Indian tale, Gabrielle Brill

Artwork Overview

Gabrielle Brill, Indian tale
Gabrielle Brill, Indian tale
Gabrielle Brill
Indian tale
late 1900s
Gabrielle Brill, artist
1913–2020
Indian tale, late 1900s
Where object was made: United States
Material/technique: color etching
Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 898 x 605 mm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 35 3/8 x 23 13/16 in
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 1055 x 750 mm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 41 9/16 x 29 1/2 in
Credit line: Gift from the Security Benefit Group of Companies
Accession number: 2007.6654
Not on display
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Gabrielle Bernhard Brill went to art school in Berlin and Austria, but when Hitler came to power her training was cut off. She went to Italy to teach art in one of several boarding schools set up in Italy by German Jews to offer education and shelter from Hitler's politics. Brill and her boyfriend Wolfgang Wasow fled to England, where they married, and then immigrated to the United States in 1939. Brill later remarried another German refugee, Klaus Brill, and lived in their California home through her 100th birthday. Today, she has advanced dementia and has been living in a care facility near her family.

Brill’s work shows many influences from non-Western sources including imagery suggestive of art made by the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest coast, as seen in Indian tale. Other work echoes African sculpture and some prints are reminiscent of Persian miniatures and medieval illuminated manuscripts. Brill had a very strong sense of social justice, which made her sensitive to oppression, as well as a dislike of cultural hierarchies for types and styles of art.

Exhibitions

Brosseau Center for Learning: Centenarians
2018