Though immensely talented and worthy of praise, women artists in mid-20th-century America were often overlooked or forced to adopt pseudonyms that hid their gender from a more cynical world. From March 15 to May 15, CW American Modernism is placing the spotlight on these artists in America Coast to Coast: Women Artists at Mid Century, featuring 30 works in paint, sculpture, textiles and metalwork.
Edna Reindel (1894-1990), Magnolia, by 1947. Oil on Masonite, 24 x 22 in., signed lower left.
The exhibition is wide-ranging in terms of media, geography and styles represented, including “an extraordinarily rare and meticulously rendered work by Vermont’s Lucy Doane,” says CW American Modernism owner Chris Walther. The mixed media painting, titled Sea Winds, depicts a dark, stormy sky and tumultuous winds. Walther adds that collectors should also be on the lookout for exceptional bronzes by Elizabeth Chase and Jesse Herron, the sculpture supervisor for the WPA in Los Angeles. “The show [also] includes magic realist works, such as Witches Pot by Ethel Sharp, and a Bauhaus-influenced non-objective work by little-known, but talented, Veino (Vienna) Panttaja Leeman. Modernist works include rare oils by New Jersey’s Elsie Driggs and California’s Constance Draper Seely Still.”
Georgina Klitgaard (1893-1976), Rites of Winter, by 1939. Oil on canvas, 32 x 40 in.
Veino (Vienna) Panttaja Leeman (1911-2002), Abstraction (Untitled), ca. 1930s. Mixed media on board, 8¼ x 7 in. (image), 15 x 10 in. (board), signed lower right.
While far too many women were unrecognized in their time, more than a dozen works on view in the exhibition were shown at major institutions across the United States during the artists’ lifetimes, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Carnegie Institute, the Amon Carter Museum of American Art and the Butler Art Institute.
“Significant commercial galleries, such as the Charles Daniel Gallery, Rehn Gallery, Milch Galleries and Midtown Galleries, represented artists in the exhibition and their paintings were promoted by important critics,” Walther adds. “Still others like Edna Reindel who is represented in the exhibition by the significant new realist work Magnolia, were able to combine their fine art with commercial practices for magazine and advertising design to provide financial support for themselves and their families.”
Katherine “Kay” Swan Works (1904-1998), Excavation, ca. 1930. Oil on canvas, 22 x 26 in., signed lower left.
Ethel Sharp (1913-1996), Witches Pot, ca. 1947. Oil on canvas, 30 x 28 in., signed lower right.
Additional highlights in the upcoming exhibition include Georgina Klitgaard’s snowy village scene Rites of Winter, Katherine “Kay” Swan Works’ oil on canvas Excavation, and Clara McDonald Williamson’s 1954 Dinner at May’s Boarding House depicting a group of workers having a meal at a long dinner table.
Clara McDonald Williamson (1875-1976), Dinner at May’s Boarding House, 1954. Oil on Masonite, 16 x 24 in.
“America Coast to Coast: Women Artists at Mid Century aims to celebrate the lifetime accomplishments of these women when many were well-regarded and before the process of forgetting came into full force,” says Walther.
The exhibition will be available for viewing online on www.cwamericanmodernism.com. —
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