ART-TRIBUTE:Women Artists and Postwar Abstraction, Part II

Magdalena Abakanowicz, Yellow Abakan (Detail), 1967-58, Sisal, 315 x 304.8 x 152.4 cm, The Museum of Modern Art-New York, Gift of Mr. Walter Bareiss, Mrs. Watson K. Blair, Mr. Arthur Cohen, Mr. Don Page, and Anonymous Donor, 1974, © 2017 Magdalena AbakanowiczIn the decades after World War II, societal shifts made it possible for larger numbers of women to pursue careers as artists. Abstraction dominated artistic practice internationally between 1945 and the late ‘60s, as many artists sought a formal language that might transcend national and regional narratives, and for women artists, additionally, those relating to gender. But despite new opportunities, women often found their work dismissed in the male-dominated art world and, without the benefit of Feminist advances that would take root in the ‘70s, they had few support networks (Part I).

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: MoMA Archive

The Exhibition “Making Space: Women Artists and Postwar Abstraction” at MoMA presents 100 works in a diverse range of mediums by more than 50 international woman artists. Drawn entirely from the Museum’s collection, the exhibition includes works that were acquired soon after they were made in the ‘50s and ‘60s, as well as many recent acquisitions. Following a trajectory that is at once loosely chronological and synchronistic, it is organized into five sections: Gestural Abstraction, Geometric Abstraction, Reductive Abstraction, Fiber and Line, and Eccentric Abstraction. Building on the legacies of modernism in the early 20th Century, artists found new urgency for their abstract impulses, whether in the form of existential gestures, the rationalizing order of geometry, or the potential of new materials and processes. Gestural Abstraction: In the postwar climate, women artists’ successes were hard won in the hyper-masculine world of Abstract Expressionism. The Abstract Expressionists’ fervent mark-making came to signify the artists’ existential struggles and, particularly in the case of large-scale paintings, heroic actions. Geometric Abstraction: Constructivist tendencies became increasingly transnational in the postwar period, as the geometric legacy of European Cubism and Constructivism travelled across geographic lines. This approach, based on reason and precision, flourished concurrently and in sharp contrast to the subjective, gestural style of Abstract Expressionism. Reductive Abstraction: A number of artists, working in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, reacted against the emotionally charged gestures of Abstract Expressionism. Their minimalist works feature flat, uninflected surfaces and highly simplified, mathematically regular forms, often based on a grid. Along with dozens of men whose work was heralded under the umbrella of Minimalism, there were a few key women, who pursued their uncompromising visions at a certain distance from the mainstream of the movement. Fiber and Line: Reclaiming the historical coding of textiles as “women’s work”, the artists featured in this section created radical woven forms that upend traditional boundaries between art and craft. Like their minimalist contemporaries, artists working with fiber exploited the gridded structure of warp and weft, a logic that is also reflected in a large group of drawings and prints featuring gridded, woven, or lace-like lines. Eccentric Abstraction: In the ‘60s, women artists were among the key pioneers of a new direction for abstraction that emphasized unusual materials and processes. Employing found, sometimes abject objects and raw or viscous matter, these artists injected subversive and obliquely feminist content into the rhetoric of aesthetic purity that had been one of the defining threads of postwar modernism and abstraction.

Info: Curators: Starr Figura, Sarah Meisterand Hillary Reder, The Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53 Street, New York, Duration: 15/4-16/8/17, Days & Hours: Mon-Thu & Sat-Sun 10:30-17:30, Fri 10:30-20:00, www.moma.org

Lotte Jacobi, Abstraction #4n c. 1945-48. Gelatin silver print, 24.8 x 19.8 cm, The Museum of Modern Art-New York, Gift of Mrs. Charles Liebman, 1960, © Lotte Jacobi Collection, University of New Hampshire
Lotte Jacobi, Abstraction #4n c. 1945-48. Gelatin silver print, 24.8 x 19.8 cm, The Museum of Modern Art-New York, Gift of Mrs. Charles Liebman, 1960, © Lotte Jacobi Collection, University of New Hampshire

 

 

Ruth Asawa, Untitled, c. 1955, Brass wire, iron wire, and galvanized iron wire, 294.6 × 36.8 × 36.8 cm, The Museum of Modern Art-New York. Promised gift of Alice and Tom Tisch, 2016
Ruth Asawa, Untitled, c. 1955, Brass wire, iron wire, and galvanized iron wire, 294.6 × 36.8 × 36.8 cm, The Museum of Modern Art-New York. Promised gift of Alice and Tom Tisch, 2016

 

 

Lynda Benglis, Embryo II, 1967, Purified and pigmented beeswax, damar resin, and gesso on Masonite, 91.8 x 15.2 x 13 cm, The Museum of Modern Art-New York, Gift of Agnes Gund, 2006, © 2017 Lynda Benglis / Licensed by VAGA-New York
Lynda Benglis, Embryo II, 1967, Purified and pigmented beeswax, damar resin, and gesso on Masonite, 91.8 x 15.2 x 13 cm, The Museum of Modern Art-New York, Gift of Agnes Gund, 2006, © 2017 Lynda Benglis / Licensed by VAGA-New York

 

 

Louise Bourgeois (American, born France. 1911–2010). The Quartered One. 1964-65. Bronze, 58 3/4 x 28 3/8 x 21 3/8″ (149 x 72 x 54.1 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Henriette Bonnotte in memory of Georges Bonnotte, 1969. © 2017 The Easton Foundation/Licensed by VAGA, NY
Louise Bourgeois (American, born France. 1911–2010). The Quartered One. 1964-65. Bronze, 58 3/4 x 28 3/8 x 21 3/8″ (149 x 72 x 54.1 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Henriette Bonnotte in memory of Georges Bonnotte, 1969. © 2017 The Easton Foundation/Licensed by VAGA-New York

 

 

Eva Hesse, Untitled, 1966, Enamel paint and string over papier-mâché with elastic cord, Overall approximately 85 x 65.9 x 6.4 cm, The Museum of Modern Art-New York, Ruth Vollmer Bequest, 1983, © 2017 Estate of Eva Hesse,  Galerie Hauser & Wirth-Zurich
Eva Hesse, Untitled, 1966, Enamel paint and string over papier-mâché with elastic cord, Overall approximately 85 x 65.9 x 6.4 cm, The Museum of Modern Art-New York, Ruth Vollmer Bequest, 1983, © 2017 Estate of Eva Hesse, Galerie Hauser & Wirth-Zurich

 

 

Sheila Hicks, Prayer Rug, 1965, Hand-spun wool, 221 x 109.2 cm, The Museum of Modern Art-New York, Gift of Dr. Mittelsten Schied, 1966
Sheila Hicks, Prayer Rug, 1965, Hand-spun wool, 221 x 109.2 cm, The Museum of Modern Art-New York, Gift of Dr. Mittelsten Schied, 1966

 

 

Carol Rama, Schizzano via, 1967, Ink, gouache, shellac, and plastic doll eyes on paper, 61 x 49.5 cm, The Museum of Modern Art-New York, Gift of Dean Valentine and Amy Adelson, 2012
Carol Rama, Schizzano via, 1967, Ink, gouache, shellac, and plastic doll eyes on paper, 61 x 49.5 cm, The Museum of Modern Art-New York, Gift of Dean Valentine and Amy Adelson, 2012

 

 

Mira Schendel, C, 1964-66, Untitled from the series Droguinhas (Little Nothings),  Japanese paper, dimensions variable, 90 x 70 cm, The Museum of Modern Art-New York, Scott Burton Fund, 2005, © 2017 Estate of Mira Schendel
Mira Schendel, C, 1964-66, Untitled from the series Droguinhas (Little Nothings), Japanese paper, dimensions variable, 90 x 70 cm, The Museum of Modern Art-New York, Scott Burton Fund, 2005, © 2017 Estate of Mira Schendel

 

 

Atsuko Tanaka, Untitled, 1956, Watercolor and felt-tip pen on paper, 108.9 x 77.2 cm, The Museum of Modern Art-New York, Purchased with funds provided by the Edward John Noble Foundation, Frances Keech Fund, and Committee on Drawings Funds, 2010, © 2017 Ryoji Ito
Atsuko Tanaka, Untitled, 1956, Watercolor and felt-tip pen on paper, 108.9 x 77.2 cm, The Museum of Modern Art-New York, Purchased with funds provided by the Edward John Noble Foundation, Frances Keech Fund, and Committee on Drawings Funds, 2010, © 2017 Ryoji Ito

 

 

Anne Ryan, Collage, 353. 1949, Pasted colored papers, cloth, and string on paper, 19 x 17.5 cm, The Museum of Modern Art-New York, Gift of Elizabeth McFadden, 1978
Anne Ryan, Collage, 353. 1949, Pasted colored papers, cloth, and string on paper, 19 x 17.5 cm, The Museum of Modern Art-New York, Gift of Elizabeth McFadden, 1978