Elizabeth Osborne
Elizabeth Osborne (born 1936) is an American painter and teacher, who lives in Philadelphia. Working primarily in oil paint and watercolor, her paintings are known to bridge ideas about formalist concerns, particularly luminosity with her explorations of nature, atmosphere and vistas. Beginning with figurative paintings in the 1960s and '70s, she moved on to bold, color drenched, landscapes and eventually abstractions that explore color spectrums.
Elizabeth Osborne
- Name
- Elizabeth Osborne
- Born
- 5 June 1936
- Birthplace
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
- Movement
- Figurative painting, abstract painting
- Known for
- Oil painter, watercolorist
- Awards
- Fulbright Scholar, Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Foundation Award from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, PAFA Distinguished Alumni Award, Ford Foundation Purchase Prize, MacDowell Colony Grant
- Education
- Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, University of Pennsylvania
- Nationality
- United States
- Occupation
- painter · artist
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wikidata · Q20685046 · wikipedia · Elizabeth Osborne
In this article
Biography
Biography
Her experimental assemblage paintings that incorporated objects began an inquiry into psychological content that she continued in a series of self-portraits and a long-running series of solitary female nudes and portraits. Osborne's later abstract paintings present a culmination of ideas—distilling her study of luminosity, the landscape, and light.
Elizabeth Osborne studied at University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and Friends' Central School. Places of work recorded in the authority are Philadelphia. Employment is recorded with Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Work by Elizabeth Osborne is recorded in the collections of Minneapolis Institute of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Picker Art Gallery and Bryn Mawr College Special Collections.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Elizabeth Osborne • Born — 5 June 1936 • Birthplace — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States • Movement — Figurative painting, abstract painting • Known for — Oil painter, watercolorist • Awards — Fulbright Scholar, Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Foundation Award from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, PAFA Distinguished Alumni Award, Ford Foundation Purchase Prize, MacDowell Colony Grant • Website — http: elizabethosborne.us/paintings.html • Education — Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, University of Pennsylvania
Career
Career
Elizabeth Osborne was born in 1936, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. • Illustration — "Black Doorway I" (1966) by Osborne; it was exhibited as "Woman in Doorway" in early 1966. Photo taken at the Delaware Art Museum in 2017. Osborne attended classes at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1959 for her undergraduate studies. After graduation Osborne was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship and traveled to Paris to study art for a year. In 1963, she became the third woman to join the faculty at PAFA and for many years was the sole female faculty member. She retired from teaching at PAFA in 2011. In 2008, she was honored with a career survey exhibition at the museum of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts organized by curator Robert Cozzolino, bringing together works from all periods of her career and accompanied by a major monograph publication. Osborne currently lives and works in Philadelphia and is represented by Locks Gallery. Her work is in numerous public collections including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the McNay Art Museum, the Reading Art Museum, the Delaware Art Museum, the Woodmere Art Museum, and the Palmer Museum of Art.
Exhibitions
Exhibitions
• "Elizabeth Osborne: The Sixties" (October 8, 2016 - January 8, 2017) the Delaware Art Museum • "Veils of Color: Juxtapositions and Recent Work by Elizabeth Osborne" (July 25 – November 15, 2015) the James A. Michener Art Museum • "The Artist in the Garden" (2015), James A. Michener Art Museum • "Luminous Gestures" (2013), Locks Gallery, solo exhibition • "The Color of Light" (2012), the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts solo career-survey curated by Robert Cozzolino with accompanying monograph publication • "The Female Gaze: Women Artists Making Their World", (2012) The Linda Lee Alter Collection of Art by Women, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts • "Flirting with Abstraction," (2012) Woodmere Art Museum • "Narcissus in the Studio: Portraits and Self Portraits" (2011) the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts • Elizabeth Osborne: Floating Landscapes 1971-79 (2006) Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, solo exhibition • "Elizabeth Osborne: Recent Prints", (2005) solo exhibition at the Print Center in Philadelphia • Four Visions/Four Painters: Murray Dessner, Bruce Samuelson, Elizabeth Osborne and Vincent Desiderio (2004) Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art, • "The Modern Still Life: Drawings, Watercolors, and Collages from the Collection" (1992), Philadelphia Museum of Art • "Elizabeth Osborne: Paintings and Watercolors" (1976) solo exhibition at Marian Locks Gallery, Philadelphia
Recognition
Recognition
In 2013, Osborne received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. In 1968, she received a prestigious Rosenthal Award from the National Institute of Arts and Letters and in 1964 was a Fulbright Scholar in Paris, France.
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Elizabeth Osborne, revision 1362529386 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.The Philadelphia Inquirer. A painter showing her true colors by Edward Sozanski.
- 2.Nickels, Thom. Legendary Locals of Center City Philadelphia. Arcadia Publishing. 69. 2014. 978-1-4671-0141-7.
- 3.Penn Gazette: Elizabeth Osborne.
- 4.Elizabeth Osborne: The Color of Light. PAFA.
- 5.Philadelphia Museum of Art – Collections
- 6.PAFA: Elizabeth Osborne- Rockwood Still Life.
- 7.Elizabeth Osborne: CV Locks Gallery.
- 8.Elizabeth Osborne: The Sixties : Delaware Art Museum.
- 9.Exhibitions | James A. Michener Art MuseumJames A. Michener Art Museum.
- 10.The Artist in the Garden, Michener Art Museum.
- 11.Luminous Gestures at Locks Gallery.
- 12.PAFA: The Female Gaze
- 13.Woodmere Art Museum: Flirting with Abstraction.
- 14.PAFA: Narcissus.
- 15.Floating Landscapes at Locks Gallery.
- 16.The Print Center: Past Exhibitions 2005
- 17.Ursinus College: Four Visions/Four Painters.
- 18.PMA: The Modern Still Life
- 19.Locks Gallery CV.
- 20.PAFA 2013 Annual Report.
- 21.Art of the Print
References
Citations
References
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Studied at
1- Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine ArtsOrganisation
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 25 August 2026.
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