WPA Era Portrait
1940s Graphite

#D0646

Miriam Rice 

This 1930s/1940s graphite on paper portrait is by Miriam Rice (1918-2010) and was likely executed while storing at the Art Students League. Rice was an American sculptor, textile artist, and educator whose career spanned mid-century modernism and later experimental craft practices. She studied at the Art Students League of New York, where she developed an early focus on sculpture and met her future husband, the artist Ray Rice (1916–2001), who is also represented in the Lost Art Collection. 

For some years Miriam lived in New Orleans and worked under the federal arts programs of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), serving as an assistant to the important Mexican American sculptor Enrique Alférez (1901–1999). 

Rice’s practice evolved across a wide range of media, including drawing, sculpture, batik, and textile arts, reflecting both modernist influences and the impact of the Mexican muralist tradition through her exposure to artists connected to Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, and David Alfaro Siqueiros. After settling in Northern California, Miriam and Ray became central figures in West Coast art education. In 1960, Miriam began a long association with the Mendocino Art Center, where she taught and developed her later work. By the 1970s, she pioneered innovative research into natural dyes derived from mushrooms, becoming an international authority on the subject.  

1930s/40s 
Graphite on Paper
23"x30" framed, 10.5"x17" unframed 

Framed in a layered vintage wood frame with an inner cream layer and distressed brown outer layer using archival matting and spacers behind plexiglass. Excellent vintage condition; piece has a major tear along the left side.