Federal Street Gallery
Nadja Merino-Kalfel
Paintings by Nadja Merino-Kalfel - Click to view paintings
Nadja turned 95 in February.. She has had a exciting life and career as an artist and illustrator. Born in Vienna, Austria, Merino received a classical education at the Vienna Women's Academy and at the famed Vienna Arts & Crafts School. From there, she went on to study in Paris at the Acadenie de la Grande Chaumier, where she came under the influence of the Fauve painter, Emil Othon-Fiesz.
The beginning of World War II found Merino in Paris working as a fashion illustrator, a profession she was to continue when she came to New York in 1941. Before that, however, her family faced imprisonment and death in Nazi-occupied Austria. As a woman of action and a survivor, she helped her family escape to Trinidad with the help of a Chilean diplomat and his Paris embassy. She remained in Paris where she was able to help others escape the terror of Hitler by giving them new identity papers. When things became too dangerous for her in Paris, she fled France and went to New York.
Arriving in New York she soon established herself as a fashion illustrator and became a senior illustrator at the New York Times. There she met and mentored a fellow illustrator specializing in shoes and handbags, Andy Warhol. Merino-Kalfel's career blossomed as clients like Saks Fifth Avenue, German Monteil, and Revlon sought her out. Her subject matter turned to hairstyle and cosmetic illustrations, and in the early 60's she worked with Antoine de Paris to create the "beehive" hairdo. She continued to work as a professional illustrator until 1978.
"Juana" Merino-Kalfel as she often signs her art is still active and lives in
New York City. Her late
husband, Joseph Kalfel, was a highly regarded New York Painter and her mother
the late Esther Hammerman, has been widely exhibited in Europe and is dubbed the "European Grandma Moses."
