Ellen Banks (June 7, 1938 – May 18, 2017) was an American painter and multi-media artist using only printed musical scores as inspiration for her paintings.

Biography

Born in Boston, Banks spent her childhood exploring both painting and music and was inspired by Piet Mondrian. Banks received her bachelor's degree from the Massachusetts College of Art, studying also at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. Her first solo exhibition took place in 1962. Only five years later, in 1967, she received the Prix de Paris, and her work has been widely exhibited. Since 1981 she has been using musical scores as the visual basis for her work.

Ellen Banks

Career

Banks began her career in 1962 with her first solo gallery. In addition to her formal education at the Massachusetts College of Art, Banks received training from César Domela and Hans Jaffé. She has drawn inspiration from only printed musical scores since 1981. She refers to herself as "a representational painter of abstracts forms", and her unique work has been featured in galleries across the United States and Europe including Galerie Spandow, Artu Gallery, and Museum of Modern Art (NYC). She taught painting courses at the School of the Museum of Fine Art in Boston (1974-1996), where she garnered a number of awards and grant funding. Banks has been based in Brooklyn for much of her career.

Ellen Banks

Notable works

Bovadra, 1975, Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Massachusetts

Scott Joplin, 1982, Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Massachusetts

References

1938 births

2017 deaths

African-American women artists

20th-century American painters

20th-century American women painters

21st-century American painters

Painters from Boston

Painters from Brooklyn

Massachusetts College of Art and Design alumni

School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts alumni

20th-century African-American women

20th-century African-American people

20th-century African-American painters

21st-century African-American women

21st-century African-American artists

21st-century American women painters

Ellen Banks