By: Eddy Prince
On Feb. 10, the Brooklyn College (BC) Art Gallery unveiled its newest exhibit, titled “A Radiant Simplicity,” a collection of paintings created by Lois Dodd, a New Jersey-born, Brooklyn-Based painter whose iconic works are featured in exhibits across the world. Nearly 50 paintings by Dodd were chosen to be displayed, as well as featured in an accompanying catalog prefaced by BC Professor Mona Hadler.
“A Radiant Simplicity” also featured a 45-minute documentary about Dodd, created by Gerrit Schreurs Fotografie & Film, to accompany Dodd’s art as well as a way for Dodd to share her own life story. This documentary was created as a companion piece for her exhibit at the Kunstmuseum in The Hague, and now remains as much a part of her exhibit as the actual paintings she created.
Lois Dodd was a painter and professor at BC. She attended the prestigious Cooper Union shortly after WWII, from 1945 to 1948. After graduating, she became one of the first in a wave of artists to paint the postwar coasts of Maine.
She began teaching at BC in 1971, where she stayed for over 20 years before retiring from teaching in 1992. During this time, she also taught at the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture in Maine.
“[Dodd’s] art is becoming increasingly important,” said BC Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, April Bedford. “She currently has a major exhibit in The Hague [in the Netherlands], and also has works exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art and the Met. An artist friend of [Dodd] told me recently that ‘each painting is a poem’. We really are so lucky to have her paintings here, and we’re very proud [of Dodd].”
“Lois was a very humble person,” said Stephen Keltner, a longtime colleague and coworker of Dodd’s. “I feel like a lot of artists don’t do it for the money. They don’t let the money change them. She was one of the most down-to-earth people I ever met.”
“Lois was one of the few instructors who would keep coming back,” said Keltner. “She would always drop in and supervise quietly.”
Dodd was recently featured in a documentary film called “Artists in Residence”, which debuted last year, and told the story of Dodd and two fellow artists banding together to purchase a studio space in New York City. “Artists in Residence” serves to bring light to the struggles these three artists faced in a time when they weren’t even allowed to apply for a mortgage.
After the documentary was released, The Art Newspaper reached out to Dodd for a comment on how she would want to be remembered. “The work. The work is who I am. When I’m gone, that’s all that’s left,” said Dodd, referring to her artwork.
“I remember when Lois lived in the Lower East Side,” said Keltner. “Back then, the L.E.S. was not a place you wanted to hang out at […] she lived a block away from the Hell’s Angels headquarters. But she would sleep on a mattress in the corner […] she lived the artist’s life, truly.”
“She used to take her students to the Amato Opera near her studio, and afterwards, she would make dinner for them in her loft,” said David Lantow, another friend of Dodd’s. “She was a very down-to-earth person.”
The catalogue for “A Radiant Simplicity” featured a prologue written by Mona Hadler in 1996 that celebrated Dodd’s 25 years of painting. Hadler expressed that Dodd’s art straddled the line of abstraction and realism.
“Dodd’s art […] fits into the larger debates about the privileging of abstraction,” said Hadler. “Over the years, windows have taken on varying significance for Dodd. On one hand, they express her environmental concerns. On the other hand, windows […] yield a sense of mystery.”
“Ever-present window views remain an enduring fascination,” said Hadler in her 2025 postscript.
“I still love Dodd’s quiet and nuanced vision, but now I ponder […] her relationship to landscape and the built environment.”
Dodd herself was not in attendance for the opening of “A Radiant Simplicity”, but will return to the Art Gallery on Feb. 24 as part of a panel discussion reflecting on her life and time at BC, and will be talking alongside her former students and colleagues.
“Lois Dodd: A Radiant Simplicity” will remain on display in The Art Gallery in Boylan Hall until Mar. 25.