BIOGRAPHY
Betti Franceschi is an artist who has done a double major in school and in life: fine art and ballet. Born in 1934 and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, she studied liberal and fine arts, as well as ballet with Marguerite deAnguerra at Indiana University, Bloomington, fine art with Roger Anliker at Carnegie Tech before it was Carnegie Mellon, and art history with Rosalind Krauss at Hunter College.
Her Still Point drawings — vertical-hatched tightly realistic nude close-ups of dancers' centers — were published in London as a book, which won six nominations to the National Trust Show in London and Frankfurt, and exhibited, among other venues, at Sadlers Wells in London, the National Museum of Dance in Saratoga Springs NY, and the Philharmonic Center in Naples Florida. Her explosive, almost abstract, zen-calligraphic Signature drawings of dancers in motion, have been exhibited in several venues, and reproduced on three t-shirts for New York City Ballet.
Her work has been reviewed in the London Evening Standard, the New York Times, the Saratogian, the New York City Ballet Playbill, and Dance Magazine.
In drawings, paintings and sculptures of the most physically articulate people, mainly great dancers, she has followed her lifelong interest in how we live in our bodies. Her Still Point drawings are a treatise on the body’s center and its use as the focal point of dance technique. Her Signature drawings show each dancer’s very personal and creative inner line. The Ageless Dancers photographs show the indelible spirit of the lifelong performer.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2007 Pen & Brush, New York.
1997 Scarsdale Ballet Studio Gallery, Scarsdale, NY.
1994 Scarsdale Ballet Studio Gallery, Scarsdale, NY.
1993 Philharmonic Center for the Arts, Naples, FL.
1992 National Museum of Dance, Saratoga Springs, NY.
1992 New York City Ballet Gallery, Lincoln Center, NY.
1989-90 Shepherd Gallery, New York, NY.
1988 Sadlers Wells, London, England.
1987 Still Point book launch & exhibition of original drawings, London, England.
1973 Heydenryk Gallery, New York, NY.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2019 Julie Keyes, Sag Harbor, NY.
2015 Santa Barbara Art Foundation, Santa Barbara, CA.
2015 Carter Burden Gallery, NY, NY.
2012 “Graphite” Gallery Ehva, Provincetown, MA.
2002 `The Male Nude` Greg Bowerman Gallery, New London, CT.
1996 20th Century Design Show, Metropolitan Pavilion, New York, NY.
1992-94 Ute Stebich Gallery, Lenox, MA.
1992 "Small Works", New York University, New York, NY.
1991 “Food”, Harmon-Meek Gallery, Naples, FL.
1990 The Gallery at Lincoln Center, New York, NY.
1989 Shepherd Gallery, New York, NY.
1988 Stubbs Gallery, New York, NY.
1972 National Arts Club, New York, NY.
1970 National Academy of Design Museum, New York, NY.
PUBLICATIONS
1987 The Still Point, London.
AWARDS & HONORS
1988 6 nominations, National Trust Book Show, London and Frankfurt.
1970 Place of Honor, National Academy of Design winter show.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2007 Pen & Brush, New York.
1997 Scarsdale Ballet Studio Gallery, Scarsdale, NY.
1994 Scarsdale Ballet Studio Gallery, Scarsdale, NY.
1993 Philharmonic Center for the Arts, Naples, FL.
1992 National Museum of Dance, Saratoga Springs, NY.
1992 New York City Ballet Gallery, Lincoln Center, NY.
1989-90 Shepherd Gallery, New York, NY.
1988 Sadlers Wells, London, England.
1987 Still Point book launch & exhibition of original drawings, London, England.
1973 Heydenryk Gallery, New York, NY.
PRESS
1997 ‘Drawings of Dancers’ THE GUIDE, November 2, New York Times.
1993 "The Rose Apartment", Victoria Magazine, February.
1992 'Drawing from the Dance', "Aisle Seat", August 21, The Saratogian,
Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
1992 "The Eyes of New York", New York Magazine, April 6.
1992 Playbill, New York City Ballet, February.
1990 'Art in Motion', "Lively Arts", May 27, Gannett Westchester, White Plains, N.Y.
1990 "Dancescape", March, DANCE Magazine.
1987 'Ode to the flesh', "The Arts Diary", 3 September, London Evening Standard.
SELECTED COMMISSIONS
1992 Drawing for T-shirt, New York City Ballet.
1989 Drawings for three T-shirts, New York City Ballet.
COLLECTIONS
Library of Congress, National Museum of Dance, Rhode Island School of Design, Peter Boal, Dr. Albert Ellis, Martha Hess, Dr. Abba Kastin, Frederick Koch, Sen. Andrew Maynard, Susan McCall, Norman McGrath, David Mortimer, Michel Negroponte, Aubrey Rose C.B.E., Christopher Savio, Mrs. Daniel Silver, Charles Wait, Diana White, Mary-Louise and Wynyard Wilkinson, Dr. Janet Wolfe, Paul Boos, Dr. Wendy Ziecheck, Dr. Deborah Pines, Dr. Barbara Murray, Curtis Balom and Sven Seger, Starr Siegele and Larry Feinberg, Christopher Sweet.
EDUCATION
Indiana University, Bloomington; Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh (now Carnegie Mellon U.); Wayne State University, Detroit; B.A. from Hunter College, New York
Born Cleveland, Ohio, 1934. Cleveland Heights High School.
Betti's book, 'THE STILL POINT - Images from Dancers' Bodies' is available to buy directly from her — see Contact —and at Amazon.com.
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