Lucille Corcos

Lucille Corcos, American artist, was considered the doyenne of the “modern primitivist” trend on the American art scene for thirty years. She paid little attention to scale and perspective while rendering intriguing, nuanced works. In 1908 Lucille was born to Amelia and Joseph Corcos in New York City. Her father was the rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel, New York’s Spanish-Portuguese synagogue, and Lucille’s first work was illustrations for certificates celebrating special occasions in the lives of her father’s congregants.

Corcos began her professional career in 1929 by attempting to illustrate children’s books. She was not commercially successful in this realm but immediately became popular when she took her illustrations to Vanity Fair. She was widely praised for her lack of self-consciousness and complete freedom of expression. Over her lifetime, Corcos illustrated a number of books as well as produced murals and paintings. She held exhibitions at the Whitney Biennial, Metropolitan Museum of Art, the British Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago and Tel Aviv Museum of Art.