Anna Walinska and Her Circle

Anna Walinska was a pioneering painter, gallerist, and teacher whose contributions shaped the cultural life of twentieth-century New York. Born in London in 1906 to Ossip Walinsky, a labor organizer, and Rosa Newman, a sculptor and poet, Walinska was raised immersed in progressive political and artistic circles. In 1914, her family relocated to Brooklyn, where their home became a gathering place for Russian intellectuals, artists, and activists. In 1918, Walinska enrolled in the Art Students League beginning a longtime relationship with the institution. She studied intermittently for many years, focusing on still life and portraiture and forming enduring friendships, most notably with fellow student Louise Nevelson.

Walinska spent the 1920s in Paris, where she lived around the corner from Gertrude Stein. She studied at the Grande Chaumiere with Andre L’Hote. While there she exhibited at the Salon des Independents and befriended music composers Francis Poulenc and Arnold Schoenberg.  

By the 1930s, Walinska had established herself as a central figure in New York’s art world. In 1935, she founded the Guild Art Gallery on West 57th Street, envisioning it as a space to “show artists of genuine merit, whether known or unknown, totally independent of commercial consideration.” The gallery exhibited significant figures including Chaim Gross, Raphael Soyer, and Arshile Gorky, and played a vital role in fostering avant-garde artistic exchange. In 1939, Walinska was appointed Assistant Creative Director for the New York World’s Fair, a position that recognized her leadership and vision even as she continued to develop a daring and experimental painting practice.

During the 1950s, Walinska traveled extensively, including an extended stay in Burma, expanding her artistic perspective and solidifying her reputation as a gifted portraitist. Though often skeptical of the commercial art market, her work remained in demand. She exhibited widely throughout the following decades and, in 1957, was honored with a retrospective at the Jewish Museum.  

Spanning drawing, collage, painting, and a wide range of stylistic approaches from portraiture to abstraction, this exhibition highlights the remarkable breadth of Walinska’s practice. Presented alongside her work are works by Art Students League artists who influenced her and were influenced by her, including Milton Avery, Frank Vincent DuMond, Chaim Gross, Raymond Neilson, Louise Nevelson, and Raphael Soyer, situating Walinska within the vibrant artistic community that shaped her life and legacy.

This exhibition is organized by Esther V. Moerdler, Assistant Curator.  

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