Edna Wright Andrade, American (1917 - 2008)

Born in Portsmouth, Virginia in 1917.

Edna Andrade was a leading Philadelphia teacher and artist who was associated with the Op Art movement. She created space-filling patterns that reversed themselves and played other illusionary games with the viewer. From 1957 to 1972, she was Professor of Art at the Philadelphia College of Art and from 1972, was Professor of Art at Temple University.

A retrospective survey of her work was held in 1993, titled "Cool Waves and Hot Blocks: The Art of Edna Andrade," at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

She studied at the Pennsylvania School of the Fine Arts from 1933 to 1938 and during 1936-1937 was a Cresson European traveling scholar. Commissions include a mosaic mural and mobile sculpture at the Free Library in Philadelphia.

Education

1937-38
Post Graduate Study, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia

1937
BFA, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

Selected Exhibitions

2007
Optic Nerve: Perceptual Art of the 1960s, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH
Edna Andrade: Optical Paintings, 1960-1966, Locks Gallery, Philadelphia
Pop Art and its Affinities, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia

2006
Edna Andrade: Geometry's Garden, Locks Gallery, Philadelphia
Edna Andrade: Diamonds are Forever, The Print Center, Philadelphia

2004
Edna Andrade, Locks Gallery, Philadelphia

2003
Edna Andrade, Optical Paintings: 1963-1988, Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia

2002
Edna Andrade: Rocks and Cliffs, Locks Gallery, Philadelphia

1999
Edna Andrade: Drawing a Fine Line, Locks Gallery, Philadelphia

1998
Recent Acquisitions, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia

1997
Edna Andrade: Paintings 1960-1990, Locks Gallery, Philadelphia

1995
Artist-Made Objects, Locks Gallery, Philadelphia

1993-94
Cool Waves and Hot Blocks: The Art of Edna Andrade, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia

1993
Edna Andrade: Past & Present, Locks Gallery, Philadelphia

1991
Artists Choose Artists, Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia

1990
Contemporary Philadelphia Artists, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia

1989
Edna Andrade, Marian Locks Gallery, Philadelphia
(also 1983, 1977, 1974, 1971)

1986
Philadelphia Collects: Art Since 1940, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia

1985
Ballator Gallery, Hollins College, VA

1980
Hazlett Memorial Award Exhibition for the Visual Arts, William Penn Memorial Museum, Harrisburg, PA

1977
Joseloff Gallery, University of Hartford, West Hartford, CT

1976
Philadelphia: Three Centuries of American Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia

1971
Rutgers University Art Gallery, New Brunswick, NJ

1967
Peale Galleries, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia
East Hampton Gallery, New York

1966
Purity and Vision, Southampton College, New York

1965
Art with Optical Reaction, Des Moines Art Center, Iowa
The Deceived Eye, Fort Worth Art Center, Texas
Optical Painting, Philadelphia Art Alliance, Philadelphia

1954
Philadelphia Art Alliance

Artist's Gallery