When we were just a young and naïve art history student, the only reference book that we needed to survive our college years and beyond was that evergreen title ‘A History of Art’ by H.W. Janson, an enormous tome that a) was heavy, so couldn’t be taken anywhere outside your dorm room, and b) clearly lacking in useful information if you knew a bit about a particular time period or certain artists and the author didn’t want to discuss them. Our edition was the first after Janson’s death, edited by his son, and actually listed several women artists (the earlier editions only had one, and she didn’t even have a full name) from different centuries. We consulted it for essays, exams, and in post college years, a quick refresher before seeing a museum show, but it never occurred to us that it was not as complete as it should have been. Sure, it barely discussed art after 1970 and maybe mentioned a few women artists from that era, but you could get that information from books and articles dedicated to that time, no need to use the Janson as a source. As a result, we knew very few female artist names from the 1950’s on, and only those making work in the US. And as terrific as Lee Krasner, Helen Frankenthaler, Pat Passlof, Marisol, Judy Chicago, Barbara Kruger, and Cindy Sherman are, there’s a lot more people to meet in modern/contemporary art history than these seven.
That’s why we’re so glad to be living in this era, where collectors, curators, and historians are doing so much work to showcase and educate the public about women and women-identifying artists. In Making Their Mark, curated by Cecilia Alemani (now on view at 548 West 22nd Street, November 2, 2023 – January 27, 2024), the Shah Garg Foundation presents a selection of works from its women-centric collection of 20th and 21st century artists. There are names that have received attention from national museums and local galleries, been celebrated at international art fairs, and most importantly, there are names you don’t know and need to learn about. For ourselves, we only recognized about a third of them, and are looking forward to expanding our knowledge about the rest (perhaps with the assistance of The Story of Art Without Men).
Another aspect of modern art history that is a distinct improvement over previous attitudes is the inclusion of media and artists that used to be separated into a ‘craft’ category, never to be regarded as art. Now, this is still a relatively new viewpoint (when you think in centuries, as historians tend to do) but its one worth considering as more galleries are welcoming these objects, framing the work and artists as something a bit different from the old definitions.
While walking through the display at Slip Tease (now on view at Kasmin, October 26 – December 22, 2023), we couldn’t help but remember the Louis Pasteur quote of ‘chance favors only the prepared mind’, especially since working in ceramics seems to exemplify it. Taking as a starting point the shape known as ‘vessel’, the sixteen contemporary artists represented in the exhibition build forms, then draw and/or decorate with slip or glaze, to present stories or subjects that describe the complexity of life from personal relationships to the natural world. The colors and textures of the works are endlessly fascinating, showcasing the intricate balancing act each creator must navigate between decisions based on technical knowledge and the unique moment when a piece undergoes the firing process. Although a small exhibition, we recommend moving slowly through the gallery space, in order to fully appreciate each piece in all its wildly inventive glory.