BIOGRAPHY
Malcah Zeldis was born in 1931 in The Bronx, New York. Zeldis has lived in Michigan, Israel, and is now currently residing in Manhattan. She earned her Bachelor’s degree at Brooklyn College, New York in 1970. She has exhibited her works at American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland; Wright Museum of African American History, Detroit, Michigan; The Bass Museum of Fine Art, Miami Beach, FL, Frederick Weisman Art Museum, MI; Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, TN; Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, AL; Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York; Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, FL; Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY; Terra Museum of Art, Chicago, IL; Stedman Art Gallery, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ; Creative Heart Gallery, Winston-Salem, NC; Modern Primitive Gallery, Atlanta, GA; New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA; Jay Johnson Gallery, New York, NY; and the Phyllis Kind Gallery, Chicago, IL. Her work is in the permanent collections of museums such as Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Museum, Williamsburg, VA; Akron Museum, Akron, OH; International Folk Art Museum, Santa Fe, NM; Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Museum, Rutgers Collection of Children’s Literature, New Brunswick, NJ; Jewish Museum, New York, NY; John Judson Memorial American Museum, Washington, DC; Milwaukee Museum of Art, Milwaukee, WI; May Museum of Art, Lawrence NY; The Museum, Kresge Art Gallery, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI; Musée D'Art Naif De Lille de France, Paris, France; The American Folk Art Museum, New York, NY; Noyes Museum, Oceanville, NJ; St. Louis Mid-American Arts Alliance (Mulvane Art Center), St. Louis, MO; Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles, CA; Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC; and the Yeshiva University Museum, New York, NY.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2020
Shared Dreams: Martin Luther King Jr. by Malcah Zeldis, Fort Gansevoort (online exhibition).
2009-10
Malcah Zeldis: New York Artist, American Folk Art Museum, New York, NY.
2002
Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY.
2000
Malcah Zeldis, Folk Artist: A Retrospective, Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University, New York, NY.
1996
Creative Heart Gallery, Winston-Salem, NC.
1995
Modern Primitive Gallery, Atlanta, GA.
1994
Noyes Museum, Oceanville, NJ.
1993
Malcah Zeldis: In Celebration of Honest Abe, Frank J. Miele, New York, NY.
New York State Historical Society, Cooperstown, NY.
1988
Malcah Zeldis: American Self-Taught Artist, The American Folk Art Museum, New York, NY.
1978–1984
Four exhibits at Jay Johnson Gallery, New York, NY.
1976
Phyllis Kind Gallery, Chicago, IL.
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2019
New York Experienced, The American Folk Art Museum, New York, NY.
2014
Faces and Figures in Self-Taught Art, The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY.
2004
Folk Art from the Noyes Museum Collection, Noyes Museum, Oceanville, NJ.
2002–2004
In the Spirit of Martin, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC, Wright Museum of African American History, Detroit, MI, The Bass Museum of Fine Art, Miami Beach, FL, Frederick Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, MN, Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, TN, Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, AL.
2003
The Perfect Game: America Looks at Baseball, The American Museum of Folk Art, New York, NY.
Remembrance and Ritual: Jewish Folk Artists of Our Time, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York, NY.
2000–2002
Treasures to Go, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC, Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, FL, The Art Museum, Florida International University, Miami, FL, Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA
2002
W, X, Y, Z of Outsider Art, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York, NY.
The Art of War and Peace, The American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore, MD.
2000
Empire State Mosaic, New York State Historical Society, Cooperstown, NY.
1999
Terra Museum of Art, Chicago, IL.
Love: Error and Eros, The American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore, MD.
1997
Immortal Beauty: Artists Capture Miss America, Noyes Museum, Oceanville, NJ.
1996
Stedman Art Gallery, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ.
1995
New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA.
1973
Selections: An Exhibition of Paintings, Sculpture, and Graphics by Brooklyn Artists, The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY.
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Museum, Williamsburg, VA
Akron Museum, Akron, OH
International Folk Art Museum, Santa Fe, NM
Jane Voorghees Zimmerli Museum, Rutgers Collection of Children’s Literature, New Brunswick, NJ
Jewish Museum, New York, NY
John Judson Memorial American Museum, Bath, England
Klutznick National Jewish Museum, Washington, DC
Milwaukee Museum of Art, Milwaukee, WI
May Museum of Art, Lawrence, NY
Kresge Art Center Gallery, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
Musée d’Art Naïf – Max Fourny, Paris, France
The American Folk Art Museum, New York, NY
New York State Historical Association, Cooperstown, NY
Noyes Museum, Oceanville, NJ
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Museum, Philadelphia, PA
St. Louis Mid-American Arts Alliance (Mulvane Art Center), St. Louis, MO
Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles, CA
Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC
Yeshiva University Museum, New York, NY
AWARDS
Brooklyn Museum Fence Art Show Award, Brooklyn, New York, NY
Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture Award
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
2021
"Malcah Zeldis: Shared Dreams", AIR Mail, January 16.
2017
Koral, April. “At 86, Clothing Becomes the Canvas for a Noted Tribeca Artist”, The Tribeca Trib, October 14.
2011
Buhmann, Stephanie. “Malcah Zeldis: A Life Traveled in Painting”, The Villager, February 15.
2006
McDonough, Yona Zeldis, and Malcah Zeldis. Hammerin’ Hank: The Life of Hank Greenberg, New York, NY: Walker & Co.
McDonough, Yona Zeldis, and Malcah Zeldis. Peaceful Protest: The Life of Nelson Mandela, New York, NY: Walker & Co.
McDonough, Yona Zeldis, and Malcah Zeldis. The Life of Benjamin Franklin: An American Original, New York, NY: Henry Holt.
1998
Kunhardt, Edith, and Malcah Zeldis. Honest Abe, New York, NY: Mulberry Books.
Malcah Zeldis: American Self-Taught Artist, Washington, DC: Museum of American Folk Art.
McNatt, Rosemary Bray, and Malcah Zeldis. Nelson Mandela, New York, NY: Greenwillow Books.
1997
McDonough, Yona Zeldis, and Malcah Zeldis. Anne Frank, New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company.
Zeldis, Malcah, and Rosemary L Bray. Martin Luther King, New York, NY: Mulberry Books.
Zeldis, Malcah, and Yona Zeldis McDonough. God Send a Rainbow: And Other Bible Stories, Philadelphia, PA: Jewish Publication Society.
1996
McDonough, Yona Zeldis. Moments in Jewish Life: The Folk Art of Malcah Zeldis, New York, NY: Friedman/Fairfax Publishers.
Shannon, George, and Malcah Zeldis. Spring: A Haiku Story, New York, NY: Greenwillow Books.
1994
Zeldis, Malcah, and Yona Zeldis McDonough. Eve and her Sisters: Women of the Old Testament, New York, NY: Greenwillow Books.
1991
Hoberman, Mary Ann, and Malcah Zeldis. A Fine Fat Pig, and Other Animal Poems, New York, NY: Harper Collins.
Symphonies in Color: The Paintings of Malcah Zeldis, Washington, DC: B’nai B’rith Klutznick Museum.
1983
Johnson, Jay, William C Ketchum, Jr., et al. American Folk Art of the Twentieth Century, New York, NY: Rizzoli.
1973
Selections: An Exhibition of Paintings, Sculpture, and Graphics by Brooklyn Artists, Brooklyn, NY: The Brooklyn Museum.