The unsung contribution of women to the development of Abstract Expressionism throughout the 1940s and 1950s will be explored in an exhibition opening in June at the Denver Art Museum.
The show, which is believed to be the first all-female survey of the movement, aims to counter the notion that Abstract Expressionism was exclusively the domain of “macho, paint-splattered men”, says the curator Gwen Chanzit.
On display are 51 paintings by 12 female artists, including Mary Abbott, Joan Mitchell and Elaine de Kooning. “I couldn’t believe that a show like this had never been done before,” Chanzit says. “All these women helped forge a new American art movement, and now it’s time to correct history.” The exhibition has inspired the acquisition of seven new paintings by the Denver museum, including Bullfight (1959) by Elaine de Kooning, The Snail (around 1955-65) by Betty Parsons and Untitled (Apropos) (1953) by Deborah Remington.
The Denver exhibition follows the inaugural all-female display at Hauser & Wirth’s new Los Angeles outpost: Revolution in the Making, which explores how women have expanded the notion of what sculpture can be and includes loans from nearly 60 US institutions, such as the ICA Boston and New York’s Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum.
• Women of Abstract Expressionism is at the Denver Art Museum from 12 June to 25 September and then travels to the Mint Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the Palm Springs Art Museum, California; Revolution in the Making: Abstract Sculpture by Women, 1947-2016 is at Hauser Wirth & Schimmel, Los Angeles until 4 September
