Vera Klement

Vera Klement (December 14, 1929 – October 20, 2023)^[1] was an American artist, and Professor Emerita at the University of Chicago. She was a 1981 Guggenheim Fellow.^[2]

Biography

Born Vera Klementovna Shapiro in Danzig, Klement graduated from Cooper Union in 1950. She taught at University of Chicago, from 1969 to 1995.^[3]

In 1973, Klement was a founding member of Artemisia Gallery, one of the Midwest's first feminist Cooperative Galleries located in Chicago, Illinois.^[4]

In 1987, she showed at the Renaissance Society.^[5] She was 2003 visiting artist, at Goshen College,^[6] and 2007 artist in residence at Indiana State University.^[7]

Her work is in the collection of the state of Illinois,^[8] The Kentucky Center for the Arts,^[9] and the Krannert Art Museum.^[10]

Personal life

Klement lived in Chicago. She was married first to Israeli violinist Werner Torkanowsky and later to composer and conductor Ralph Shapey, but both marriages ended in divorce.^[1]

Klement died on October 20, 2023, of complications from cancer and COVID-19 in Evanston, Illinois.^[1]