Breaking Boundaries
Female abstract expressionists get their due in a new show at Fenimore Art Museum
Hans Hoffman once said of Lee Krasner’s artwork,“this is so good you would never know it was made by a woman.” Krasner and 18 of her female contemporaries are the subject of the Fenimore Art Museum’s Heroines of Abstract Expressionism, which features 30 works from the private collection of Richard P. Friedman and Cindy
Lou Wakefield.
As Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko were developing their radical abstract styles in the ’40s and ’50s, women artists were also breaking new ground.they gathered at the 8th Street Club in Manhattan, discussing the theory and philosophies of their work.
Many of these artists lived and worked in the Hamptons, where Friedman and Wakefield now reside, and Wakefield once worked as a freelance writer for the Pollockkrasner House Study Center.as the couple voraciously collected abstract expressionists with a specific focus on artists from the Hamptons, Friedman says the goal wasn’t initially to collect women abstract expressionists. But as the collection grew, he says,“i appreciated their talent, uphill battle, and convictions—and their ultimate accomplishments.”
Christine Rossi, director of exhibitions at the Fenimore, saw the collection for the first time in 2017.“I was aware of the usual names—krasner, de Kooning and Frankenthaler—but many were new to me,” she says.“as I did a little research, I started to realize the obstacles these women had to surmount to get their work shown and taken seriously.”
In the shadow of the #metoo movement, which Rossi says has shone a light on the historic and continuing marginalization, it felt like the right time to showcase the work of these women who had to fight against both the expectations of the traditional art establishment and sexism within the community of abstract expressionists to make their livings as artists. Krasner’s September Twenty-third is one of the show’s standout pieces.
The ink and crayon collage evokes the feeling of early autumn. Rossi says the painting “is a vibrant expression of the vernal equinox, celebrating time and nature through collage and color.” Charlotte Park was a neighbor and friend of Krasner’s, and while she worked steadily throughout the mid-20th century, her work wasn’t well known at the time—possibly because she had to focus on promoting her
husband’s artwork. Park found inspiration for her non-representational paintings in nature, and her colorful, circa 1970 oil Untitled is featured in the Fenimore exhibition. Rossi says,“i hadn’t known her work but find the painting uplifting and engaging.”
While Park’s career was hampered by her husband, Dorothy Dehner found her success as an artist after she divorced.though Dehner was primarily known as a sculptor, her captivating geometric work on paper The Red Window is on view.
Heroines of Abstract Expressionism shines a light on artists who were underestimated and under-appreciated in their day.“i like to think we are once again giving space to those voices by celebrating the 19 women and their artwork represented in this exhibition,” says Rossi.
The show remains on view at the Fenimore through the end of the year.