News Media
“Art on Her Own Terms: Holyoke Gallery Showcases Work of the Late Avital Sagalyn of Amherst,” Daily Hampshire Gazette, May 27, 2021.
“Avital Sagalyn, artist whose first solo show was just months ago, dies at 95,” The Boston Globe, May 31, 2020.
“In her 90s, a Massachusetts artist is finally ready for her first solo show,” The Boston Globe, Oct. 10, 2019.
“Artist Spotlight: Avital Sagalyn,” VIDA & Co. Blog, May 30, 2019.
Exhibitions
University Museum of Contemporary Art, Amherst, Mass., “Artists, Born Elsewhere — Selections from the UMCA's Permanent Collection,” Sept. 22 - Dec. 10, 2023.
PULP Gallery, Holyoke, Mass., “Ligne In,” May 22 - June 13, 2021
University Museum of Contemporary Art, Amherst, Mass., “Avital Sagalyn: A Life of Exploration,” Oct. 4 - Dec. 8, 2019.
The University Museum of Contemporary Art in Amherst, Mass., held a solo exhibition of Avital Sagalyn's paintings, drawings and sculptures in Fall 2019. The curated show was Avital's first major retrospective.
The exhibition, shown at the University of Massachusetts Amherst Fine Arts Center, was organized by art history faculty as a learning opportunity for three student curators. It featured 57 of Avital's original pieces in a three-room, thematic presentation of her early cubist and abstract expressionist paintings, drawings, sculptures, and more. Artworks on display included works from her early years as a Cooper Union art student; as one of the first women to win a Fulbright Scholarship to study painting in Paris in 1949; works completed as the "New York School" of abstract expressionism got started in the 1950s; and, much more.
As part of this exhibition, dozens of Avital's decades-old paintings and drawings had to undergo extensive professional restoration and framing. Because of the high cost of preservation, many of Avital's other best artworks could not even be considered for the 2019 retrospective.
Absent voluntary contributions, Avital would have to draw deeply off her retirement savings to foot restoration and framing expenses for this public exhibition. If enough funds are raised, Avital also could have other decades-old works prepared for future exhibit.