Draft:Ann Medalie

Ann Sonia Medalie (April 17, 1896- April 30th 1991 ) was an Israeli muralist and painter, best known for her paintings of flowers and landscapes.

Career
Works by Medalie were included in the San Francisco Society of Women Artists exhibition (1937-41) and the San Francisco Art Association (1938-41). Under the auspices of the WPA, Medalie worked with sculptor Sargent Johnson and was an assistant to Hilaire Hiler on the murals in the San Francisco Maritime Museum. During San Francisco’s Golden Gate International Exposition in 1940, Medalie assisted Diego Rivera on a mural at “Art in Action”, becoming good friends with both Rivera and his wife, Frida Khalo. Medalie was also an assistant to Miguel Covarrubias when he was completing his series of six murals, The Pageant of the Pacific.

Early Life
The youngest of six children, Medalie was born in Latvia into an Orthodox Jewish family. As a young child, Medalie was forced to emigrate to Lithuania and during World War I, her family moved to Berdyansk, near the Sea of Azov. In 1921, her family emigrated to the United States and settled in Chicago, Illinois, where she studied briefly at the Art Institute of Chicago. For more than a decade, Medalie worked as a furniture decorator, first in Chicago, then in Los Angeles (1928-1932) and finally in San Francisco.[2]

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