eyeminded living and writing contemporary art

Magnetic Fields opens my eyes even further, pointing out work by Alma Thomas, Mildred Thompson, and Howardena Pindell that could expand the Abstract Expressionist canon even further. But it was an eye-opener to see the bold yet underappreciated works of Judith Godwin, Perle Fine, and other even less known women from the period. Someday, for instance, I’d like to see Janet Sobel’s 1944 drip paintings - admired by Pollock and which Greenberg would later cite as the first instance of ”all-over” painting - placed within an Abstract Expressionist context. Of course, as in any broadly conceived group show, many were left out. The Denver show, which traveled to Charlotte, NC and Palm Springs, CA, featured mostly exemplary work by 12 women within the circle of the Abstract Expressionists. Installation view of Magnetic Fields Maren Hassinger, “Wrenching News,” (2008) (work on floor) Abigail DeVille, “Harlem Flag,” (2014) partial view of “Magnetic Fields” (1991) by Mildred Thompson (photo by the author for Hyperallergic) Stylistically varied and teeming with formal flights of bravura, the exhibit seems to engage the magnetic forces of the Mildred Thompson painting from which it takes its name. According to the Kemper, this is the first museum exhibit in the US to show abstract artwork created exclusively by women of color. The exhibition, generously funded by the NEA and the Andy Warhol Foundation, is on view through September 17, after which it travels to the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC.

Whether due to a rejection of the staggering certitude of Greenberg’s formalism, the deep veins of racism/classism/sexism running through twentieth- century criticism and curation, or the closely guarded access to institutions of art, these historical narratives are undergoing an intensive curatorial corrective.Īn important achievement towards this end is Magnetic Fields : Expanding American Abstraction, 1960s to Today, organized at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, by independent curator Melissa Messina and Kemper’s director of curatorial affairs, Erin Dziedzic. KANSAS CITY - Art history rarely gets it right the first time, but the established accounts of American abstraction that canonized particular artists before the paint on their work was dry, is proving particularly vulnerable to criticism.

Mildred Thompson, “Magnetic Fields” (1991) oil on canvas, triptych 70.5 x 150 inches (art and photo courtesy and copyright of the Mildred Thompson Estate, Atlanta, GA)

Eyeminded living and writing contemporary art