"Throughout her youth, Plath received accolades in her high school art classes with Salvatore W. Simone. She belonged to art clubs, took private art lessons, and studied watercolor painting with local artist Sophia Lewis Morrill during the summer of 1949 in Wellesley. As a student at Smith College, she completed Introduction to Art with Mervin M. Jules and George Swinton during her first year (1950-51) and Principles, Methods, and Techniques of Drawing and Painting with H. George Cohen during her sophomore year (1951-52). She also volunteered every Monday afternoon at the People's Institute in Northampton, Massachusetts, to teach art to children.
Plath's Self-Portrait in Semi-Abstract Style is a striking balance of light and dark. Her expressive gestures, like the hands of a magician, are the focus of the composition." -- National Portrait Gallery
In the same exhibition we find Plath's Triple-face Portrait.
"While Plath is remembered as an author and poet, she was also a talented visual artist. She arrived at Smith College in 1950 intending to major in studio art, but after gaining acceptance to the English honors program, her interest in art took a secondary role. When she returned to Smith as an English instructor in 1958, she audited a class on modern art and turned to the work of artists such as Giorgio de Chirico, Paul Klee, and Henri Rousseau to inspire her poetry. Triple-face Portrait demonstrates Plath's formal artistic training. The three faces of this portrait call to mind the various 'faces,' or masks, that one can possess, as well as the ways in which Plath worked to cultivate multiple identities for herself intellectual, sensual, and creative." -- National Portrait Gallery
Sylvia Plath had real talent as an artist drawings especially.
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