Merrilyn Jeanne Duzy
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Merrilyn Jeanne Duzy | |
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| Born | 1946 (age 79–80) Los Angeles |
| Citizenship | American |
| Alma mater | California State University, Northridge |
| Occupation | Artist |
Merrilyn Jeanne Duzy (born 1946) is an American artist whose work is associated with the feminist art movement of the 1970s. Her paintings have been described as addressing themes of women’s history, spirituality, and erotic imagery, and include figurative works, portraits, skyscapes, and encaustic paintings.
Since the late 1970s, Duzy has exhibited her work in the United States and internationally. She developed the illustrated lecture series Walking Through History: Women Artists Past & Present, presented since the early 1980s.> In addition to her studio practice, she has held leadership roles in the Women’s Caucus for Art, including founding the Florida West Coast Chapter and serving as president of the Southern California chapter.
Early life and education
Duzy was born in Los Angeles in 1946 and grew up in Pacoima in the San Fernando Valley. Raised in a Catholic household, she developed an early interest in religious imagery and spirituality, themes later reflected in her work. She has described discovering illustrated religious books as a teenager and associating images of saints in ecstasy with her own emerging understanding of sexuality.
She completed a Bachelor of Arts in fine art at California State University, Northridge, after an extended period attributed to financial and family responsibilities. She later earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Otis/Parsons School of Design in Los Angeles in 1988.
In the mid-1970s Duzy began researching female erotic imagery after observing that standard texts on erotic art largely excluded work by women. She collaborated with photographer Lois Constantine and writer Grace Powell to interview women artists whose work addressed sexuality, gender roles, and the body. Although the planned book was never published, the research informed her later curatorial projects and historical series on women artists.
Career
Feminist art and curatorial work
In 1977 Duzy curated Erotic Visions: Art by Women at the George Sand Gallery in Westwood, California, an exhibition devoted to women’s erotic art. For the exhibition she created a self-portrait titled The Virgin, which reinterprets traditional Marian iconography using female anatomical symbolism. The exhibition received coverage and became part of broader discussions of women’s authorship and representation in erotic art.
Later that year she co-organized Autobiographies, an exhibition shown at libraries in Malaga Cove and Palos Verdes that became the subject of a local censorship dispute when some works were covered or removed and the exhibition was temporarily closed. The controversy prompted public debate regarding freedom of expression and the distinction between erotic art and pornography. She subsequently co-curated Dirty Dozen at the David Stuart Gallery in Los Angeles, which brought together artists from Los Angeles and New York working with feminist and erotic themes.
During the late 1970s and early 1980s Duzy was active in the Women’s Caucus for Art (WCA). She was involved in founding the Florida West Coast Chapter and later served as president of the Southern California chapter. She also held national leadership roles within the organization, including vice president for new chapter development from 1986 to 1989.
Women Artists in History and Walking Through History
In 1980 the Southern California chapter of the Women’s Caucus for Art presented a performance titled Women Artists in History (also known as Women Artists Past & Present) at the College Art Association annual conference in San Francisco. Participants portrayed historical women artists through monologues delivered in costume. Duzy portrayed Georgia O’Keeffe and Cecilia Beaux.
Following the performance, Duzy began the painting series Women Artists in History, consisting of thirty oil paintings depicting contemporary women artists situated within the visual styles and contexts of their historical predecessors, ranging from the tenth-century artist Ende to Frida Kahlo. The series was later exhibited at venues including the Tampa Museum of Art and academic galleries in the United States and Europe.
To present the material more broadly, she developed the illustrated lecture Walking Through History: Women Artists Past & Present, combining images of the paintings with historical commentary on women artists. Since the early 1980s the lecture has been presented at museums and universities.
Themes and style
Duzy has worked in oil, pastel, mixed media, and encaustic painting. Her work combines figurative realism with symbolic elements drawn from mythology, astronomy, and religious imagery. In interviews she has described the material qualities of oil, pastel, and encaustic processes as central to her studio practice.
Her early work has been discussed in relation to erotic imagery and feminist critiques of visual traditions associated with the male gaze, particularly within Catholic iconography. Later series, including The Creation Series, have been described as engaging with astronomical subjects, environmental themes, and symbolic connections between the human body and cosmic phenomena. Works such as Rho Ophiuchus: The Mother of Newborn Stars, Back of Beyond, and Night Canyon incorporate astronomical references alongside mythological narratives of creation.
Teaching and lectures
Duzy has taught figure drawing and painting at Mission College in Sylmar, California, and at The Atelier Art Center in Chatsworth, California, and has also taught privately in West Hills. In addition to studio instruction, she has presented public lectures on art history and symbolism at galleries and cultural centers in Southern California.
Exhibitions and recognition
Duzy has exhibited her work in museums, universities, and galleries in North America, Europe, and Asia. In the United States her work has been shown at venues including the Tampa Museum of Art, the International Museum of Encaustic Art in Santa Fe, Otis Art Gallery in Los Angeles, and Gallery 825 of the Los Angeles Art Association.
A twenty-five-year retrospective titled Merrilyn Duzy: Twenty-Five Years was presented at Mt. San Jacinto College in Hemet, California, in 1998 and received coverage in regional newspapers.
Her work has appeared in juried exhibitions including the Women’s Caucus for Art National Exhibition, the Gulf Coast Biennial, Ink & Clay at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and Man as Object: Reversing the Gaze at SOMArts Cultural Center and the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction.
In the 2010s and 2020s she continued to exhibit in thematic group shows. Her painting Becquerel Martian Crater was selected for inclusion in the Lunar Codex Nova Collection, a project archiving contemporary artworks for placement on the Moon.
Selected works
- The Virgin (1977), a self-portrait created for Erotic Visions: Art by Women.
- A Dozen Cookies (1985), a series of twelve self-portraits exploring identity and mood.
- Women Artists in History (1982–1988), a series of thirty portraits of women artists.
- Rho Ophiuchus: The Mother of Newborn Stars, part of The Creation Series.
- Night Canyon, a symbolic landscape incorporating mythological imagery.
Publications and media
A biographical entry on Duzy appears in Barbara J. Love’s reference volume Feminists Who Changed America, 1963–1975 (University of Illinois Press, 2006). Her work has been discussed in publications including the Los Angeles Times, Artweek, ArtScene, and regional newspapers in California and Florida.
References
External links
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