Janet Langsam, a highly regarded champion of the arts in Westchester and beyond, has returned to exhibiting her own artwork in a retrospective exhibition at The Neuberger called “Improbable Feminist.”
Langsam was feted at an April 2 opening reception packed by more than 300 people at the museum on the campus of SUNY Purchase.
The reception pulsed with excitement, even amid a power outage in the neighborhood that afternoon. Large portable spotlights softly illuminated Langsam’s works, the shadows of exhibit guests tenderly drifting across the mounted art. Despite the large crowd, the muted lighting and a low buzz of constant conversation filled the space with intimacy and connection.
Langsam is CEO Emerita of ArtsWestchester, which she administered for 33 years. She served as the first NYC Deputy Commissioner of Cultural Affairs from 1976 to 1980. Known for her arts advocacy and cultural transformation for over 50 years, she has overseen impressive changes in arts funding, artist housing, and community-building.
Her devotion to the arts and arts accessibility, demonstrated within her “larger canvas” of New York, has been noted far and wide; “Janet Langsam: Improbable Feminist,” gives well-deserved recognition for her work on the canvas, as well.
“Well, it was a long time coming,” said Langsam, now 90. “I was an artist in the 60s and 70s, and then there was a crossroads for me. I had an opportunity to do something larger and more meaningful in the community. And it was hard to put the art aside for a while. But it was also gratifying to be in a position to help other artists.”
The exhibit displays more than 30 pieces of Langsam’s work, all made in the 1960s and 70s while Langsam lived in Queens, where she raised three children. The untitled pieces communicate her talent in a variety of mediums, from collages of magazine clippings and scraps, to sizable textured canvases.
Both Langsam’s interest in the irreverence of Dada, and an influence of abstract painters like Leo Manso, are evident – in the witty assemblage of her children’s disembodied dolls plastered to a masonite panel and in her emotive representations of her beloved beach environment in Far Rockaway, where she was raised.
Her works, ranging in size, form, and color, convey Langsam’s technical skill and knowledge, but even more, evoke curiosity, wonder, and exploration. From jagged blue and yellow shapes to black and white ink drawings, Langsam’s work surprises and delights.
Equally significant are Langsam’s stories, interspersed on the walls throughout the gallery. Langsam’s words offer important context to her art; she explains how her upbringing in the Rockaways during WWII, the political movements of the 60s and 70s, and her shifting priorities as a mother and advocate all shaped her art and career.
“You know, I always painted in my head,” said Langsam, describing her career as an administrator. “If you’re an artist, you never stop doing art even if it’s in your mind. How are you going to use something that you learned or that you absorbed? It’s all part of it. You don’t stop painting just because you don’t paint.”
The reception was an opportunity to celebrate Langsam in all of her identities — and a time for her lifelong friends to admire and reflect upon her life’s work. Small groups of viewers hugged and chatted, and individuals hummed in awe as they moved from piece to piece.
Tracy Fitzpatrick, director of the Neuberger and curator of the show, who has known Langsam for around 15 years, first discovered her artwork while visiting Langsam’s home one morning for French toast.
She noticed a beautiful painting on the wall, painted by Langsam herself. Fitzpatrick was invited to visit Langsam’s studio, and was taken by the unique nature and high quality of Langsam’s artistic archive.
“I think there are people in the community who have known her much longer and had no idea that she was ever an artist,” Fitzpatrick said. “And I think one of the things that is so interesting is that, clearly, her artistic practice informed her work as an arts administrator. It’s just that nobody knew.”
Langsam decided on the title, “Improbable Feminist,” herself. Despite her belief in the women’s liberation movement of the era, Langsam was “reluctant to call [herself] a feminist,” as she explains in the exhibit’s featured text. Though she wrestled with the varied and complicated connotations of the label “feminist,” Langsam gives credit: “The women’s movement gave me the validation to explore contemporary art in my own way. It gave me permission to be bold.”
The exhibit challenges viewers to reflect upon cultural moments of the past and present, through the lens of Langsam and her artwork. On display until June 29, it also encourages people to continue in Langsam’s footsteps — to tell and retell “stories that we don’t know about people, about artists, about experiences that we thought we knew well,” Fitzpatrick said.
Langsam’s love and devotion to the arts – as a means of expression, engagement, and resilience – is contagious, and will leave viewers with a strengthened belief in the power of art on an individual, county, state, and cultural scale as well as a newfound admiration of and reverence for Langsam herself.
“The work is all part of my history,” said Langsam. “I hope that people get a sense of my worldview. Everybody has a different worldview and I think if we dig deep, everybody has a worldview, and relationships, and things that have nurtured them. And this is just me. Just a kid from far Rockaway.”
