A Survey of 20 Acclaimed
Abstract Expressionist
Women Artists of the
New York School

Lee Krasner, September Twenty-third (detail), 1980
Ink, crayon, and collage on lithographic paper, 47 x 38 x 2.5 in

A Survey of 20 Acclaimed
Abstract Expressionist
Women Artists of the
New York School

Elaine de Kooning, Cave #24 Red Oxide Wall (detail), 1984,
Acrylic and collage on paper mounted on canvas, 49 x 39 x 2 in

A Survey of 20 Acclaimed
Abstract Expressionist
Women Artists of the
New York School

Audrey Flack, Weehawken Ledger (detail), 1951,
Acrylic on paper, 24 x 36 x 1 in

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New York School Women Rising

Overlooked and undervalued for nearly half a century, this exhibit recognizes and pays tribute to these female artists’ impressive accomplishments in a male dominated era. It is a testimony to their grit, courage, resolve and talent.

There have been other important Abstract Expressionist women museum exhibitions, such as the landmark “Women of Abstract Expressionism,” at the Denver Art Museum in 2016, and “Making Space: Women Artists and Postwar Abstraction,” at MoMA, 2017. However, this Heroines exhibit is perhaps the widest museum survey devoted exclusively for the most prominent women artists of the New York School, circa, 1950’s.

Artists Include

Mary Abbott
Nell Blaine
Louise Bourgeois
Dorothy Dehner
Elaine De Kooning
Perle Fine
Audrey Flack
Helen Frankenthaler
Jane Freilicher
Grace Hartigan
Lee Krasner
Mercedes Matter
Joan Mitchell
Louise Nevelson
Charlotte Park
Irene Rice Pereira
Hedde Sterne
Ethel Schwabacher
Michael West
Jane Wilson

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About The Collectors

This exhibit pays tribute to these artists’ drive, commitment and talent in the era of male dominated artists.

“A lack of institutional exposure and a dearth of coverage in the art history texts rendered female artists all but invisible in the mid-late 20th century. The women artists of the New York School persevered in the face of such neglect, either benign and deliberate, is a testament to their tenacity.”

“The new attention to women artists has been aided by the feminist movement of the 1970’s, and continues recently with the #MeToo Movement. The time is long overdue to give greater recognition to the women who painted alongside the men associated with Abstract Expressionism.”

“Women artists played a crucial role in the development of Abstract Expressionism in NYC during the 1940s and 1950s. Marginalized through sexism and discrimination by male artists, art critics, and art dealers, a group of fearless women artists made careers for themselves by embracing avant-grade painting.”

“To paraphrase Pollock, ‘every artist paints who they are.’ You are who you are and it comes out in whatever style you are in.”