"Le Belle France" features oils of Madeline Lovallo, on display at the Kings Bay YM-YWHA, 3495 Nostrand Avenue, through October 9. The work of three prominent women artists—Miriam Beerman, Susan Fortgang and Jenny Snider—is the focus of a show entitled "3 Painters’ Paths," which opens October 2 at Pratt Institute’s Higgins Hall Galleries, corner of Lafayette Street and St. James Place in Brooklyn.

Lovallo, a Brooklyn native, has spent many years living near Paris. When she first arrives in the City of Lights, she was completely taken with the classical beauty and the charming winding streets of the city. Much of her time was spent painting on location, capturing on canvas what she saw and felt.

Upon arrival to her new country, and in an effort to enter the mainstream of Parisian life, Lovallo attended the Paris American Academy. After a couple of years, she met Joe Lancaster, who was the first of many well known American and international artists who were to become subjects for Lovallo'’ brush. Some others included Lynn Bougerol, Ria Bergstra, Pat Flachbart, and William Wharton.

Lovallo has exhibited in many galleries in and around Paris. She has also has a solo show at the Lancaster Gallery in Paris and an exhibition of her watercolors at the Pierre Bougerol Gallerie in Fourquex, France.

Closer to home, her work has been shown at The Brooklyn Museum'’ "Little Gallery" and at the Queens Museum, as well as in banks, libraries and other galleries throughout the borough.

Lovallo is a member of the Artists League of Brooklyn. She Teaches drawing for children at her home and continues to paint on location whenever possible, brining a wisp of the Parisian landscape to her Brooklyn scenes.

The general public is invited to attend the opening reception on Tuesday, October 3, from 5 p.m. -–8 p.m. Gallery hours are Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

According to curator Margie Hamburger, a painter and graduate student in Pratt’s MFA (Mater of Fine Arts) program, the show not only presents a chronology of each artist’s work, but offers a glimpse into the lives of these three women. In selecting the artists, Hamburger "looked for work with a strong voice that evidenced the kind of commitment and maturity necessary to follow one’s own path through public shifts in art taste," she said.

Spanning four decades, Miriam Beerman’s work "derives from and continues to be expressionistic, at times edging towards abstraction, but always with a strong figurative quality," explained Hamburger. "It is at times playful, often frightening, but always forceful." Beerman, the oldest and best known member of the group of the three women, had the first one-woman show ever presented by The Brooklyn Museum, in 1972.

The work of Susan Fortgang and Jenny Snider also originates in abstract expressionism, but their styles and imagery differ greatly from that of Beerman. Fortgang "retained the abstraction, but rejected the expressionism for a much more systematic method of investigating color, shape and process," explains Hamburger. Snider, however, "found expression a wide range of media and forms including drawings, paintings, books, small sculptures and films. Her work changed from abstraction to a more representational and narrative style," concludes Hamburger.

Additional information on the Pratt show may be obtained by telephoning 636-3746.