DescriptionDorothy Gillespie was an artist, a feminist activist, and a philanthropist. Her artwork, except for a few early paintings and several happenings in the 1960s, was entirely abstract. Gillespie was influenced by Abstract Expressionism, Happenings, Pop Art, and Feminism. In the 1970s, she became involved in the Women’s Interart Center, New York Professional Women Artists, and the feminist art movement. She organized exhibitions, created a collection of women’s art, compiled statistics, and took part in protests against galleries. The bright and fun style of her sculptural abstractions was a hallmark and created various public art opportunities for her in the 1980s. In the 1980s and 1990s, she donated many pieces from her own art collection, as well as her own artwork, to various universities in order to create university art collections. In the 1990s, Gillespie created smaller sculptures that were more accessible for beginning collectors. The collection documents her art production from roughly the early 1940s through 2010, her involvement in New York artists associations and galleries, her pioneer course at the New School for Social Research “Functioning in the Art World,” correspondence between her and art institutions, and her public and commercial artworks.

NoteArrangement to the Sound of a Heartbeat (5 images) (1981) -- Nature Dance (1 image) (1986) -- Chieftain's Crest Grande (1 image) (1989) -- Venture Series: Garden (2 images) -- Venture Series: High Priestess (1 image) (1981) -- A Joyful Noise (1 image) (1982) -- Love Token (1 image) (1987) -- Detail Primitive Theme (1 image) (1981) -- Quaver XX (1 image) -- Rain in Spain (1 image) -- Earth Series: Rising Sun - Hidden Moon (1 image) (1981) -- Festival Series: Time Zone VII (2 images) (1981) -- Time Zones (2 images) (1981) -- Time Zones I, II, III (1 image) (1981) -- Untitled 01 (1 image) -- Untitled 02 (1 image) -- Untitled 03 (1 image) -- Untitled 05 (1 image) -- Untitled 06 (1 image) (1982) -- Untitled 07 (1 image) -- Untitled 08 (1 image) -- Untitled 09 (1 image) -- Untitled 10 (8 images) -- Untitled 11 (1 image) -- Untitled 12 (1 image) -- Untitled 13 (1 image) -- Untitled 14 (1 image) -- Untitled 15 (1 image) -- Untitled 16 (1 image) -- Untitled 17 (1 image) -- Untitled 18 (1 image) -- Untitled 19 (3 images) -- Untitled 20 (1 image) -- Untitled 21 (1 image) -- Untitled 22 (1 image) -- Untitled 23 (1 image) -- Untiled 24 (1 image) -- Untitled 25 (1 image) -- Untitled 26 (1 image) -- Untitled 27 (1 image) -- Untitled 28 (1 image) -- Untitled 29 (1 image) -- Untitled 30 (1 image) -- Untitled 31 (1 image) -- Untitled 32 (1 image) -- Untitled 33 (1 image) -- Untitled 34 (1 image) -- Untitled 35 (1 image) -- Untitled 36 (1 image) -- Untitled 37 (1 image) -- Untitled 38 (1 image) -- Untitled 39 (1 image) -- Untitled 40 (3 images) -- Untitled 41 (1 image) -- Untitled 42 (1 image) -- Untitled 43 (1 image) -- Untitled 44 (1 image) -- Untitled 45 (1 image) -- Untitled 46 (1 image) -- Untitled 47 (1 image) -- Untitled 48 (1 image) -- Untitled 49 (1 image) -- Untitled 50 (1 image) -- Untitled 51 (1 image) -- Untitled 52 (1 image) -- Sound of the Colorfall (1 image) -- Rain A Slight Impression (1 image) (1991) -- Rearrangement (2 images) (1981) -- Royal Garden Crest (1 image) (1990) -- Sharps & Flats (1 image) (1991) -- Shadow Boxing in the Air (3 images) (1991) -- Sharpo & Flats (1 image) (1991) -- Dance to the Sun II (1 image) (1990) -- The Royals (1 image) (1990) -- Earth Series: Total Eclipse (2 images) (1981) -- Untitled 04 (2 images) (1963) -- Untitled 53 (1 image) -- Untitled 54 (1 image) -- Untitled 55 (1 image) -- Untitled 56 (1 image).

NoteThis digital project has been made possible by a generous gift from the Dorothy M. Gillespie Foundation.

NoteThe front and back sides of photographs have been scanned.

Persistent URLhttps://doi.org/doi:10.7282/t3-x1rr-4f46

CollectionDorothy Gillespie Papers image collection

Organization NameRutgers University. Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives

RightsThis Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

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