Who was Altina Schinasi, the American sculptor honored by Google’s doodle?

Altina Schinasi, who lived from August 4, 1907 until August 19, 1999, was an American sculptor, filmmaker, entrepreneur, window dresser, designer, and inventor.
She is most recognized for inventing the cat-eye spectacles, sometimes known as the “Harlequin eyeglass frame.”

She was the youngest of the Schinasi siblings.

 

Altina had home instruction before enrolling at Horace Mann School. She went to Dana Hall School in Wellesley, Massachusetts, when she was twelve years old. She studied painting in Paris before returning to the United States and working as a window dresser for various Fifth Avenue businesses. This gave her the opportunity to collaborate with Salvador Dali and George Grosz. She then created the Harlequin cat-eye spectacles.

Schinasi moved west to Los Angeles in the 1940s, intending to devote more attention to her profession. She initially grew her company before selling it. Her choice to quit her firm and New York enabled her to devote more time to her work.

 

In the 1960s, she created the well-received documentary George Grosz’ Interregnum. Later, Schinasi was intrigued to Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington, for which she secured the film rights.

 

In 1995, she released her book, ‘The Road I Have Travelled.’

 

Even now, over a century after the Harlequin cat-eye spectacles were created, they remain the most well-known kind of women’s sunglasses.

 

Schinasi continued her creative pursuits, eventually moving in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she spent her last years with her fourth husband, painter Celestino Miranda. Altina, a documentary about her life, was released in 2014.