Vera Klement, (1929-2023, American)
HEDGE, 1993
Oil, wax, and graphite on canvas (84"x60")
Gift of the artist
MIDNIGHT BIRDS, 1996
Oil, wax, and paper/collage on canvas (84"x96")
Gift of the artist
TRACE OF DAY, 2002
Oil and wax on canvas (78"x96")
Gift of the artist
Vera Klement was born in what is now Gdansk, Poland. On the edge of the Baltic Sea, this small town was celebrated for its natural beauty. Klement writes in BLUNT EDGE - The Making of a Painter that growing up there, the duality between the bright lights of the sea and the darkness of the silent forest beyond inspired a sense of light and dark in her work. Klement fled her hometown in Europe to escape the Nazis after Kristallnacht (the Night of Broken Glass) and arrived in New York in 1938. After six decades as a painter, Klement continues to reference the Baltic Lands she left behind and reconciles that loss with her newfound identity as an American, a Feminist, and an immigrant. Her paintings draw upon music, literature, and her own memories to create the poetic images she is best known for.
