Eleanore Mikus

Creator Details

  • Birth

    1927 (Detroit, Michigan)

  • Death

    Sep. 6, 2017 (Ithaca, New York)

New York-based artist Eleanore Mikus is best known for abstract artworks that she called “tablets.” Rejecting illusion, narrative, or symbolism, she explored in her tablets the subtleties of artists’ materials and processes, using abstraction to stay mindful of the poetic meanings of weathered objects, everyday gestures, and the slow passage of time. “When people put tokens in for the subway,” she explained, “they then touch the surface of the turnstile and gradually wear away the paint and the wood. I like to get that quality.” Trained as a painter, Mikus took up printmaking during a 1968 fellowship at the Tamarind Lithography Workshop in Los Angeles. At Tamarind, she created more than 30 tablets in lithography, which were the subject of the 2020–21 exhibition, Meditations: Eleanore Mikus at Tamarind.