Edith R. Wyle

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Signage for Edith Wyle Square, on Wilshire Avenue in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Edith Robinson Wyle (April 21, 1918 – October 12, 1999) was an American artist and arts patron, founder of the Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles.[1]

Early life and education

Edith Robinson was born in San Francisco in 1918, the daughter of Rose and Louis Robinson.[1] Her grandparents were Jewish immigrants from eastern Europe. Her parents were musicians, but her father also trained as a dentist.[1] Edith moved to Los Angeles with her parents when she was six years old. As a girl she studied art, music, and dance. She earned a degree in English at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), and worked as a secretary before she married.

As a young wife and mother in the 1940s, Edith Wyle returned to painting as a hobby, and studied with the painter and sculptor Rico Lebrun, who encouraged her particular interest in folk arts. Through adulthood she continued to take classes in various media, including weaving and pottery.[2]

Career

In 1965, Edith Wyle opened The Egg and the Eye, a cafe and gallery on Wilshire Boulevard, across from the LaBrea Tar Pits and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).[3][4] Describing the cafe's founding, she told the Los Angeles Times:

"I'd always had this wild notion of wanting to walk through a tapestry gallery and eat a good lunch. And I could cook only omelettes. Presto... The Egg and the Eye. I think it is the best thing that could happen to a woman whose kids are grown."[5]

In 1973, the cafe became the Craft and Folk Art Museum, and Wyle was director of the museum until 1984.[6] Always struggling financially, the museum closed for periods in the 1990s, and in 1997 Wyle refused to allow a merger with LACMA. She lived to see the museum reopened under the auspices of the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department.[7]

In connection with her museum work, Edith Wyle organized the Festival of Masks in 1976, a multicultural parade and arts celebration.[8] Wyle also worked on arts events during the 1984 Summer Olympics, and served on the board at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts).[9] She published California Women in Crafts (1977), and was author of several exhibit catalogs.[10]

Personal life

Edith Robinson married Frank S. Wyle in 1942. They had three children together. One of their grandchildren is actor Noah Wyle.[11] Edith Wyle died from cancer in October 1999, age 81.[12]

Legacy

The Edith R. Wyle Research Library of the Craft and Folk Art Museum, now housed at LACMA, is named in her memory.[13][14]

References

  1. ^ a b c Suzanne Muchnic, "Edith R. Wyle, Founder of Craft and Folk Art Museum, Dies," Los Angeles Times (October 13, 1999).
  2. ^ Sharon K. Emanuelli, "Oral History Interview with Edith Wyle, 1993, March 9-September 7," Archives of American Art, Women in the Arts in Southern California Oral History Project.
  3. ^ "The Egg and the Eye Poster" (1965), USC Digital Library, retrieved March 2014
  4. ^ "The Egg and the Eye," Pacific Standard Time at the Getty Center,
  5. ^ Bea Miller, "The Treasure Hunters: Home with the Frank Wyles," Los Angeles Times (November 30, 1969): P84.
  6. ^ George M. Goodwin, "A New Jewish Elite: Curators, Directors, and Benefactors of American Art Museums," Modern Judaism 18(2)(May 1998): 141.
  7. ^ Deborah Lyttle Ash, "Craft and Folk Art Museum," in Gerald C. Wertkin, Encyclopedia of American Folk Art (Routledge 2013): p. 132.
  8. ^ William S. Murphy, "Weekend Festival Offers Mass of Masks," Los Angeles Times (October 25, 1986).
  9. ^ Suzanne Muchnic, "Olympic Arts Festival I: Wide, Wide World of Masks: A Revelation," Los Angeles Times (June 5, 1984): G2.
  10. ^ Edith R. Wyle, California Women in Crafts (Craft and Folk Art Museum 1977).
  11. ^ Sharon K. Emanuelli, "Oral History Interview with Edith Wyle, 1993, March 9-September 7," Archives of American Art, Women in the Arts in Southern California Oral History Project.
  12. ^ Suzanne Muchnic, "Edith R. Wyle, Founder of Craft and Folk Art Museum, Dies," Los Angeles Times (October 13, 1999).
  13. ^ Edith R. Wyle Research Library of the Craft and Folk Art Museum, retrieved 2 March 2014
  14. ^ Joyce Lovelace, "A Treasury of Craft History in Los Angeles," American Craft Council (March 20, 2012).

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