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| 1903
Biala, Poland: Schenehaia Tworkovska is born in a small village located on the northeastern border with Russia; the exact date of her birth is unknown.
1913
New York: The Armory Show opens in New York City and with it Modernism arrives in America (Feb 17). Five months later (September 26), 10 year-old Janice immigrates to America with her older brother, Jacob, and their mother. Reuniting with their father, who had opened a tailor shop on Ludlow Street and taking on the name of their sponsor Bernstein, the family resides on Eldridge Street in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The young Janice and now Jack struggle to assimilate to American culture at the turn of the century. September 11 is chosen as Janice’s date of birth upon entering public school.
1920-1925
New York / Provincetown: As young adults, adventurous and rebellious, Jack and Janice reclaim their original family name, modifying it slightly, becoming the Tworkov’s. After exploring a career as a writer, Jack dedicates himself to the life of an artist and begins studying at the Art Students League of New York in early 1923. Later that year Janice registers for art classes at the National Academy of Design (Oct 2) studying with Charles Hawthorne who would introduce both artists to his artist colony in Provincetown, MA. Janice also studies at the Art Students League of New York (’24 and ‘25). She marries fellow painter Lee Gatch but their relationship quickly becomes estranged. Janice finds bohemian life in Greenwich Village supporting herself with various jobs including work at Macy’s Department Store. By late 1920, she is an established young artist with a growing reputation. She is a frequent exhibitor at the G.R.D. Studios and remains at the forefront of the fledgling art colonies of Woodstock, NY, and Provincetown, MA, associating with many artists and developing close friendships with Edwin Dickinson and William Zorach.
1929
New York: The Museum of Modern Art is founded. Alfred H. Barr, Jr. is its first director. The New York Stock market crashes (Oct 24), hastening in the Great Depression.
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| 1930
New York: Janice changes her name to Biala, at the suggestion of William Zorach. “I decided to change my name,” she wrote to Jack, “in order not to be confused with you. My name is now Biala.” And so Janice Tworkov becomes the artist Biala. She leaves for Europe at the invitation of her best friend Eileen Lake (late April).
Paris: Biala delights in her new life, immersing in the café society of Paris. She meets and falls in love with English novelist and founder of the transatlantic review, Ford Madox Ford (May 1). She becomes his greatest ally and collaborator. Biala remains his last companion until his death. Through Ford, Biala is introduced to the best of European culture, socializing with the great Modernists writers and artists of the time particularly Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, Constanti Brancusi, Henri Matisse, and Pablo Picasso. She befriends American writers Katherine Anne Porter, Allen Tate, and Caroline Gordon. Ford and Biala divide their time between Paris and the Villa Paul, their retreat in the South of France.
1931
New York: Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney establishes The Whitney Museum of American Art.
1932
Paris: Biala begins exhibiting in Paris. One such exhibition is titled 1940, held at Parc des Expositions (Jan 15-Feb 1), fashioned itself at the cutting edge of modern painting. It includes work by Arp, Mondrian, Picabia, and Villon among others. In addition to Biala, Alexander Calder is the only other American included. Italy: Ford and Biala travel to Rapallo to visit Ezra Pound. Biala writes that wherever they went they saw “black shirts and pictures of Mussolini…Germany of course is evidently going fascist with the unspeakable Mr. Hitler as head.”
1934
England: Ford takes Biala on her first visit to London. They stay for three months. Spain: Ford and Biala travel to Madrid and attend the inauguration of great La Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas (Oct 21). Biala captures the event in the painting Portrait of Marcial Lalanda.
1935
New York: Ford’s Provence: from minstrels to the machine is published. It includes illustrations by Biala. Drawing and related paintings of which are exhibited in Biala's first solo exhibition at the Georgette Passedoit Gallery. Biala's divorce from Lee Gatch is finalized.
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| 1936
Paris: Brancusi visits Biala's studio.
1937
New York: Ford’s Great Trade Route is published. It includes illustrations by Biala. Drawing and related paintings of which are exhibited at Gallery Georgette Passedoit. Colorado: Exhibits new work at Denver Art Museum, Denver. Michigan: Biala accompanies Ford to Olivet College in Michigan where she exhibits her work and offers a rare lecture on Art (Oct). Biala's illustrations and Ford's essay Take me Back to Tennessee are published in the American edition of Vogue (Oct 1).
1938
Paris: First solo exhibition in Paris opens at Galerie Zak. Her first museum purchase is made by the Musée du Jeu de Paume.
1939
Deauville: Ford Madox Ford dies (June 26). Biala becomes his literary and sole executor. She heroically rescues Ford’s books and papers from Villa Paul and returns to Paris (Aug). Germany invades Poland (Sept 1). World War II begins.
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| 1940
Biala flees France, like many European artists fearing a Nazi occupied Europe, and returns to New York City. She reunites with her family and renews friendships with artists, asserting herself as an advocate for Modernism. She meets Daniel 'Alain' Brustlein an acclaimed cartoonist for the New Yorker.
1941
Japan launches a surprise attack on American naval forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (Dec 7). The United States declares war on Japan (Dec 8) and enters World War II.
1942
Paris: Biala exhibits new paintings at the Bignou Gallery. The gallery, noted for its exhibitions of European modernist Braque, Gris, Matisse and Picasso, continues to exhibit her paintings throughout the 40's and early 50’s. New York: Biala and Brustlein marry (July 11). The couple are active artists within the New York School associating and befriending artist Willem de Kooning (whose career Biala and Brustlein would support), critic Harold Rosenberg, photographer Rudy Burckhardt, and writer Edwin Denby among others.
1943
New York: Biala and Brustlein host an informal wedding lunch at a downtown cafeteria for Elaine and Willem de Kooning following their marriage (Dec 9).
1944
Missouri: Biala participates in the 37th Annual Exhibition of American Painting at the City Art Museum, St. Louis. Her work appears there again in the exhibition American Painting Today that same year.
1945
Rheims, France: Germany signs an unconditional surrender and Victory in Europe is celebrated (May 8). World War II ends (Sept 2).
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| 1946
New York: Biala exhibits at the Annual Exhibition of Contemporary Art at the Whitney Museum of American Art. She would participate regularly in Whitney annuals throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s.
1947
Wisconsin: Biala's solo exhibition opens at the Milwaukee Museum of Art. Washington, D.C.: Biala participates in the 20th Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary American Paintings at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Paris: Biala and Brustlein return to Paris. Biala revisits all the places familiar to her, and reunites with friends she remembered. Biala and Brustlein befriend the photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson. Biala and Brustlein spend Christmas in Rome and New Years in Naples.
1948
New York: Biala and Brustlein return to New York (mid spring). She attends a three-day closed discussion on the current art movement moderated by Alfred H. Barr, Jr on April 21-23 at Studio 35. The lead discussion circulates around defining the current movement in abstract art in New York. Robert Motherwell suggests three possibilities: Abstract Expressionism, Abstract Symbolist, and Abstract Objectionist. Discussion continues among the group that includes, in addition to Biala, Baziotes, Bourgeois, Brooks, de Kooning, Jimmy Ernest, Ferber, Gottlieb, Hofmann, Motherwell, Newman, Pousette-Dart, Reinhardt, Stamos, David Smith and Tomlin. The Club would later be formed in the fall of 1949. Biala illustrates cover for Town & Country (Aug). Paris: Biala begins exhibiting regularly at Galerie Jeanne Bucher. She is a regular participant in the annual Salon des Surindépendants.
1949
Paris: Biala is named one of the eighteen candidates for the Prix de la Critique and receives a special honorable mention, the first time in the history of the award that such honors were attributed to a foreigner. Villefranch, France: Biala and Brustlein summer at Villefranche-sur-Mer (June to Sept). While there Biala spends a day with Matisse at his home (July 31), and later the same day meets Picasso again.
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| 1951
Paris: Biala and Brustlein rent for a time the studio of Cartier-Bresson. Biala exhibits at Galerie Jeanne Bucher (April 6). The French Foreign Office invites her to participate in the prominent Salon de Mai at the Musée d’art Moderne (May). She exhibits in Selectionnee pour le Prix de la Critique, and is awarded Bronze Medal.
1952
Washington, D.C.: Reflecting Cold War politics, the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (“McCarran-Walter Act”) is passed by United States Government. It requires Biala and Brustlein to return regularly to the United States in order to retain their American citizenship. Paris: French Art critic Guy Weelen publishes a monograph on Biala including her in his collected series Artistes de ce Temps (Dec 12).
1953
New York: Biala’s exhibits at the Stable Gallery (April 27). She continues to exhibit there regularly until 1963. Friendships continue to develop with European artists include among others Victor Bauer and Alberto Giacometti. Biala and Brustlein purchase a small farmhouse in Peapack, New Jersey.
1954
Nice, France: Henri Matisse dies in his studio at Cimiez (Nov 3). No single artist had more an impression on Biala. "I have always had Matisse in my belly," she wrote.
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| 1955
New York: Whitney Museum of American Art acquires Black Stove for its permanent collection.
1956
New York: Biala Paints a Picture appears in Art News (April). The article features photographs of Biala by Rudy Burckhardt. It’s Spring, It’s Spring is published and is the first of many children's picture books written by Biala and illustrated by Brustlein.
1957
Paris: Constanti Brancusi dies (Mar 16). Italy: Biala and Brustlein visit Peggy Guggenheim in Venice (April 23). New York: Exhibits bullfight paintings at Stable Gallery (Oct 15).
1958
Paris: Exhibits collages at Galerie Jeanne Bucher (April 25). Exhibits at the École de Paris at Galerie Charpentier. Receives an honorable mention at the Laureate du Prix de La Critique. Friendships develop with artists Joan Mitchell, Shirley Jaffe, and Viera da Silva.
1959
Provincetown, MA: Exhibition Janice Biala, Edwin Dickinson and Jack Tworkov, opens at HCE Gallery (Aug). Paris: Biala participates in the Formes et Couleurs at Galerie Charpentier. John Ashbery remarks: “The finest painting in the show is easily… by Janice Biala, which uses abstract and figurative techniques to piece together a remarkably complete portrait that exists on several levels—as painting, as an impression of physical truth, as a perception of the world of the spirit.” New York: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, opens (Oct 21).
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