About
Maritza Morgan was born in Croatia in 1920. Her mother died when she was 1 year old. She was raised by nuns in Gratz, Austria until she was 3, and then raised alternatively by relatives in Czechoslovakia and her father and stepmother in Canada and the U.S. She attended Julia Richman High School in New York City, Cornell University and studied at the Arts Students League in New York City. She apprenticed in the Art of Natural Habitat Groups at the Museum of Natural History and served as Artist-in-Residence at the Wilson Museum at Dartmouth College, Chautauqua institution and the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. In 1988 she was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Westminster College for her collection of twelve paintings entitled, The Challenge of Noah's Ark, which is currently owned by Princeton Theological Seminary and is on permanent loan to the Presbyterian (USA) headquarters building in Louisville, KY. She is listed in Who's Who of American Women and Who's Who in American Art.
Maritza married Norman Morgan, a psychiatrist at the Warren, PA Psychiatric Hospital. In Warren during the 1940’s and 50’s, she raised five children, Vincent, Penny, John, Christopher and Katherine Anne (CAM). In the 1960’s, Maritza and Norman were introduced to Chautauqua Institution by their Warren friends, Bob and Ann Wilder. The Morgans purchased a home at 10 Forrest Ave, where Norman died in 1968 and where Maritza lived until her death in 1997.
In 1971, Maritza was introduced to Robert Ludwig by Emma Remick, wife of then Chautauqua President Oscar Remick, who thought Maritza needed an agent to market her paintings, which at the time Maritza was giving away to friends, family and passers-by. As a result of the meeting, Maritza and Robert became life-long friends and learners. For the next twenty-five years, Robert lived with Martiza at Chautauqua Institution. In the summers, Maritza wrote for the Chautauquan Daily as music critic and columnist. For 18 years, Maritza managed the seasonal restaurant at Robert’s Good Morning Farm Country Store & Restaurant in Stow, NY. In the off-season, the two created works of art and traveled the world studying religion and culture, always returning to challenge religious communities to faith and action through their art. Maritza died in June 1997 at her home in Chautauqua Institution. The same year, Robert moved to New York City, to work with Martha G. Welch MD, a therapist and researcher whom Maritza had introduced 20 years earlier. Ludwig now lives and works with Martha Welch in New York City and Connecticut.
Maritza Morgan's paintings and illustrations delighted adults and children for many decades and span her years in Warren, PA and Chautauqua Insititution. Starting in 1976, Robert Ludwig became an integral part of her art production, helping design works and manage production and marketing. The partnership led to the creation of Morgan-Ludwig Galleries. Morgan-Ludwig commissioned paintings hang in private collections, churches, galleries and institutions throughout the US. In addition to individual paintings, Morgan and Ludwig created many monumental works, including a large epic mural, which hangs at the world headquarters of Vanguard Investment Group in Valley Forge, PA. Large thematic collections hang at Presbyterian (USA) headquarters in Louisville, KY, the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh, PA and Hands Along the Nile Development Services in Washington, DC.
Equally delightful is Maritza Morgan "the person". Those who experienced Maritza in person were exposed to her unique form of ministry. Maritza was open, warm, funny, generous, and challenging. She was an Associate Editor of the Chautauquan Daily and a volunteer fireman.
Maritza was as colorful and dynamic as the paintings she created. She was an internally acclaimed humanitarian, writer and artist. She painted stories from literature, travel, the Bible, world religions, nature and contemporary life using vivid colors, bold design and passionate imagination inspired by a deep spiritual faith. It has been said of her paintings that they communicate the simplicity and complexity of life, as well as the full range of human emotions; joy, humor, pathos, sorrow. “Challenging, whimsical, warm and wonderful” is how Barbara Walters described Maritza’s paintings on a Today Show interview.