Lucia Stern

(1895, Milwaukee – 1987, Milwaukee)

Martha Ida Lucia Karker, later known as Lucia Stern, was born in 1895 in Milwaukee. Stern was formally educated in music and literature at the Milwaukee Conservatory, the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, and Columbia University in New York from 1918 to 1922. She was primarily self-taught in painting and sculpture, but did study art at Marquette University. In 1930, she married Milwaukee lawyer, Erich Stern, and began traveling to New York where she became acquainted with Edward Steichen and Alfred Stieglitz. She and her husband also traveled to Europe, making international art world connections. By 1935, Stern was inspired to pursue her artistic career.

Stern was a leading figure in non-objective art in the United States. She was known to have been inspired by the modernist figures, Picasso, Brancusi, and Matisse, as well as non-objective artists Man Ray, Moholy-Nagy, Naum Gabo, and Fernand Leger. She worked in drawing, painting, decoupage, and mixed media which included stitch work. Later in her career, she worked with sculpture and architecture, as well as experimented with sound, light, and movement. No matter the medium, she was know