Charlotte Moorman
| Charlotte Moorman | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 18, 1933 Little Rock, Arkansas |
| Died | November 8, 1991 (aged 57) New York City, New York |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | Cellist, Performance artist |
| Spouse(s) | Frank Pileggi |
Madeline Charlotte Moorman (November 18, 1933 – November 8, 1991) was an American cellist, performance artist, and advocate for avant-garde music. Referred to as the "Jeanne d'Arc of new music," she was the founder of the Annual Avant Garde Festival of New York and a frequent collaborator with Korean artist Nam June Paik.
Madeline Charlotte Moorman was born on November 18, 1933 in Little Rock, Arkansas. At the age of ten she began to study cello and upon her graduation from Little Rock High School in 1951 she had a music scholarship to attend Centenary College in Shreveport, Louisiana. She attained her B.A. in music in 1955. She later attained a M.A. from the University of Texas at Austin and continued on to postgraduate studies at The Juilliard School in 1957.
Following her studies at Juilliard, Moorman commenced a classical concert hall career as a cellist and joined the American Symphony Orchestra. From 1958-1963 she was also a member of Jacob Glick's Boccerini Players. However, she was soon drawn into the more experimental performance art scene of the 1960s through her roommate and friend Yoko Ono. She befriended and later performed with many well-known artists of the late twentieth century, including Paik, John Cage, Wolf Vostell, Joseph Beuys, Joseph Byrd, Carolee Schneemann, Jim McWilliams and others. This led to her loose involvement with the Fluxus movement of avant-garde performance artists. She later worked closely with many of its protagonists to interpret enigmatic scores written in the open-ended spirit of Fluxus. In 1966, Beuys, then-associated with Fluxus, created his work Infiltration Homogen für Cello, a felt-covered violoncello, in her honor. However, Moorman, like numerous other female artists including her close friend, Schneemann, was "blacklisted" by Fluxus-organizer George Maciunas for reasons that remain unclear.
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