by Miriam Silverberg

Lee Krasner (American, 1908–1984). Gaea.1966. Oil on canvas, 69″ × 10′ 5 1/2″ (175.3 × 318.8 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Kay Sage Tanguy Fund, 1977 © 2017 Pollock-Krasner Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

The Museum of Modern Art presents a major exhibition surveying the abstract practices of women artists between the end of WWII and the onset of the Feminist movement in the late 1960s.  On view from April 15 through August 13, Making Space:  Women Artists and Postwar Abstraction features approximately 100 works in a diverse range of mediums by more than 50 international artists.  The exhibition spotlights the stunning achievements of women artists during a pivotal period in art history.

In the decades after WW11, societal shifts made it possible for larger numbers of women than ever before to pursue careers as artist.  Abstraction dominated artistic practice internationally between 1945 and the late 1960s, and many women worked in that manner.  But despite new opportunities, women often found their work dismissed in the male-dominated art world and without the benefit of Feminist advances that would take root in the 1970s, they had few support networks.

The exhibition surveys the contributions that women made to the remarkable range of abstract styles that took hold internationally during the postwar decades.  It’s organized into five sections:  Gestural, Geometric, Reductive, Fiber and Line and Eccentric Abstraction.

It certainly behooves we Tomatoes to see the exhibit not only because of its interest and value but to show the support that so many of these artists missed.

Miriam Silverberg is a freelance journalist and the owner of Miriam Silverberg Associates, a boutique publicity agency based in Manhattan. She may be reached at silverbergm@mindspring.com.