Head to a ground-breaking survey of female abstract artists at the Whitechapel Gallery where Action, Gesture, Paint: Women Artists and Global Abstraction 1940 – 1970 deep dives into the work of pioneers working in the post second world war period.
Abstract Expression is a genre typically dominated by men, yet this show spotlights the extraordinary women in the field who broke down tropes of subject, composition, and gesture to forge a new language in art. The exhibition features well-known artists including American Lee Krasner (1908-1984) and Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011), alongside lesser-known figures such as Mozambican-Italian Bertina Lopes (1924-2012) alongside South Korean Wook-kyung Choi (1940-1985) who explored calligraphic expression. More than half of the 150 works have never before been on public display in the U.K.
Untitled (c. 1960) by Wook-kyung Choi
Whitechapel Gallery // Image Sheet
Untitled (1968) by Helen Khal
Whitechapel Gallery // Image Sheet
“Their paintings were regarded not as images but as events, and they were an important catalyst for changing ideas around aesthetics, poetry, philosophy and politics in their distinct and particular regions."
Exhibition Curator, Laura Smith
“Their paintings were regarded not as images but as events, and they were an important catalyst for changing ideas around aesthetics, poetry, philosophy and politics in their distinct and particular regions,” says curator, Laura Smith of the cultural reach and impact. Marvel at the sweeping brushstrokes of American artist Judith Godwin who was in influenced by Martha Graham’s choreography and how Swedish Britta Ringvall one of the least known artists in the presentation, depicted her rural environment through a red curtained window in a quiet meditative work.
Ark (1983) by Judith Goodwin
Eazel // Website
