A luminous white nucleus anchors this composition, drawing the viewer’s eye before releasing it outward in a spiral of yellow-greens and other radiant hues. The result suggests a prism bursting with light and energy. Brodhead built on the lessons of her teacher Arthur B. Carles, who emphasized the expressive power of color to generate movement and space, and from painter Sam Feinstein, who taught that altering even a single color could shift the balance of an entire work. As art historian and painter Bill Scott observed, “Quita’s painting is a continual act of balance and proportions in which she always leaves room for air.”
Born in Wilmington, Delaware, Brodhead attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), where Arthur B. Carles was among her instructors. When Carles was dismissed from PAFA, she left in protest and studied with him privately for a year. Brodhead exhibited frequently in solo and group shows in New York, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Paris, and Rome. In the 1950s, as her work became more abstract, she also showed with the Philadelphia Abstract Artists group, and she spent time in France, Rome, and the Spanish island of Tenerife. She taught painting at Bryn Mawr College and founded the Wayne Art Center. Her work is in the collections of over twenty museums, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, PAFA, the Delaware Art Museum, and Woodmere.
