Gerard Silk presents his talk Out of Shape: Gender, Feminism, and the Neglected Art of Reva Urban. Reva Urban was an American woman artist who achieved success in the art world in the 1950s and 1960s, but has essentially vanished from art history.

Her career offers important insights into the relationship of gender to art production, form, and content. This talk will examine her innovative shaped canvases and constructions and address how her sense of identify affected her output. Like that of some of her contemporaries, Reva’s engagement in feminist ideas augured concerns that became increasingly prominent in the art of the late 1960s and beyond. Dr. Gerald Silk is a professor in the Art History department at Tyler School of Art.