There appears to have been a focus on abstraction in galleries in London at present, (previously here), and this exhibition of women abstract painters at the Whitechapel Gallery is one of the biggest. It is an important and timely survey, an exhaustive overview of female abstract painters from across the whole globe working during the middle of the last century. The exhibition goes some way to enlightening visitors to important and lesser known female painters in the genre, and trying to redress the balance in a scene dominated by male artists such as Rothko, Pollock and Kline. It was quite shocking to discover that some of the women felt it necessary to disguise their gender by adopting male names in order to be taken seriously as artists and to get opportunities to exhibit. Corinne West became 'Michael' West, Grace Hartigan became 'George' Hartigan and Lena Krasner became 'Lee' Krasner. Many were exhibited and written about in their lifetimes but seem to have been forgotten in written art historical documents. The exhibition certainly opened my eyes to the talented work of many painters I was unaware of. Personal favourites of which include - Amaranth Ehrenhalt, Wook kyung-Choi, Ethel Schwabacher, Vivian Springford, Sarah Grilo and Emiko Nakano whose work can be viewed below. The galleries of the exhibition are given over to themes such as - Myth Symbol Ritual, and Performance Gesture Rhythm which seem quite superfluous really, as the works for the most part are interchangeable and could easily slot into any of the attributed categories. It is interesting to see the ways in which certain artists here developed their styles independently of each other across the globe, yet seem to have evolved a similar visual language. All modes of expression are employed to create the works on display exploiting the materiality of paint, with gestural brushstrokes, deliberate drips and thin washes staining the canvas surface. Other media such as collage and earth and sand to create tactile, textured surfaces are also put to use as a chosen means of abstract expression. With so much work on show (150 works by 80 artists), the styles of the artists begin to merge and become indistinguishable from one another after a while. Perhaps the show could have done with a little editing, showing more work by less of the selected artists say. Whereas men may have initiated the Abstract Expressionist movement the evidence here proves that certain women practitioners just as skilfully developed their own abstract visual language, and were more than capable of holding their own in this genre of painting.
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