Maxine Fine

Maxine Fine
Seeing Is Believing,
c. 1980
Mixed media
52" x 37"

Maxine Fine
1942 – 2003

Maxine Fine painter, sculptor and photographer passed away at her home in Vallecitos, New Mexico on June 7, 2003. Maxine was a cancer survivor since 1980. Although primarily a painter, Maxine exhibited Hands Touching Again a color photograph in the LLGAF Lesbian and Gay Photo Exhibition in 1998. "A friend had died and left me some camera equipment. Receiving this gift and then having an important dream about using the camera and what I could see, set me off in this new direction. I immediately started to photograph my own body, beginning first with my own hands. Hands Touching Again is one of the photographs from that series."

Earning a degree in English in the mid 60s with the intention of being a writer, Maxine soon found that words failed her. Becoming interested in ceramics she studied at Haystack in Maine, but pottery failed her as well as a mode of expression. At Haystack however she met a talked with many painters. Returning to New York City she enrolled in The Art Students League where she studied under
Will Barnet from 1967 to 1970. "After two year at the League. I decided to make a commitment.
It was the first commitment I ever made."

Maxine was a pioneer member of the Lesbian Art movement, her work was published in the 1977 issue of Heresies and in 1978 she exhibited in the ground-breaking A Lesbian Show in Soho. She exhibited extensively in New York City and New Mexico appearing in over 50 one person and group exhibitions at galleries such as Grey Art Gallery, Gallery 128 and PS122.

She was the recipient of numerous grants, fellowships and residencies including Pollock Krassner (1998) and The Gottlieb Foundation (1999.) Two days before her death she learned that she was the recipient of the Astrea Lesbian Action Foundation Visual Arts Award. A retrospective and catalog are planned for 2005 at the Santa Fe Art Institute Santa Fe, New Mexico.