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Biography

Malcah Zeldis was born in the Bronx in 1931 and spent the majority of her childhood in Detroit, where her father moved the family to work as a window washer. In 1948, Zeldis moved to a kibbutz in Israel with her husband. There, the Israeli artist Aaron Giladi became her first patron and admirer of her work, and encouraged her to pursue painting. After returning to New York and obtaining a divorce, Zeldis began to paint seriously in the 70s, establishing herself as an influential and respected self-taught contemporary artist.

Often regarded as a painter of the metropolis, Zeldis’ work reflects the urban landscapes she inhabits. They also feature historical, religious and personal events and figures of importance to the artist and her cultural moment. Drawing from Flemish masters and Haitian folk art as her influences, Zeldis is known for her lively narrative style and a bold, even “audacious,” color palette. Her flat, sharply defined figures crowd the paintings’ compositions with explosive oranges, blues, greens, and pinks. After quickly sketching a design, she often works with oil on canvas or board; alternatively, she uses gouache or tempera on paper. A battle with cancer 1986 influenced a material shift from masonite boards, which she struggled to lift, to corrugated cardboard. Her paintings have been widely exhibited, and she has illustrated multiple children’s books.

Zeldis’s work is held in many permanent collections, such as the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the American Folk Art Museum, and the Jewish Museum in New York. In 1988, she was the first living artist to be featured in a one-person show at the Museum of American Folk Art. She continues to live and work in Manhattan.

- Hannah Sheridan

CV

Solo Exhibitions
2020, Shared Dreams: Martin Luther King Jr. by Malcah Zeldis, Fort Gansevoort (online exhibition).
2009-10, Malcah Zeldis: New York Artist, American Folk Art Museum, New York, NY.
2008 “Malcah Zeldis: A Retrospective,” Andrew Edlin Galley, New York
2002, Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY.
2000, Malcah Zeldis, Folk Artist: A Retrospective, Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University, New
York, NY.
1996, Creative Heart Gallery, Winston-Salem, NC.
1995, Modern Primitive Gallery, Atlanta, GA.
1994, Noyes Museum, Oceanville, NJ.
1993, Malcah Zeldis: In Celebration of Honest Abe, Frank J. Miele, New York, NY.
New York State Historical Society, Cooperstown, NY.
1988, Malcah Zeldis: American Self-Taught Artist, The American Folk Art Museum, New York, NY.
1978–1984, Four exhibits at Jay Johnson Gallery, New York, NY.
1976, Phyllis Kind Gallery, Chicago, IL.

Group Exhibitions
2019, New York Experienced, The American Folk Art Museum, New York, NY.
2014, Faces and Figures in Self-Taught Art, The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College,
Poughkeepsie, NY.
2004, Folk Art from the Noyes Museum Collection, Noyes Museum, Oceanville, NJ.
2002–2004, In the Spirit of Martin, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC, Wright
Museum of African American History, Detroit, MI, The Bass Museum of Fine Art, Miami Beach, FL,
Frederick Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, MN, Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, TN, Montgomery
Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, AL.
2003, The Perfect Game: America Looks at Baseball, The American Museum of Folk Art, NY.
Remembrance and Ritual: Jewish Folk Artists of Our Time, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York, NY.
2000–2002, Treasures to Go, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC, Tampa Museum of
Art, Tampa, FL, The Art Museum, Florida International University, Miami, FL, Tacoma Art Museum,
Tacoma, WA
2002, W, X, Y, Z of Outsider Art, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York, NY.
The Art of War and Peace, The American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore, MD.
2000, Empire State Mosaic, New York State Historical Society, Cooperstown, NY.
1999, Terra Museum of Art, Chicago, IL.
Love: Error and Eros, The American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore, MD.
1997, Immortal Beauty: Artists Capture Miss America, Noyes Museum, Oceanville, NJ.
1996, Stedman Art Gallery, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ.
1995, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA.
1973, Selections: An Exhibition of Paintings, Sculpture, and Graphics by Brooklyn Artists, The Brooklyn
Museum, Brooklyn, NY.

Public Collections
Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Museum, Williamsburg, VA
Akron Museum, Akron, OH
International Folk Art Museum, Santa Fe, NM
Jane Voorghees Zimmerli Museum, Rutgers Collection of Children’s Literature, New Brunswick, NJ
Jewish Museum, New York, NY
John Judson Memorial American Museum, Bath, England
Klutznick National Jewish Museum, Washington, DC
Milwaukee Museum of Art, Milwaukee, WI
May Museum of Art, Lawrence, NY
Kresge Art Center Gallery, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
Musée d’Art Naïf – Max Fourny, Paris, France
The American Folk Art Museum, New York, NY
New York State Historical Association, Cooperstown, NY
Noyes Museum, Oceanville, NJ
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Museum, Philadelphia, PA
St. Louis Mid-American Arts Alliance (Mulvane Art Center), St. Louis, MO
Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles, CA
Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC
Yeshiva University Museum, New York, NY

Awards
Brooklyn Museum Fence Art Show Award, Brooklyn, New York, NY
Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture Award

Selected Bibliography
2024
“Malcah Zeldis.” American Folk Art Museum. Accessed Dec. 11, 2024.
“Malcah Zeldis.” Smithsonian Institute. Accessed Dec. 11, 2024.
“Malcah Zeldis.” Art in Embassies, U.S. Department of State. Accessed Dec. 11, 2024.
“Maclah Zeldis.” Gitter Gallery. Accessed Dec. 11, 2024.
2021
"Malcah Zeldis: Shared Dreams", AIR Mail, January 16.
2017
Koral, April. “At 86, Clothing Becomes the Canvas for a Noted Tribeca Artist”, The Tribeca Trib,
October 14.
2011

Buhmann, Stephanie. “Malcah Zeldis: A Life Traveled in Painting”, The Villager, February 15.
2006
McDonough, Yona Zeldis, and Malcah Zeldis. Hammerin’ Hank: The Life of Hank Greenberg, New
York, NY: Walker & Co.
McDonough, Yona Zeldis, and Malcah Zeldis. Peaceful Protest: The Life of Nelson Mandela, New York,
NY: Walker & Co.
McDonough, Yona Zeldis, and Malcah Zeldis. The Life of Benjamin Franklin: An American Original,
New York, NY: Henry Holt.
1998
Kunhardt, Edith, and Malcah Zeldis. Honest Abe, New York, NY: Mulberry Books.
Malcah Zeldis: American Self-Taught Artist, Washington, DC: Museum of American Folk Art.
McNatt, Rosemary Bray, and Malcah Zeldis. Nelson Mandela, New York, NY: Greenwillow Books.
1997
McDonough, Yona Zeldis, and Malcah Zeldis. Anne Frank, New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company.
Zeldis, Malcah, and Rosemary L Bray. Martin Luther King, New York, NY: Mulberry Books.
Zeldis, Malcah, and Yona Zeldis McDonough. God Send a Rainbow: And Other Bible Stories,
Philadelphia, PA: Jewish Publication Society.
1996
McDonough, Yona Zeldis. Moments in Jewish Life: The Folk Art of Malcah Zeldis, New York, NY:
Friedman/Fairfax Publishers.
Shannon, George, and Malcah Zeldis. Spring: A Haiku Story, New York, NY: Greenwillow Books.
1994
Zeldis, Malcah, and Yona Zeldis McDonough. Eve and her Sisters: Women of the Old Testament, New
York, NY: Greenwillow Books.
1991
Hoberman, Mary Ann, and Malcah Zeldis. A Fine Fat Pig, and Other Animal Poems, New York, NY:
Harper Collins.
Symphonies in Color: The Paintings of Malcah Zeldis, Washington, DC: B’nai B’rith Klutznick Museum.
1983
Johnson, Jay, William C Ketchum, Jr., et al. American Folk Art of the Twentieth Century, New York,
NY: Rizzoli.
1973
Selections: An Exhibition of Paintings, Sculpture, and Graphics by Brooklyn Artists, Brooklyn, NY: The
Brooklyn Museum.

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