Looking at Liana Moonie's paintings we may recall Rothko's floating fields of color or perhaps Diebenkorn's linear landscapes of the 1970's, but right away there is something else that makes these abstractions uniquely her own: Joy.

This is a joy whose quality is both innate and hard won, emerging from the dedicated, intentional work of being deeply present to herself and life around her. We could write pages on Moonie's form and technique, on her education and influences, but in the end what strikes us most powerfully, what most animates the work, is the woman herself. She of an irrepressible, other-worldly radiance is what makes the pieces shimmer, what makes them windows to an exceptional soul.

Born in Italy to a creative family, Moonie's father introduced her to watercolor painting, a favorite hobby of his. She earned a teaching degree, and after the Second World War moved to the United States and became a U.S. citizen. Having studied under Rober Brackman, Edgar Whitny, William Maxwell and other prominent artists, Moonie was originally a representational artist, but has long favored semi-abstract and abstract painting. She additionally works in a variety of media, including watercolor, oil, pastel, collage, encaustic, woodcut, etching, monoprint, and monotype.

Her work has been exhibited widely in museums, galleries, and institutions in the United States and abroad, and is included in public, private, and corporate collections. An advocate and leader in the arts, most especially as a champion of women artists, Moonie worked tirelessly on behalf of the National Association of Women Artists (N.A.W.A.) where she established the organization's permanent collection, housed at the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University. She and late husband Clyde were founding donors to the endowment of the Silvermine Art Center, which recently awarded Moonie a lifetime Legacy Award.

We are pleased to present this retrospective exhibition, which complies work from different periods of this legendary artist's remarkable career.