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https://www.barrons.com/articles/bonhams-exhibit-and-sale-features-groundbreaking-contemporary-art-by-women-01661451809
Bonhams will showcase contemporary art by women using wood, textiles, found objects, wire, and other alternative materials in an exhibition and private sale beginning Aug. 29 in New York.
Called “The Medium is the Message,” the exhibit by the global auction house, running Aug. 29-Sept. 9, features well-known artists such as Ruth Asawa, Louise Nevelson, and Sheila Hicks.
Their works will be featured alongside pieces by Helen Frankenthaler, Lynne Drexler, and Grace Hartigan, who have been “long overlooked” in the canon of Western Art, according to the event announcement.
The broad spectrum of famous and unfamiliar artists and genres is intentional, according to Amelia Manderscheid, Bonhams San Francisco-based vice president and senior director for post-war & contemporary art.
“It is the first time many of these artists will be shown together and it gives us a rare opportunity to showcase their groundbreaking achievements in unison,” she said in the announcement.
In a way, Bonhams is connecting the diverse and exciting dots of artistic achievement by women over the past half-century.
Other featured artists include Magdalena Abakanowicz, Carol Rama, and Louise Bourgeois, artists who utilized metal wire, found wood, textiles, and gold leaf.
According to Manderscheid, these works elevated the homespun to high art.
Some highlights of the exhibit include sculptural collages by Nevelson, who was famous for wooden sculptures before her death at age 88 in 1988. Volcano Magic I, Volcano Magic XXV, and Untitled, 1959 will be on view and are made from wood, paper and metal.
Two works by Hicks, who’s known for her textile art and weaving, are on view. Predestined Color Wave I, 2015, and Wanderlust - Wonder Wear, 2017, were crafted with linen on a wood panel.
In 2020, Untitled (S.408), a five-lobed hanging work by Asawa (1926-2013), sold for US$2.18 million. The work is back on view for the first time since that sale.
While the show’s focus is largely alternative media, paintings by influential Abstract Expressionists including Grace Hartigan, Helen Frankenthaler, and Lynne Drexler will be on display.
“There’s been a lot of interest in work by women artists,” says Manderscheid, adding that exhibitions typically feature paintings or a single specific genre or one alternative media. “This exhibit tries to bridge it all.”
Clarissa's World, 1974, a vibrant oil on canvas, by Hartigan (1922-2008), could fetch “in the six figures” at private sale, according to Manderscheid.
Also in the mix is work by Bernice Bing, Natalia Dumitresco, and Vicci Sperry, lesser-known pioneers and boundary-pushers in the Abstract Expressionist movement, plus artists such as Mary Corse who defy a particular genre.
In association with “The Medium is the Message,” Solid Rock Congregation by Ernie Barnes (1938-2009) will be on display for the public for the first time before a live auction on Sept. 9 in New York.
The painting depicts an exuberant Sunday church service and is expected to collect between US$500,000-US$700,000.
Bonhams will showcase contemporary art by women using wood, textiles, found objects, wire, and other alternative materials in an exhibition and private sale beginning Aug.
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