nah)
was born in the
Siberian town of Chelyabinsk on September 22nd, 1908. She grew up in
Harbin, Manchuria (China), where she studied art and architecture.
She immigrated to the United States on a student visa at the age of
21 and enrolled at the National Academy of Design in New York City.
In 1937, Esphyr
became one of the founding members of
American Abstract Artists
(AAA), along with her then-husband, Ilya Bolotowsky. She was the
organization’s first secretary and later served as president and
treasurer, as well as its bibliographer. She was a regular exhibitor
in AAA annual shows and a close associate of the “Park Avenue
Cubists”: George L.K. Morris, Suzy Frelinghuysen, Charles Green Shaw
and A.E. Gallatin. In 1940, Gallatin, who owned two of her works,
organized her first one-person exhibition at his Gallery of Living
Art.
 During
this period, Esphyr met the children's author Margaret Wise Brown.
In an effort to find work as an illustrator, Esphyr wrote
Mary and the Poodles,
which she illustrated through collage. She presented it to Brown,
who found Esphyr’s ideas, illustrations and technique innovative.
This began a new career for Slobodkina, who illustrated many
children's stories for Ms. Brown – including
Sleepy ABC
and the
Big and Little
series – while still
continuing her work as an abstract artist.
With the
encouragement of Margaret Wise Brown, Esphyr continued to write on
her own. Her first commercial effort –
The Wonderful Feast
– was written in
1938 or 1939 but was not published until 1955. Her second book –
Caps for Sale
– was published in
1940, has sold more than two million copies and has been translated
into more than a dozen languages. Today it is considered a
children’s book classic as generation after generation pass the
story along to new readers.
Esphyr took her
responsibility as a children's book author seriously. In her memoir
she wrote, “The verbal patterns and the patterns of behavior we
present to children in these lighthearted confections are likely to
influence them for the rest of their lives. These aesthetic
impressions, just like the moral teachings of early childhood,
remain indelible.”
In spite of her
success as a children’s author, Esphyr’s love of abstract art never
wavered. Most mornings as the sun rose, she could be found working
at an old drafting table nearly buried with tubes of paints, tools
and various objects. Many titles of her work as well as the pieces
themselves, such as “The Broken Promise Of Marital Bliss” or “Our
Great Big Happy Condominium In The Sky” evidence her exemplary wit
and sense of humor.
Slobodkina’s art has
received high acclaim. Her paintings, sculptures
 and
literary works can be found in numerous public and private
collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Smithsonian
American Art Museum. Corcoran Gallery of Art, Whitney Museum of
American Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Heckscher Museum of Art,
Huntington, NY (where she has a permanent wing), Hillwood Art
Museum, Long Island University, Brookville, NY, New Jersey State
Museum, Trenton, NJ, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA,
and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA.
In the last years of
the 20th century, Slobodkina displayed little sign of slowing down.
She continued her productivity, alternating serious work on abstract
paintings with more relaxing activities of creating sculpture, wall
hangings, multimedia constructions, and jewelry, often made out of
old typewriter and computer parts. She designed dresses for herself
and her sister. Constantly in motion, Slobodkina devoted the time
she had to finding possible ways of converting her home into an art
foundation.
At age 90, Esphyr
designed a mini museum in Glen Head, Long Island, NY (through her
Slobodkina Foundation) as a place where guests can visit and view
more than 500 works of art, her handmade dolls and jewelry, as well
as her complete collection of children's storybooks, including some
original illustrations. Also available for viewing are the beautiful
polychrome designs on silk, Esphyr’s collection of artifacts,
letters, and memoirs from her travels, and shopping expeditions and
a smattering of favorite pieces by other artists that Esphyr
treasured.
Ideally functioning
both as a museum and a reading room for children, the charitable
Slobodkina Foundation actively preserves the legacy of her prolific,
unusually multifaceted career.
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