Shirley Goldfarb

Shirley Goldfarb was an American painter known for her Abstract Expressionist paintings of the 1950s and 60s and her gridded pallet knife paintings of the 1970s and 80s. Spending her artistic career in Paris from 1954 onwards, Goldfarb formed friendships with Joan Mitchell, Alberto Giacometti, Man Ray, and Max Ernst. She infused the traditionally heavy, action-based Abstract Expressionism with a playful light and joyful quality. 

Goldfarb studied at the Art Students League of New York from 1952-1953 and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine. She was represented in both Paris and New York by the renowned gallerist Virginia Zabriskie and has exhibited in Zabriskie’s galleries throughout the 20th and 21st century. Goldfarb’s work is held in many public collections including the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C; and the Georges Pompidou Centre, Paris.

Goldfarb died in 1980.