Annie Morris, Stack 10, Copper Blue
There are easily a dozen paintings in Victoria Miro’s latest sensational show Surface Work that I wanted to smuggle home. Over 50 female abstract artists from across the globe over the past century are shown in this stunning, historical glimpse at what women painters were creating while names like Kandinsky, Pollock and Rothko were stealing the headlines.
The show’s title comes from the late abstract expressionist Joan Mitchell, who said
“Abstract is not a style. I simply want to make a surface work.”
Liubov Popova
The earliest work was made in 1918 by Liubov Popova, a commanding figure in early Abstract Expressions. She was born in 1889 in Russia, showed with Malevich at the age of 26 and died of scarlet fever in 1924, aged 35. I want!
The latest work in the show was made this year, by Brazilian artist Adriana Varejão (b. 1964).
Azulejão (Moon), Adriana Varejão
Azulejão (Moon) is one of Varejão’s celebrated ‘cracked tile’ works reference the history of Portuguese Azulejo tile work and the disturbing legacy of Brazil’s colonial past.
Every decade gets represented in Surface Work, which takes place across Victoria Miro’s two London galleries. While blue chip names like Lee Krasner, Helen Frankenthaler, Joan Mitchell, Yayoi Kusama and Agnes Martin are all here – mainly at Miro’s Mayfair gallery – plenty of lesser-known talents, both old and young, get wall space.
Take African-American activist and artist Betty Blayton (1937-2016) who championed the arts in Harlem and was a founding member of the Studio Museum in Harlem (which is currently getting a massive new David Adjaye-designed headquarters).
Betty Blayton Hard Edge Three Intermezzo 1969
Alma Thomas’s (1892-1978) untitled painting below was painted in 1971 and inspired by the Apollo moon landings. Thomas was the first African-American woman to receive a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York in 1972.
Alma Thomas Untitled 1961
I love reading the snippets about these artists almost as much as looking at their work. British abstract artist Sandra Blow (1925-2006) used things like tea, sawdust and sackcloth in her work. American Howardena Pindell (b. 1943) opted for glitter, talcum powder and perfume. Japanese-Brazilian Tomie Ohtake (1913-2015) painted while blindfolded. Bay Area artist Jay DeFeo (1929-1989) is best known for her painting The Rose, a one-tonne, ten foot tall painting made up of layers and layers of oil paint applied to canvas. It was so heavy that it had to be removed from her apartment by a forklift truck.
Fast forward to now American superstar Lynda Benglis (b. 1941) transforms chicken wire and glitter into something floating, lovely and slightly puzzling.
Lynda Benglis Tres (Shy Five) 2016
Victoria Miro’s Wharf Road space shows the younger, more affordable artists. Run, don’t walk to Hoxton as this show closes May 19th and not all of the glorious works are sold, like this exuberant work from relentlessly inventive British painter Fiona Rae (b. 1963)…
Fiona Rae Sleeping Beauty Will Hum About Mine Ears 2017
Rae is a Professor of Painting at the Royal Academy Schools, one of the first two female professors since the Academy was founded in 1768. Of this work, she says:
“I’m inventing characters… who exist only as abstract paint marks, but who might be wearing crowns, clouds, arrows, dresses, shoes, hats, feathers, stars… I think of these paintings as having a relationship to the way one presents oneself to the world; the way one might use costume and props as bits of language to hang off the body.’
Hungarian-American Rita Ackermann (b. 1968) painted the below. I love the whirlpools of pink and red.
Rita Ackermann
As Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011) once said, ‘A really good picture looks as if it’s happened at once. It’s an immediate image.
More from Elena on her own excellent travel blog here. More on Surface Work at Victoria Miro here
The failure mode is always the same, the thing was composed at slide dimensions and then squeezed into a banner or a square. Starting in a graphical abstract maker at the target ratio avoids the amputated labels, and the labels are where the review time should go anyway.
What a lovely reminder of how many women were doing bold abstract work long before the art world bothered to notice them. I kept thinking about how a simple shift in what gets shown can completely change the story, kind of like converting mmol/l to mg/dl and suddenly seeing the same number in a new light.
incredible! I love how it brings attention to so many talented female abstract level devil – not a troll game artists who were often overlooked. The variety of techniques and stories behind the works makes the show especially fascinating.
I love how Elena Bowes pairs the famous names—Krasner, Frankenthaler, Mitchell—with lesser-known figures like Betty Blayton and Alma Thomas, giving a fuller picture of women’s abstract art. The small anecdotes, such as Jay DeFeo’s one-ton painting requiring a forklift or Tomie Ohtake painting blindfolded, make the exhibition feel vivid and personal. It’s a refreshing reminder of how much talent was overlooked while the usual male stars dominated.
The range of stories behind these works is fascinating, especially Jay DeFeo’s one-tonne *The Rose* needing a forklift to leave her apartment. Fiona Rae’s idea of abstract characters wearing “crowns, clouds, arrows” also makes her painting feel surprisingly theatrical. On a practical note, I sometimes use handwritten signature generator when I need personalized handwritten signature ideas for artwork labels or notes.
What a fascinating overview of female abstract artists! I particularly loved learning about Liubov Popova’s too-short career and the story of Jay DeFeo’s monumental painting The Rose that required a forklift to remove from her apartment. It’s wonderful to see Victoria Miro giving space to these overlooked talents alongside the blue-chip names. For those interested in exploring more rich artistic heritage, MyAsiaTrip has a great guide to Asian heritage and cultural experiences that might inspire your next cultural journey.
The detail about Liubov Popova showing with Malevich at just 26 years old really struck me – it’s incredible to think about the artistic landscape in Russia a century ago. The show’s range from her 1918 work to Adriana Varejão’s 2018 piece really demonstrates how female abstract artists have been creating groundbreaking work across continents for over a hundred years. flags of the world
What a fascinating overview of female abstract artists across the century! The inclusion ofLiubov Popova’s pioneering work from 1918 alongside contemporary artists like Adriana Varejão really illustrates how this exhibition spans such a rich timeline of artistic innovation. Beijing’s 798 Art District
Nice article! Puzzle fans should check out Rule34dle – a fresh daily brain teaser in the browser.
The article’s discussion of abstract compositions really got me thinking about visual balance and structure, which is a fun contrast to my usual deep dive into facial proportions and symmetry on PSL Scale. It’s refreshing to step back from analyzing jawlines and bone structure for a while.
Elena’s review of the Surface Work exhibition at Victoria Miro is wonderfully perceptive! Exploring abstract art and female artists’ tactile compositions is truly inspiring. Transforming still gallery captures and artwork details into fluid video stories using PicWav Animate Photo offers a fresh perspective for visual storytelling. Thank you for this cultural highlight!
Ett mycket vackert och inspirerande budskap som sprider lugn och eftertanke. Att bevara minnesvärda ögonblick och ge liv åt vackra bilder genom att Turn Photo into Video hjälper verkligen till att förmedla varma känslor och skapa meningsfulla visuella berättelser. Tack för denna fina vägledning!