Claire Fejes

Claire Specht Fejes (Dec 14,1920 – October 1998) was an American artist.

Claire Specht Fejes
Born	(1920-12-14)December 14, 1920 New York City, USA
Died	October 1998

Early life

She born in New York to parents from Poland and Austria.^[1]

Education and career

She trained in anatomy, stone-carving, and sculpture at the Newark Museum, Newark Fine Arts School, and the Students' Art League through the Works Progress Administration.^[1]

She married Joe Fejes in 1942 and moved with him to Fairbanks, Alaska in 1946 where her husband took up gold mining. Fejes sketched and painted Alaska Native people, Inupiat and Athabascans. She also wrote books about her travels and life in Alaska. They had a son, Mark (also an artist),^[2][3] and a daughter, Yolande.^[4]

Her work is held in several museums, including the Anchorage Museum,^[5] Frye Art Museum,^[6] the University of Michigan Museum of Art,^[7] the Blanton Museum of Art,^[8] the Anchorage Museum,^[9] the University of Alaska Museum of the North,^[10] and the National Portrait Gallery.^[11] Her artwork is also on display at the Fairbanks North Start Borough Public Library.^[12]

Later life

In her last decade, Fejes spent her winters in New York City and San Diego, and her summers in Fairbanks.^[1]

Bibliography

• Cold Starry Night: An Alaskan Memoir. 1996. Epicenter Press.
• Enuk My Son. 1969. Pantheon Books.
• The Eskimo Storyteller. 1999. Edwin S. Hall, illustrated by Claire Fejes. University of Alaska Press.
• People of the Noatak. 1966. Alfred A. Knopf. 1994, re-released by Volcano Press.
• The Villagers: Athabaskan Indian Life Along the Yukon River. 1981. Random House.