GERDA MEYER BERNSTEIN

Born: Westphalia, Germany
Currently living and working in Chicago, Illinois
Gallery Affiliation: Fassbender Fine Art, Chicago, IL
Founding Member: ARC (Artists, Residents of Chicago), 1973, a non-profit membership-governed feminist gallery

EDUCATION
Undergraduate School of the Art Institute of Chicago
M.F.A., School of the Art Institute of Chicago (1978)

ONE-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2008 DePaul University Art Museum, Chicago, IL, 2 installations, "Marginalized", "Domestic Surveillance" and "Exercise in Futility"
2007 Rockford Art Museum, Rockford IL, 4 installations "Exit Only", "Army of the Disappeared", "Tribunal", and "Untold Story"
          Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL, "Freedom March" installation
          University of Illinois I Space Galleries, Chicago, IL, 2 installations "River" and "Phoenix"
2006 Indian University Northwest, IUN Gallery for Contemporary Art, Gary, IN Site specific installation "Hooded March"
2003 Kunsthaus Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany; site-specific installation "Freedom March"
2003 Fassbender Gallery, Chicago, IL: site-specific installation "Freedom March"
2001 Reicher Gallery, Barat College, Lake Forest, IL; site-specific installation "Tribunal"
2000 Fassbender Gallery, Chicago,IL; site-specific installations "Tribunal" and "Windows"
1997 Fassbender Gallery, Chicago, IL; site-specific installations, "The Agreement" and "Exit Only"
1996 Ellis Island Immigration Museum, NEW YORK, NY; installation of "Passages"
1995 Alternative Museum, New York, NY; installation of "Block 11"
1994 Fassbender Gallery, Chicago, IL; Site-specific Installation, "The Eighth Deadly Sin"
1994 Robert F DeCaprio Art Gallery, Moraine Valley College, Palos Hills, IL
1993 Beacon Street Gallery, Chicago, I; installation of "Block 11"
1991 Rockford College, Rockford, IL; installation of "Block 11"
1989 A.I.R. Gallery, New York, NY; installation of "Block 11"
1987 Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin, West Germany; "Political Visions"
          Bochum Museum, Bochum, West Germany; "Political Visions"
          Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe, West Germany; "Political Visions"
1985 A.I.R. Gallery, New York, NY
1982 Karl Ernst Osthaus Museum, Hagen, West Germany
1979 Elmhurst College, Elmhurst, IL
1978,75,74 ARC Gallery, Chicago, IL
1960 Angeleski Gallery, New York, NY

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2004/2005 "Lodz Biennale", International Artists’ Museum, Lodz, Poland
2002 "Witness and Legacy", Frye Museum, Seattle, Washington
2001 "Witness and Legacy", South Bend Museum of Art, South Bend, IN
2000 "Witness and Legacy", Tucson Art Museum, Tucson, Arizona
          "Witness and Legacy", Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, Alabama
          "Witness and Legacy", DeCirdiva Art Museum, Lincoln, Massachusetts
1999 "30 times 15" x 15", Fassbender Gallery, Chicago, IL,
          "Witness and Legacy", Telfair Museum of Art, Savannah, GA,
          "Witness and Legacy", Oklahoma City Art Museum, Oklahoma City, OK
          "Witness and Legacy", New Jersey State Museum, NJ
1998 "Witness and Legacy", Tampa Bay Holocaust Museum, Tampa Bay, FL
          "Witness and Legacy", Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, TN,
          "Witness and Legacy", University Art Museum, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY,
          "Shattered Visions: Contemporary Legacies of the Holocaust", Suburban Fine Art Center, Highland Park, IL
1997 "Witness and Legacy", Blaffer Gallery, University of Houston (Texas) Art Museum,
          "Shattered Visions: Contemporary Legacies of the Holocaust", Suburban Fine Arts Center, Highland Park, IL,
          "Witness and Legacy", Aurora Public Art Commission Museum and Gallery, Aurora, IL,
          "Twelve Women Artists/ Women in the Arts", Robert De Caprio Gallery, Moraine College, Palos Hills, IL,
          "Communicazioni Visive Tramiti Concessioni Globalia", Gallery of Modern Art of the City of Ferrara, Italy,
           Palazzo Massari "Witness and Legacy", Tampa Holocaust Museum, St. Petersburg, FL
1996 "Art Chicago Group Exhibition", Fassbender Gallery, Chicago IL,
1996 "Civil Rights Now", traveling exhibition - venues:
           Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC (organizer)
           Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art Cleveland, OH;
           Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA;
           The Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, NY
1995 "Gallery Artist Group Exhibition", Fassbender Gallery, Chicago, IL,
           Minnesota Museum of American Art; site-specific installation, "Witness and Legacy" - Art about the Holocaust", St. Paul, MN (traveling)
1994 "Bridges & Boundaries", Spertus Museum, Chicago, IL;
           Installation of "Phonenix", The Art Institute of Chicago,
           Betty Rymer Gallery, Chicago, IL
1993 University of Wisconsin Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI, Peace Museum, Chicago, IL
1993 University of Wisconsin Memorial Union, Madison, WI
1992 A.I.R. Gallery, New York, NY
1991 "Burning in Hell", Invitational Franklin Furnace Gallery, New York, NY
1990 Northern Illinois University Art Museum, DeKalb, IL
1989 Chicago Office of Fine Arts, The Cultural Center, Chicago, IL; Five-person Invitational
          "Alumni Exhibit". School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL: Nine-person Invitational
1988,87 A.I.R. Gallery, New York, NY
1986 "Political Statements",Ministerio de Cultura, Madrid, Spain
1985 "American Women in Art", United Nations Conference on Women, Nairobi, Kenya; Women's Interart Center, New York, NY (Three-person Invitational)
1984 Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin, West Germany;
           Five-person Invitational Northern Illinois University,
          Swen Parson Gallery, DeKalb, IL;
          (Three-person Invitational) "A Chicago History", Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL;
          A.I.R. Gallery, New York, NY; Five Artists, National Affiliate Exhibit
1982 "Prints and Multiples by Artists of Chicago and Vicinity", National Academy of Design, New York, NY;
           "Artists of Chicago and Vicinity", The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL;
          Toured to: The National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C. D.C.;
          Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
          National Academy of Design, New York,NY
          Illinois State Museum, Springfield, IL
1981 "Studies Through Photography" Purdue University, Purdue, IN
          Midwest Museum of American Art, Elkhart, IN;
          One Year Traveling Exhibition "Generative Systems Exhibition" Cultural Center, Chicago, IL;
          Print Club of Philadelphia, PA; International Competition, "Paper in Particular", Columbia College, Chicago, IL
1979 Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ; Invitational
1978 "New Horizons in Art", Cultural Center, Chicago, IL
1977 University of Illinois, Urbana and Chicago campuses, IL; Invitational,
           "Works on Paper", University of Missouri, St. Louis, MO; Invitational,
           "Critic’s Choice Invitational", 1134 Gallery, Chicago, IL.
           "Artists of Chicago and Vicinity", The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL.
           A.I.R. Gallery, New York, NY; Invitational
1976 "28th Illinois Invitational", Illinois State Museum of Art, Springfield, IL
1975 "New Horizons in Art", Invitational, Chicago, IL; Invitational
1974 Carleton College, Northfield MN; Invitational.
           "Women in Art", Sangamon State University, Springfield, IL; Invitational
1973 "35th Annual American Artists’ Exhibition", Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
1962 University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI; Invitational
1961 Renaissance Society, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL; Invitational
1956 "59th Exhibition of Artists of Chicago and Vicinity", The Art Institute of Chicago
1955 "58th Exhibition Artists of Chicago and Vicinity", The Art Institute of Chicago, IL,
           San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA; Invitational
1954 "57th Exhibition of Artists of Chicago and Vicinity", The Art Institute of Chicago,
           Isaac Delgado Museum, New Orleans, LA; Invitational

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Judith M. Gerson and Diane L. Wolf, Sociology Confronts the Holocaust, Duke University Press 2008, cover image “Block 11” by Gerda Meyer Bernstein
Alan G. Artner, Chicago Tribune, August 22. 2008 "In the Galleries" review
Polly Ulrich, Sculpture Magazine, December 2007, Gerda Myer Bernstein "Bearing Witness"
Hawkins, Margaret, "Gerda Meyer Bernstein, Freedom March" exhibition review , Chicago Sun Times, April 13, 2007
Artner, Alan, exhibit review in On The Town, Chicago Tribune, April 6, 2007
Creglow, Zack, "Art Exhibition Leaves Message of Hope" Rockford Register Star, March 19, 2007
Shellberg, Tim, "Hot-Button Exhibit" Gary Times, March 10, 2006
Jennifer Jaskowiak, Maureen P. Sherlock, Lanny Silverman. "Gerda Meyer Bernstein, Bearing Witness" exhibition catalogue, Fassbender Fine Art, Chicago, IL, 2006
Ildiko Roed, exhibition review, Potsdam Tageszeitung, May 8, 2003
Von Gerold Paul, exhibition review, Potsdamer Neueste Nachrichten, May 6, 2003
Becker, Carol, Gerda Meyer Bernstein, exhibition catalogue, Fassbender Gallery, Chicago, IL
Rushing, Natalie "Witness and Legacy", Culture and Leisure Magazine, May 2000.
Baigell, Matthew, Artist and Identity in 20th Century America, Cambridge University Press, 2000
Heyd, Milly, Mutual Reflections: Jews and Blacks in American Art, 1999, Rutgers University Press
Patrick, Judy. "A Study in Horror: Albany Exhibit Evokes Lasting Pain of Holocaust", Albany Gazette, January 25, 1998.
Johnson, Patricia C. "Witness to Terror",exhibition review, Houston Chronicle, 1997.
Baigell, Matthew. Jewish-American Artists on the Holocaust, Rutgers University Press, 1997
Hawkins, Margaret. "Artist’s Memories Fuel Exhibit’s Attack on Tyranny", exhibition review, Chicago Sun-Times, June 20, 1997
Hamburg, Gail Vida. "The Medium and the Message: Artists Share Politically-Charged Vision", Daily Southtown, July 18, 1997
Buzzoni, Andrea, et al. Communicazione Visive Tramiti Concessioni Globali, exhibition catalogue, Ferrara, Italy, 1996
Henley, P.S. , "Ellis Island, Passages", Lifestyles, Spring 1996
Rodriguez, Geno, Leon Golub and Sonia Landy Sheridan, Gerda Meyer Bernstein, exhibition catalogue, Alternative Museum, New York, 1995
Feinstein, Stephen, editor. Witness and Legacy: Contemporary Art about the Holocaust, catalogue for traveling exhibition, Minnesota Museum of American Art, Minneapolis, MN, 1995
Anderson, Othello and Claire Wolf Krantz, Bridges and Boundaries, exhibition catalogue, Spertus Museum, Chicago, IL, 1994
Handler, Mona and Joan Marter, "Block 11", exhibition review, Art Journal, College Art Association Journal, Winter 1994
Gerda Meyer Bernstein, exhibition catalogue, Beacon Street Gallery, Chicago, IL; October 1993
Narratives of Loss, exhibition catalogue, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI; 1993
Art Papers, Exhibition review, Volume 14, No. 6; Nov./Dec. 1990
Taylor, Sue and Gregory Knight, Present at the Creation, exhibition catalogue, Chicago Cultural Center; October 1989
Chicago Sun-Times, Exhibition review, October 29, 1989
Chicago Tribune, exhibition review, October 13 1989
ARTFORUM International, exhibition review, Summer 1989
Chicago Tribune, exhibition review, January 13 1989
Sulpher Magazine, #24, Spring, 1989
Schauer, Dr. Lucie. Political Visions, exhibition catalogue, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin, Germany, February 1987
Karlsruhe Tageszeitung, exhibition review, Germany, October 1987
Kultur Magazine, exhibition review, Berlin; March 1987
Die Tageszeitung, exhibition review, Berlin, Germany; February 1987
Das Tagesspiegel, exhibition review, Berlin, Germany; February 22, 1987
Six Installations, exhibition catalogue, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, 1984
Berliner Morgenpost, exhibition review, Germany; July 1984
Tagesspiegel, exhibition review, Berlin, Germany; July 1984
RIAS, Berlin, Germany; Radio broadcast, exhibition review, July 13 1984
Muller, Dr. Johann. Gerda Meyer Bernstein, exhibition catalogue, Karl Ernst Osthaus Museum, Hagen, Germany, September 1982
Das Kunstwerk International Art Magazine; exhibition review, December 1982
Who's Who in American Art
Women Artists in America, Art Department, University of Tennessee

COLLECTIONS
Florida Holocaust Museum
Rockford Art Museum, Rockford, IL
Karl Ernst Osthaus Museum, Hagen, Germany
Various private and public collections