ELIZABETH MADLEY (American 1917-2008) MEDIUM: ENAMEL ABSTRACT PLATE SIGNED BY THE ARTIST. EXCELLENT VINTAGE CONDITION. PRIVATE COLLECTION, RANCHO PALOS VERDES CALIFORNIA. DIMENSIONS: 9”DIAMETER x 1”H BIO: . Elizabeth Madley Born in Southern California, Elizabeth Madley attended the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles from 1940 to 1945, taking courses in drawing and painting. Bill Morrissey’s drawing class was one of the most stimulating for the young artist. She also studied design and advertising art. Upon graduation, Madley tried to pursue a career in advertising art to earn an income. Shortly afterward her mother got sick, and Madley had to take care of her. After her mother’s death the artist decided to take more art courses and happened upon an enameling course being taught at Pasadena City College. By the late 1940s Madley was on her way to becoming an enamel artist. Her work was first featured in the 1951 Los Angeles County Fair National Arts and Crafts Competition, where she won third prize. Nineteen fifty-two was an important year in her career. She gained national exposure when her work was first juried into the Wichita Art Association’s Decorative Arts and Ceramics Exhibition, in which she was awarded an honorable mention, and then juried into the Seventeenth Ceramic National in Syracuse, where two plates with stylized fish, similar to the one illustrated above, won a purchase prize and were added to the Everson Museum’s collection. Meanwhile, in the same year in Los Angeles, Madley participated in the California State Fair Art Exhibition, receiving second prize for her enamels; the Los Angeles County Fair National Arts and Crafts Competition, in which she was awarded first prize; and the Scripps Annual. Her work often included highly abstract renderings of natural forms such as leaves, fish, and insects. Just as frequently, her spare designs were completely abstract, with dramatically contrasting colors and shapes. She also produced...