By Robert Brune
MARGARETVILLE — The art community and friends mourn the loss of Lisbeth Firmin, an extraordinary painter, printmaker, and beloved presence in Margaretville who passed away on August 13, just shy of her 76th birthday. Known for her extraordinary skill, luminous urban imagery, and generous spirit, Firmin leaves behind a legacy of art that continues to speak powerfully to the human experience.
Firmin painted in her studio at The Commons building in Margaretville until her final days. Those who knew her remember not only her disarming smile and warm presence but also her sharp intellect and dedication to her craft.
Born August 24, 1949, Firmin’s artistic journey began early. She studied under artists Philip Malicoat, Victor Candell, and Leo Manso in Provincetown during the 1970s, eventually carving her own path as a realist painter and printmaker. For many years she lived in New York City, where her work began to focus on street life, urban solitude, and the fleeting drama of light across people and architecture. Her compositions, often likened to the works of John Sloan or Edward Hopper, carry a distinctly contemporary voice, balancing realism with abstraction, stillness with energy.
As Dr. Betty Edwards, author of Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, reflected:
"I have known Lisbeth Firmin for over five decades and have seen her artistic career develop from local beginnings in Provincetown to one of national scope… What stands out to me are her outstanding compositional skills."
Firmin’s work was widely recognized. She was awarded a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, a fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts, and residencies at MacDowell Colony, Vermont Studio School, and Saltonstall Arts Colony, among many others. She exhibited nationally and internationally, including solo shows in Provincetown, Sarasota, New York City, and across the Catskills. Her paintings and prints are held in major public and private collections, including the New York Historical Society, Munson Williams Proctor Arts Institute, Pfizer, Thomson Reuters, and the personal collections of Philip Glass and M. Night Shyamalan.
Critics often praised her ability to elevate ordinary urban moments into timeless visual narratives. The Sarasota Herald-Tribune observed: “In her streets…you feel the romance, even when they're empty. That’s because she blurs the edges…which leaves you telling yourself stories: Not of what you see, but what you can’t see.”
After relocating to upstate New York in 2000, Firmin continued to evolve her practice, increasingly focusing on the figure and its relationship to light. She became an anchor of the local art scene, exhibiting widely and mentoring younger artists while maintaining national recognition. She also shared her gifts as a teacher at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and the Truro Center for the Arts in Cape Cod.
Firmin’s journey was marked not only by success but by resilience. From her early years drawing portraits to her breakthrough painting urban street scenes in the 1990s, she persevered through challenges with determination and humor. She often said her career truly began when she embraced her own vision: “This is when my art career took off. I had an open studio show, and I sold everything.”
Her passing is a profound loss. Yet Lisbeth Firmin’s paintings, full of light, humanity, and story, remain, continuing to illuminate the ordinary and transform it into something extraordinary.
She will be deeply missed by her daughter, her family, countless friends, and the global community of artists and admirers who drew inspiration from her work and her life.
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