Shirley Rabe Masinter began studying art in 1950 at the Rabouin School of Commercial Art & Advertising. In 1952 she began taking classes with artist John McCrady at his art school on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter while working in the advertising field during the day. Masinter worked at the advertising dept of D.H. Holmes on & off from 1953-1978. In the fall of 1966 she returned to school in order to pursue the study of fine arts. Masinter completed a BA from Newcomb College in 1973 and an MA from Tulane in Art History in 1989. Since the late 80s Shirley Rabe Masinter has worked as a full-time artist exhibiting in galleries and museums across the gulf south. Masinter began creating photo realist works in the 1980s looking to the topography and culture of New Orleans for her subject matter. Her works are suffused by a sense of nostalgia and remembrances; sometimes disturbing and gritty. Masinter worked to create a vision and a style that tells of her city: its beauty, its mystery, its fascination with the celebration of life and death. Masinter has exhibited in galleries and museums across the Gulf South. Her work is included in the collections of the Morris Museum, New Orleans Museum of Art, The Ogden Museum of Southern Art, The Mississippi Museum of Art, The Huntsville Museum of Art and the Louisiana State Museum. Shirley Rabe Masinter passed away in 2023, she was 90 years old.