Action, Gesture, Paint
Women Artists and Global Abstraction (1940–70)
The Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles presents a major exhibition of 130 paintings from an overlooked generation of 70 international women artists.
Reaching beyond the predominantly white, male painters whose names are synonymous with the Abstract Expressionist movement, this exhibition celebrates the practices of the numerous international women artists working with gestural abstraction in the aftermath of the Second World War.
It is often said that the Abstract Expressionist movement began in the USA, but this exhibition’s geographic breadth demonstrates that artists from all over the world were exploring similar themes of materiality, freedom of expression, perception and gesture, endowing gestural abstraction with their own specific cultural contexts – from the rise of fascism in parts of South America and East Asia to the influence of Communism in Eastern Europe and China.
The exhibition features well-known artists associated with the Abstract Expressionism movement, including American artists Lee Krasner (1908-1984) and Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011), alongside lesser-known figures such as Mozambican-Italian artist Bertina Lopes (1924-2012) and South Korean artist Wook-kyung Choi (1940-1985).
This touring exhibition is the result of a close collaboration between the Whitechapel Gallery, the Kunsthalle Bielefeld and the Fondation Vincent Van Gogh Arles.
Artists exhibited
Paintings and drawings:
Mary Abbott – Maliheh Afnan – Gillian Ayres – Ida Barbarigo – Noemí Di Benedetto – Anna-Eva Bergman – Janice Biala – Bernice Bing – Sandra Blow – Chinyee – Wook-kyung Choi – Jay DeFeo – Amaranth Ehrenhalt – Asma Fayoumi – Lilly Fenichel – Perle Fine – Else Fischer-Hansen – Elna Fonnesbech-Sandberg – Juana Francés – Helen Frankenthaler – Judith Godwin – Gloria Gómez-Sánchez – Elsa Gramcko – Grace Hartigan – Buffie Johnson – Yuki Katsura – Helen Khal – Elaine de Kooning – Lee Krasner – Maria Lassnig – Bice Lazzari – Lifang – Bertina Lopes – Marta Minujín – Joan Mitchell – Aiko Miyawaki – Yolanda Mohalyi – Nasreen Mohamedi – Lea Nikel – Tomie Ohtake – Fayga Ostrower – Mercedes Pardo – Betty Parsons – Pat Passlof – Alice Rahon – Carol Rama – Marie Raymond – Judit Reigl – Deborah Remington – Britta Ringvall – Erna Rosenstein – Behjat Sadr – Nadia Saikali – Zilia Sánchez – Fanny Sanín – Niki de Saint Phalle – Miriam Schapiro – Sarah Schumann – Ethel Schwabacher – Sonja Sekula – Sylvia Snowden – Janet Sobel – Vivian Springford – Atsuko Tanaka – Franciszka Themerson – Alma Thomas – Yvonne Thomas – Hedwig Thun – Nína Tryggvadóttir – Elsa Vaudrey – Maria Helena Vieira da Silva – Michael West
& Vincent van Gogh
Performances and videos :
Trisha Brown – Mary Ellen Bute – Rosemarie Castoro – Mitra Farahani – Martha Graham – Barbara Hammer – Joan Jonas – Kang-ja Jung – Yayoi Kusama – Ana Mendieta – Lygia Pape – Yvonne Rainer – Carolee Schneemann
Van Gogh paintings
Vincent van Gogh, Ravin avec un petit ruisseau,
Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, 1889
Huile sur toile, 32 × 41 cm
Van Gogh Museum (Vincent van Gogh Foundation), Amsterdam
Vincent van Gogh, Les épis verts, Arles, juin 1888
Huile sur toile, 54 × 65 cm
The Israel Museum Donation Fondation Hanadiv, Jérusalem
Vincent van Gogh, Paysage enneigé, Arles, février 1888
Huile sur toile, 38,2 × 46,2 cm
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Collection Thannhauser, don de Hilde Thannhauser, 1984
Vincent van Gogh, Arbres, Paris, juillet 1887
Huile sur toile, 46 × 38 cm
Van Gogh Museum (Vincent van Gogh Foundation), Amsterdam
Vincent van Gogh, Sous-bois, Paris, juillet 1887
Huile sur toile, 46 × 38 cm
Van Gogh Museum (Vincent van Gogh Foundation), Amsterdam
On tour
Whitechapel Gallery – England: 9 February — 7 May 2023
Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles: 3 June — 22 October 2023
Kunsthalle Bielefeld – Germany: 2 December 2023 — 3 May 2024
Image gallery
Marie Raymond (1908–1988) Jeu d’espace (Space game), 1969 Oil on canvas, 55.5 × 46 cm Private collection © Adagp, Paris, 2023
Atsuko Tanaka (1932-2005) Peinture, 1962 Huile sur toile, 132 × 91 cm Musée Cantini, Musées de Marseille
Niki de Saint Phalle (1930–2002) Tyrannosaurus Rex (Study for King Kong) (from the Tirs series), Spring 1963 Various objects, plastic, plaster and paint on wood panel, 198 × 122 × 25 cm Fondation Gandur pour l’Art, Genève © Niki Charitable Art Foundation / 2023, ProLitteris, Zurich Crédit photographique : Fondation Gandur pour l’Art, Genève. Photographe : André Morin
Vessel
Ayres Gillian, Distillation, Tate Courtesy : © the artist's estate. Photo credit: Tate
Audrey Flack (*1931) Abstract Force: Homage to Franz Kline (Force de l’abstrait : hommage à Franz Kline), 1951-1952 Huile sur toile, 127 × 182,8 cm Collection Christian Levett
