"Finally" Rosemary Mayer wrote in 1971, "something that makes sense to draw." That something was fabric - draped, flowing, knotted and twisted. Finding inspiration in the work of Baroque and Mannerist paintings, Mayer cobbles together a fantastical fabric work from the sleeve of a figure in a work by Pontormo and Christ and Mary's drapery as seen in the Isenheim Altarpiece by Grunewald.

Portae—the Latin plural of porta, meaning “gate” or “door”—suggests a passage or threshold, themes that run throughout Mayer’s work. The drawings and watercolors relate closely to her three-dimensional constructions yet stand as independent explorations of form and space. As part of a series from 1971, this work depicts “impossible” fabric structures or fantasies of sculpture unconstrained by material limits.

ROSEMARY MAYER (1943–2014) was a prolific artist involved in the New York art scene beginning in the late 1960s. Most well-known for her large-scale sculptures using fabric as a primary material, she also created works on paper, artist books, and outdoor installations, exploring themes of temporality, history, and biography. A pioneer of the feminist art movement, she was a founding member of A.I.R. Gallery—the first cooperative gallery for women in the US—where she presented one of her earliest exhibitions. During the 1970s and 1980s, her work was also shown at many New York alternative art spaces, including Clocktower Gallery, SculptureCenter, and Franklin Furnace, and in university galleries throughout the country.

Solo presentations of Mayer’s work include: Hollybush Gardens (2025); ChertLüdde, Berlin (2024, 2022); Hannah Hoffman Gallery and Marc Selwyn Fine Art, Los Angeles (2023); Gordon Robichaux, New York (2021); Lamar Dodd School of Art, University of Georgia, Athens (2017); SOUTHFIRST, Brooklyn, New York (2016); LaGuardia Community College, New York (2010); Resnick Gallery, Long Island University, Brooklyn, New York (2005); Salena Gallery, Long Island University, Brooklyn, New York (1993); Pam Adler Gallery, New York (1985); The Women’s Interart Center, Inc., New York (1982 and 1980); Hobbs House, Lansing, New York (1982); A & M Artworks, New York (1982); Minneapolis College of Art and Design (1981); The Art Gallery, Malott Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York (1981); Lenox Library Garden, Massachusetts (1979); 55 Mercer Street Gallery and 461 Park Avenue South Gallery, New York (1979); State University of New York, Stony Brook (1978); University of Massachusetts, Amherst (1978); Monique Knowlton Gallery, New York (1976); Whitney Museum of American Art Resources Center, New York (1975); and A.I.R. Gallery, New York (1975).