Irene Rice Pereira

The Smithsonian Institution has a unique audio interview with Irene Rice Pereira conducted by Arlene Jacobowitz. It was made July 26, 1966, five years before the artist’s death in Marbella, Spain. She was living at the time at her long-time studio on the top floor of a brownstone at 121 West 15th Street and was already suffering from the emphysema that was to end her life. This is the record number of this American Archives of Art interview is (DSI-AAA)11367. The Brooklyn Museum of Art also conducted a Pereira interview between 1965 and 1968. Throughout most of the artist’s career this Chelsea neighborhood just west of Sixth Avenue was a rather morose area, having the look of abandonment. A huge brick armory in the style of the Park Avenue armory loomed across the street, blocking southern light. Pereira painted in the back of the building, availing herself of north light. Her studio and its furniture were starkly white. Today the armory is gone, replaced by upscale apartments and the entire neighborhood has been transformed into something far more vibrant than Pereira would have remembered. At the time of her death Chelsea had not yet become an enclave of high-end galleries.—DM