The title of the exhibition, “Zelda by Herself,” speaks to how her fame is forever linked to her more celebrated husband, F. Scott Fitzgerald. But “The Art of Zelda Fitzgerald,” now on view at Pepperdine’s Frederick R. Weisman Museum, allows an enchanting glimpse into the creative soul of this famously flamboyant’and troubled’woman. Although overshadowed by her husband’s literary success, Zelda possessed her own creative juices, ones that flowed in many directions. She wrote plays, short stories and a novel, studied ballet, and was a dedicated artist. At age 25, Zelda began painting’the one artistic expression she practiced throughout her life. “She was an incredibly talented person,” says museum director Michael Zakian. “She divided her time among writing, painting and dance’and just being Zelda, which was a full-time job.” The Fitzgeralds were famous in their day as the couple who embodied the glamour of the 1920s. Scott himself named the decade the “Jazz Age” and also coined the term “flapper” to refer to a new breed of modern independent woman’best exemplified by his freethinking, strong-willed wife. Their tumultuous courtship began in 1918 when the couple met at a country club dance in Montgomery, Alabama, where Zelda was deemed one of the most beautiful debutantes. It wasn’t until after Fitzgerald’s first novel, “This Side of Paradise,” became a success that Zelda agreed to marry him. The exhibition includes 54 of her watercolors, all dating from the 1930s and 40s. The work ranges from whimsical, with a series of animated paper dolls she created for her daughter, Scottie (the Fitzgeralds’ only child), to fantastic, with Zelda putting her own, dynamic twist on a large group of pictures depicting fairy tales and children’s stories. She borrowed the language of modern art’skewed perspective and vivid color’and used it to craft her own highly personal images. “She did not consider herself a professional artist,” Zakian says. “In fact, only one work, a little landscape, is signed. She painted for herself and for her family.” Nonetheless, the Fitzgeralds had experienced the heady days of Paris in the 1920s, inhabiting a literary and artistic circle that included, among others, Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, Constantin Brancusi and Gertrude Stein. It was their influence that inspired Zelda to begin painting seriously in 1925. Her works were exhibited rarely in her lifetime’once in 1934 in a New York gallery and in a few private showings. “The best way to understand Zelda is to use that term they use in the art world, ‘outsider,'” Zakian says. “She was not someone trained in art school, but who made art because she wanted to.” At 27, Zelda, forever looking for ways to channel her creativity, became obsessed with ballet. She embarked on a grueling routine that culminated in a nervous breakdown. Her mental health deteriorated (she was diagnosed as a schizophrenic) and she spent the last 18 years of her life in and out of institutions. She died in a hospital fire at age 48. Despite her illness, she remained lucid for long periods and spent the majority of her days painting. Her devotion to Scott, and his to her, never waned. “They loved each other deeply,” Zakian says. “But at the same time they were very competitive. While Zelda greatly admired Scott’s abilities, deep within herself she felt she was just as good a writer. She probably had a similar flair for language, just not the discipline.” Zelda’s only novel, the autobiographical “Save Me the Waltz” was published in 1932. When Scott died of a heart attack at 44 in 1940, Zelda embarked on a series of fanciful cityscapes, recording the places the couple had lived in New York and Paris. These works, rendered in a more somber palette, are another example of how Zelda transformed the vocabulary of modern art to her own personal end. The works are at once naive and sophisticated, conjuring an almost dreamlike quality while appropriating the abstractions of Cubism. “I think you see Zelda’s mental state best in her figures,” Zakian says. “They all seem like they’re in motion. There is great energy moving through them.” A slide lecture by Eleanor Lanahan, granddaughter of Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald, will take place on Tuesday, November 22, from 7 to 8 p.m. at Pepperdine’s Smothers Theatre. Lanahan will draw upon family stories and extensive interviews with her mother, “Scottie,” to offer rare insight into the lives of one of America’s most famous literary couples. The exhibition continues at the Weisman Museum on the campus of Pepperdine University, 24255 Pacific Coast Hwy., in Malibu through December 18. Museum hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday. Admission is free. Contact: 506-4851.
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