White Venice

JANICE BIALA, 1903-2000

A painter who lived both in America and Europe, Janice Biala was considered a representational artist, but she was closely associated with abstract painters and incorporated elements of that style into her work. Her canvases have broad bands of luminous color and focus on the effects of light.

In the 1950s, she was active in the New York art scene and participated in the Abstract-Expressionist discussion group at Studio 35. However, most of her career she lived in Europe, especially Paris where she died on September 24, 2000, at age 97.

Many of her paintings were interiors and street scenes of Paris, views of Venice, and the eastern seaboard of the United States.

Biala's brother was painter Jack Tworkov. She was born in Biala, Poland, the town whose name she adopted. As a child, she emigrated to New York City with her family. In the 1930s, she became the companion to writer Ford Maddox Ford, and she illustrated several books for him. After Ford's death, she married painter Daniel Brustlein.

Source: askART