Palter, Rebecca (1912-1998)

We haven’t located much reliable information about this artist. Palter graduated from Girls Commercial High School, Brooklyn, in 1929. Her paintings were exhibited in a 1938 FAP show in Flushing, NY along with NDG artist Henry Kallem. She married the abstract painter Albert Swinden—also a Federal Art Project artist—and their daughter Alice Swinden Carter went on to become a sculptor in her own right. 2 more images at FAP.

Works in the New Deal Collection at GVCA by Rebecca Palter:

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Flowers and Fruit
Flowers and Fruit

Some elements of this watercolor are abstract and patterned: the green leaves at left, the tablecloth, wallpaper background, and even the vase’s outline. Other elements, however, show careful attention to modeling and texture, like the orange. Palter seems to be allotting differing levels of detail in this extemporaneous composition: she retains her penciled outlines and at times uses broad strokes; in certain places her attention focuses to verisimilitude.

Fall Still Life
Fall Still Life

Two adjacent types of painting—still life and domestic “genre”—blur in this creatively arranged scene. At right, staples of the still life tradition like fruits, flowers, and drapery are displayed on a table. Yet there also is a child’s toy, and it seems the backdrop might be a blanket of some sort, trailing leftward to a radiator in the background. The domesticity and likely children implied by the toy is indicated by a sofa at left and wallpaper peeking out from behind the blanket; it’s an effective rendering of a woman artist working with her materials at hand.

palterGVCA