Women of Abstract Expressionism

For some time, the swagger and machismo of Jackson Pollock and his male peers dominated the story of American Abstract Expressionism. In fact, the generation of painters working in New York in the 1950s who came to be known as the Abstract Expressionists included women whose work you see in this gallery. They had to fight against sexism and exclusion to gain recognition and acclaim. For example, East Ninth Street (on view nearby), by Joan Mitchell, was part of a 1951 exhibition organized by artists and meant to challenge the conventional taste of established New York galleries. Some of the organizers questioned whether women painters should be included in the exhibition at all. Mitchell, along with Lee Krasner and Helen Frankenthaler, whose paintings are also on view in this gallery, prevailed. 

Winter Hunt, by Frankenthaler, was created as the artist circled the canvas as it lay on the floor, a method she adapted after seeing Jackson Pollock work this way. Below, you can hear Frankenthaler talk about watching Pollock work, and about giving herself free reign as an artist.