Blanche Lazzell

One of the earliest and most important female abstract artists in America, Blanche Lazzell is widely regarded for her paintings and innovative color woodblock prints. Works such as Abstract Composition No.6 (1928) and Peace, Joy, Love (1930) clearly demonstrate the influence of Geometric Cubism, a technique to which Lazzell was exposed while studying in Paris with André Lhote, Albert Gleize, and Fernand Léger in the 1920s. Her later works such as Untitled (1952) or Abstract in Blues, Yellow, Red move even further into abstraction. Lazzell is perhaps best remembered today for the more than 138 woodcuts she made using the distinctive “white line” technique developed by Bror Julius Olsson Nordfeldt and the Provincetown Printers. Combining representational and abstract elements in a style uniquely her own, prints such as Provincetown Back Yards. (1927), Marygolds. (1930), and Little Church (1952) are considered definitive examples of the technique.