Christina Schlesinger

Christina Schlesinger (born November 19, 1946) is an American painter and muralist. Daughter of historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., she sought independence from her family's fame, practiced “protest art”, and came out as a lesbian. She made strong rapport with the Chicano community in Venice, California, where she founded the multi-cultural art center SPARC. Life and career Schlesinger is the daughter of the famous historian, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. and artist Marian Cannon Schlesinger. Schlesinger grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She had two brothers, Stephen and Andrew, a half-brother, Robert and a sister, Katharine who died in 2004 of ovarian cancer. She was the middle child. Schlesinger's mother was an accomplished artist in her own right. Schlesinger always considered herself a tomboy and recalls that she and her mother argued about her wearing dresses. Instead, she wanted to do things which were considered traditionally male at the time. Schlesinger attended Radcliffe College and was an English and Fine Arts major, graduating cum laude in 1968. She attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture during the summer of 1968. After Schlesinger finished school, she started to create "protest art." Her mother and father were divorced in 1970. The divorce created a desire in Schlesinger to "get away" and she had her own things to say.