Exclusive Palmer Museum of Art exhibition explores evolution of abstraction in the 1940s
The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Friday, November 8, 2024


Exclusive Palmer Museum of Art exhibition explores evolution of abstraction in the 1940s
Irene Rice Pereira (American, 1902–1971), Untitled (Two Triangles), c. 1940, oil and pigmented varnish on canvas, 36 x 30 inches, Philadelphia Museum of Art, purchased with the J. Stogdell Stokes Fund (2011), 2011-10-1 © Estate of Irene Rice Pereira.



UNIVERSITY PARK, PA.- A captivating new exhibition premiering at the Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State this month considers how some of the most provocative midcentury artists made the leap from figuration to abstraction.

A Way Through: Abstract Art of the 1940s features major works by Suzy Frelinghuysen, Arshile Gorky, Paul Keene, Lee Krasner, Alice Trumbull Mason, Henry McCarter, George L. K. Morris, Irene Rice Pereira, Judith Rothschild, Charles Green Shaw, Esphyr Slobodkina, Hedda Sterne and John von Wicht. Many of these artists – including a significant number of women, whose contributions have too often been overlooked – were pivotal founders and early members of the American Abstract Artists group.

The exhibition is organized by the Palmer Museum of Art and curated by Adam M. Thomas, curator of American art at the Palmer. It will be on view at Penn State, the sole venue, from Jan. 15 through May 15, 2022.

“A Way Through: Abstract Art of the 1940s is the most comprehensive look at mid-century abstraction in the Museum’s history,” said Palmer Museum of Art director Erin M. Coe. “As part of the Palmer’s year-long 50th anniversary celebration, this compelling exhibition brings together major loans from the Philadelphia Museum of Art and places them alongside works from the Museum’s collection. It provides us with unprecedented opportunity to reflect on the development of abstract art in the United States and how our programmatic partnership with the Philadelphia Museum of Art, made possible by the Art Bridges Initiative, can grow in new directions for the future, especially as we look to our new Museum facility.”

Abstract art proliferated in the United States during the 1940s and was engulfed by economic chaos, world war, the Holocaust and nuclear destruction. Midcentury American artists experimented with a broad range of abstraction and new modes of visual expression as a means of processing the societal upheaval of the era.

The title of the exhibition derives in part from the closing lines of Clement Greenberg’s 1940 essay Towards a Newer Laocoön, in which the influential critic acknowledged and promoted the challenge of abstract art, arguing for the necessity of “fighting our way through it.”

A precursor to the New York School and Abstract Expressionism, the American Abstract Artists group was founded in New York in 1936. The cohort was united in its belief in the importance of non-figural compositions and in the autonomy of the work of art. It opened its first annual exhibition in 1937.

“This exhibition provides a rare glimpse into the early origins of abstract art in the face of intense cultural resistance during a particularly tumultuous and creative decade,” said curator Adam M. Thomas.

A Way Through is one in a series of American art exhibitions created through a multi-year, multi-institutional partnership formed by the Philadelphia Museum of Art as part of the Art Bridges Initiative.










Today's News

January 17, 2022

Facing violence with brushes and ballots

Exhibition presents recent unique prints made at the visionary print studio Two Palms

Exhibition brings together significant works from 1978 to 2018 by Ettore Spalletti

Exclusive Palmer Museum of Art exhibition explores evolution of abstraction in the 1940s

Vintage work mixes with new images in new exhibition at Janet Borden Inc.

Exhibition brings together images Alec Soth completed between 2018 and 2021

Sherrill Roland's first exhibition with Tanya Bonakdar Gallery on view in New York

20 years later, the story behind the Guantánamo photo that won't go away

Bonhams' inaugural anime sale offers rare original works from beloved classics

One indelible scene: When a woman takes the wheel in 'Licorice Pizza'

James Cohan opens 'A Través', a group exhibition

Camden Art Centre opens Julien Creuzet's first institutional exhibition in the UK

Sotheby's Masters Week spans millennia of art history with $40 million Botticelli masterpiece

Exhibition looks at the importance of light and how its treatment has evolved in Faroese art

South African artist Kendell Geers opens an exhibition at Carpenters Worksop Gallery

Towers rise over London's Brick Lane, clouding its future

Kenechukwu Victor's first in-person solo exhibition with Thierry Goldberg opens in New York

Annet Gelink Gallery opens the group show 'Blindenzimmer'

signs and symbols opens its first solo exhibition of works by Adam Broomberg

Leading bookseller's private collection goes up for sale

Nara Roesler New York opens a retrospective of Brazilian artist Abraham Palatnik

New light installation near Old Street roundabout opens bright window to a dark future

Janet Rady Fine Art opens new online exhibition Carnivals of Clouds

Exhibition presents highlights from the Kinsey African American Art and History Collection

Inspiring and emotional for the Day of March 8

How to choose a perfect ladies t-shirt?

5 Lesser-Known Things You'll Learn About In Couples Counseling




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez
Writer: Ofelia Zurbia Betancourt

Attorneys
Truck Accident Attorneys
Accident Attorneys
Holistic Dentist
Abogado de accidentes
สล็อต
สล็อตเว็บตรง

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site Parroquia Natividad del Señor
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful