Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in America

Zeisler, Claire, 1903-1991

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role Collector Artist
dates 1903-1991
city Chicago
stateIL
other citiesCincinnati, OH;
sex F
historical notes Claire Zeisler was a collector and Fiber artist in Chicago who died in 1991.

In the 1930s, she acquired paintings by European modernists including Picasso, Miro, and Klee and objects from many tribal cultures, among them African sculptures, tantric art, ancient Peruvian textiles, and more than 300 American Indian baskets.

Later, she added works by postwar American artists, from Franz Kline to Robert Rauschenberg and Jenny Holzer.

In 1943, Mrs. Zeisler divorced her first husband, Harold Florsheim, an heir to the Florsheim Shoe Company. She married Ernest Zeisler, a physician, and author, in 1946.

Zeisler studied with Alexander Archipenko, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, and weaver Bea Swartchild at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Zeisler created loom weavings and later turned them into free-standing fiber sculptures.

decades
of activity
1930-1940
1940-1950
1950-1960
1960-1970
1970-1980
1980-1990
updated 10/31/2024 13:33:17
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Archives/Repository Collection Title Collection Details
Archives of American Art
Victor Building, Suite 2200
Claire Zeisler papers, 1941-1992 see details...
Archives of American Art
Victor Building, Suite 2200
Oral history interview with Claire Zeisler, 1981 June. see details...
National Portrait Gallery Library
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Artist file: Zeisler, Claire , 1903- see details...
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Library
Smithsonian Institution
Artist file: Zeisler, Claire , 1903- see details...

see also:
Florsheim, Harold M.