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From Remedios Varo to Laurie Simmons, a New Exhibition Forwards a Feminist View of the Uncanny
by Aurelia Butler 4 February 2025, 19:00
Remedios Varo, “Tejido espacio-tiempo (Weaving of Space and Time)” (1954), oil on Masonite, 32 1/2 x 28 inches. Photo by Lee Stalsworth. Artwork © 2023 Remedios Varo/Artists Rights Society, New York/VEGAP, Madrid. All images courtesy of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, shared with permission
From Remedios Varo to Laurie Simmons, a New Exhibition Forwards a Feminist View of the Uncanny
February 4, 2025
ArtHistoryPhotographySocial Issues
Kate Mothes
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In a 1906 essay, psychiatrist Ernst Jentsch coined the term “uncanny,” or unheimlich, meaning “unhomely” or “not home-like” in German. He defined the psychological phenomenon as the experience of something new or unknown that might initially be interpreted negatively.
Austrian neurologist and founder of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud popularized the word with the publication of his book The Uncanny in 1919, which elaborated on the idea as not just the sensation of the unknown but also something capable of bringing out other hidden or repressed elements. He even went so far as to describe the uncanny as frightening.
Mary Ellen Mark, “Tashara and Tanesha Reese, Twins Days Festival, Twinsburg, Ohio” (1998; printed later), gelatin silver print, 20 x 24 inches. Photo by Lee Stalsworth. Image © Mary Ellen Mark/The Mary Ellen Mark Foundation
During the 20th century, the Surrealists often turned to the concept to build a sense of mystery or tension in their works. Meret Oppenheim, for instance, famously created a teacup lined with fur, simply titled “Object” (1936), widely regarded as an iconic example of the movement.
Oppenheim is one of more than two dozen artists whose work will appear in the National Museum of Women in the Arts’ forthcoming exhibition, Uncanny, featuring recent acquisitions and rarely shown pieces in NMWA’s collection, plus special loans.
More than 60 works by renowned figures of modern art history like Louise Bourgeois, Remedios Varo, and Leonora Carrington will be shown alongside the likes of contemporary artists like Shahzia Sikander, Laurie Simmons, and Gillian Wearing. The large-scale presentation is the first to approach the concept through a feminist lens, organizing works around themes of safety and surreal imaginings.
The show also plumbs the phenomenon of the “uncanny valley,” a term coined by robotics engineer Masahiro Mori in 1970 to describe the apprehension or discomfort one feels when confronted with something that is almost human but not quite, like video game characters that appear realistic yet still somehow seem “off.”
Laurie Simmons, “The Music of Regret IV” (1994), Cibachrome print, 19 1/2 x 19 1/2 inches. © 2019 Laurie Simmons
In Laurie Simmons’ “The Music of Regret IV” (1994), a female ventriloquist dummy sits in the center of a circle of six male dummy dolls, whose gazes are trained on her as she looked out into the distance. Tapping into a medium that has been used in the horror genre to instill a sense of creepiness or dread, Simmons’ central character is dramatically spotlit, her smile belying the reality that she is unsettlingly hemmed in.
Along the theme of safety, or specifically unsafe spaces, Fabiola Jean-Louis’s elaborately staged photographs tell two stories at once. The artist portrays “seemingly innocuous portraits of close acquaintances wearing elaborate period costumes typical of upper-class European women, while disturbing images of racial and sexual violence are hidden within the background or details of a dress, reminding the viewer of the lineage of violence,” says an exhibition statement.
Many works in the show address physical trauma or the body’s relationship to the unknown. Frida Orupabo’s photographic collages, for example, portray Black figures that evoke colonial histories, critiquing historical violence and injustices through a process of fragmenting, distorting, and multiplying body parts.
Orupabo’s compositions echo the surrealist collaborative practice of cadavre exquis, or exquisite corpse, in which participants add to elements others have drawn without being able to see their work, producing intuitive and peculiar drawings.
Frida Orupabo, “Two Heads (detail)” (2022), framed collage with paper pins, 58 1/4 x 41 1/2 inches. © Frida Orupabo, courtesy of the artist and Galerie Nordenhake Berlin/Stockholm/Mexico City
“The enigmatic, darkly humorous and psychologically tense artworks in Uncanny give form to women artists’ powerful expressions of existential unease,” said NMWA Associate Curator Orin Zahra, who organized the exhibition. She continues:
Rather than comfort and soothe, these ghostly and fantastical figures haunt the unconscious. Instead of picturesque images, artists offer disquieting spaces that unsettle the viewer. In focusing on the ambiguity between reality and fiction, artists explore increasingly blurred lines between the artificial and eerily human.
Uncanny opens February 28 and continues through August 10 in Washington, D.C., highlighting painting, sculpture, photography, works on paper, and video made between 1954 and 2022. Learn more and plan your visit on the museum’s website.
Fabiola Jean-Louis, “They’ll Say We Enjoyed It” from the series ‘Rewriting History’ (2017), archival pigment print, 33 x 26 inches. © Fabiola Jean-Louis, courtesy of the artist and Galerie Myrtis
Gillian Wearing, “Sleeping Mask (for Parkett, no. 70)” (2004), wax reinforced with polymer resin, paint, 8 1/4 x 5 5/8 inches. Photo by Lee Stalsworth. Artwork © Gillian Wearing/Artists Rights Society, New York/DACS, London
Julie Roberts, “Sigmund Freud Study” (1998), oil on acrylic ground on cotton duck, 84 x 72 inches. Photo by Lee Stalsworth. Artwork © Julie Roberts/DACS, London
Gillian Wearing, “Me as Mona Lisa” (2020), chromogenic print, 24 1/4 x 19 1/8 inches. © Gillian Wearing, courtesy of the artist, Maureen Paley, London, and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York/Los Angeles
Leonora Carrington, “The Ship of Cranes” (2010), bronze, 26 x 14 x 42 1/2 inches. Photo by Lee Stalsworth. Artwork © Leonora Carrington/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Remedios Varo, “Fenómeno de ingravidez (Phenomenon of Weightlessness)” (1963), oil on canvas, 29 1/2 x 19 5/8 inches. © 2023 Remedios Varo/Artists Rights Society, New York/VEGAP, Madrid
Polly Morgan, “Receiver” (2009), taxidermy quail chicks and Bakelite telephone handset, 9 x 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches. Photo by Lee Stalsworth. Artwork © Polly Morgan
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Embellished Vodou Flags by Myrlande Constant Spotlight ‘The Spiritual World of Haiti’
by Aurelia Butler 28 January 2025, 17:49
“Ceromine Bois Caiman” (date unknown), beads and sequins on fabric, 52 x 82 inches. All images © Myrlande Constant, courtesy of the artist and Fort Gansevoort, New York, shared with permission
Embellished Vodou Flags by Myrlande Constant Spotlight ‘The Spiritual World of Haiti’
January 28, 2025
ArtHistorySocial Issues
Kate Mothes
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When Myrlande Constant (previously) was a teenager, she worked alongside her mother in a commercial wedding dress factory in Port-au-Prince. There, she learned the tambour embroidery technique, which utilizes a hook to create chain stitches with beads and sequins on fabric.
“By foregrounding her specialized skills honed in the fashion industry, Constant’s approach to drapo has broken gender barriers and elevated the overlooked creative labor of Haitian female factory workers to the realm of fine art,” says a statement from Fort Gansevoort, which will present the artist’s work next month in a solo exhibition titled The Spiritual World of Haiti.
“Marasah-Cai Leh-Créole-Marasah-Guinin-Marasah-bois” (date unknown), beads and sequins on fabric, 74 x 55.25 inches
Drapo, or drapo Vodou, typically describes a style of embroidered flag embellished with beads or sequins, but the term can also be applied to a wide range of art forms like painting, clothing, assemblages, and sculptures. Constant’s pieces, which she has been renowned for since the 1990s, highlight a variety of materials, colors, textures, and all-over compositions brimming with ritual activity and symbols.
Haitian Vodou, an African diasporic religion that developed between the 16th and 19th centuries, merged Western and Central African traditions with Roman Catholicism. Its divine creator, Bondye, is inaccessible to humans, so spirits known as lwa‘s serve as intermediaries that can be invoked during ceremonies by possessing individuals, enabling communication with Bondye and transmission of advice, admonishment, or healing.
“Though she considers her art-making to be rooted in spirituality, Constant does not create her works for the purpose of display in Vodou temples, preferring instead to exhibit them in museums and galleries internationally,” a statement says.
For Constant, art-making is a statement of resistance within the context of Haiti’s extreme political and economic instability. The nation’s current unrest was spurred by protests against high fuel prices in 2018 and a demand that then-president Jovenel Moïse resign. He refused to step down but was assassinated in 2021, further escalating tensions. A federation of gangs continues to clash with the government, spawning more protests, violence, and perpetuating an evolving humanitarian crisis.
Detail of “Au nom de 29 points cimetiere par pou voir Baron Samedi”
“Marinette Bois Chèche” is the earliest work that will be on view in the exhibition and depicts the martyrdom of Vodou lwa Marinette. According to folklore, Vodou lwa Marinette was burned alive for fighting against slavery and participating in a paradigm-shifting Bwa Kayiman ceremony in 1791, which spawned the 12-year Haitian Revolution.
The insurrection, an uprising of enslaved people against French colonial rule, is unique in history because it led to the founding of a state ruled by former captives and non-white people and free from slavery—although it still permitted forced labor. Constant’s title translates to something like “Marinette of the dry wood,” evoking the ceremony that typically takes place around a bonfire and calling upon a momentous period in Haiti’s history.
The artist’s drapo are densely beaded and often much larger than their traditional counterparts. The most recent work on view in the exhibition, “Devosyon Makaya” spans ten feet wide and took around three years to create. Constant describes her process as “painting with beads,” transforming fabric and findings into elaborate narratives evoking time-honored Haitian customs.
The Spiritual World of Haiti opens on February 27 and continues through April 26 in New York City.
“Au nom de 29 points cimetiere par pou voir Baron Samedi” (date unknown), beads and sequins on fabric, 58 x 70 inches
“Marinette Bois Chéche” (1994), beads and sequins on fabric, 33 x 37 inches
“Par pou voir torit les saints torit les morts torit armes ou purgatoir bó manman ak bo papa
maternel et paternal en non digr cela mizerricorde” (date unknown), beads, sequins, and tassels on fabric, 76.5 x 96 inches
Detail of “Par pou voir torit les saints torit les morts torit armes ou purgatoir bó manman ak bo papa
maternel et paternal en non digr cela mizerricorde”
Detail of “Ceromine Bois Caiman”
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Turn-of-the-Century Tactile Graphics Illustrate Nature for People Who Are Blind
by Aurelia Butler 23 January 2025, 15:21
Insects and crustaceans. Image licensed from the Perkins School for the Blind Archives
Turn-of-the-Century Tactile Graphics Illustrate Nature for People Who Are Blind
January 23, 2025
ArtHistoryIllustrationNature
Kate Mothes
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In the Alsace-Lorraine region, bordering northeastern France and western Germany, the town of Illzach was once home to an institute for the blind. Martin Kunz (1847-1923) directed the school at the turn of the century and produced a remarkable series of embossed graphics that visually impaired students could use to learn about nature and geography.
Accompanied by braille descriptions, Kunz’s educational aids depict a wide range of plants, animals, and maps. To create each page, he hand-carved two wood pieces that formed a mold, into which he sandwiched paper to produce raised illustrations.
Crocodile chasing a man. Image licensed from Perkins School for the Blind Archives
The material was typically thick, and Kunz soaked it in water before placing it between the blocks so that the natural fibers would soften and stretch into shape. Leaves, fish, herons, crocodiles, crustaceans, and more comprise a wide array of designs that he mass-produced and made available to blind students all over the world.
The library of the Perkins School for the Blind holds a collection of dozens of Kunz’s late-19th and early-20th-century tactile graphics, and you can explore more examples from the collection on the Perkins Library’s Flickr.
Below, learn more about Kunz’s process in a video from the Museum of the American Printing House for the Blind, presented by director Mike Hudson. And keep an eye on the APH’s website for news about The Dot Experience, the organization’s museum expansion set to open in 2026 in Louisville, Kentucky, that applies inclusive design standards and brings disability access to the fore.
Various plants. Image licensed from Perkins School for the Blind Archives
Birds. Image licensed from Perkins School for the Blind Archives
Flying fish. Image licensed from Perkins School for the Blind Archives
Tuna and swordfish. Image licensed from Perkins School for the Blind Archives
Squid. Image licensed from Perkins School for the Blind Archives
Birds. Image licensed from Perkins School for the Blind Archives
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In Saqqara, Archaeologists Uncover the Sumptuous 4,100-Year-Old Tomb of a Royal Physician
by Aurelia Butler 15 January 2025, 15:11
All images courtesy of Mission Archéologique Franco-Suisse de Saqqâra, shared with permission
In Saqqara, Archaeologists Uncover the Sumptuous 4,100-Year-Old Tomb of a Royal Physician
January 15, 2025
ArtHistoryScience
Kate Mothes
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For ancient Egyptians, the afterlife—also called Duat, among other names—was a mystical realm overseen by the god Osiris, who personified rebirth and life after death. But entry to Duat was anything but guaranteed; when a person died, their spirit traveled across vast, challenging terrain and deposited them at the Hall of Final Judgment, where their heart was weighed against a feather from Ma’at, the goddess of justice and truth.
In preparation for the afterlife, royals, dignitaries, and the wealthy elite constructed great tombs. The most elaborate among them were painted with ornamental murals that shared one’s accomplishments, packed with artwork and riches to demonstrate each individual’s status and accompany them to Duat.
Expansive ancient necropolises complemented large cities, where society’s upper crust commissioned tombs, temples, and pyramids. For the capital of Memphis, the final resting place was typically Saqqara, which contains some of Egypt’s oldest monuments, some of which date back to the First Dynasty around 5,000 years ago.
Scholars continue to unfurl millennia-old mysteries as archaeological excavations carry on in Saqqara. And sometimes, as researchers from the Mission Archéologique Franco-Suisse de Saqqâra (MAFS) recently found out, marvelous and unexpected discoveries still emerge from the sand.
During the 2024 season, as the team excavated near a mastaba—a large-scale, rectangular, flat-roofed tomb—they discovered a number of smaller burials, including a “kiln” tomb. Also known as “oven” tombs, these burials are “made of raw bricks that are characterized by their vaulted ceiling,” says a statement from MAFS. “They are built several meters below the ground, and the only way to access them is through the burial shaft, always placed to the north of the entrance.”
Typically, kiln tombs are “fairly simple mud brick monuments, sometimes with limestone walls, and even less often decorations,” MAFS says. Today, they are also often empty as a result of looting throughout the centuries. But instead of a basic, unadorned room, the team found vibrant wall paintings commemorating a doctor who died around 4,000 years ago.
Archaeologists uncovered a stone tablet bearing the doctor’s name, Tetinebefou, near the entrance. A stele is a stone slab featuring text, imagery, or both, and in ancient Egypt, a false door stele represented a portal for the deceased’s spirit pass through into the afterlife. As researchers explored farther, the physician’s name was represented in other locations, confirming it to be his tomb.
As reported in Live Science, Tetinebefou was known as a “dean of the palace physicians,” with inscriptions referring to him also as “conjurer of the goddess Serqet,” who was associated with protection from scorpion stings. He was also prescribed the titles of “director of medicinal plants” and “chief dentist,” both of which are unusual designations in ancient Egypt. It’s unclear which pharaoh he may have served, but MAFS’s lead Egyptologist Philippe Collombert suggests Tetinebefou may have worked under Pepi II, who reigned between approximately 2246 and 2152 B.C.E.
Inside the tomb, relief carvings of urns, furniture, hieroglyphs, and garments are complemented by colorful patterns and richly textured ceiling. At some point in the past, the doctor’s tomb had indeed been looted, and only tiny fragments of objects remained. The decorations, however, mark an exceptional discovery.
A documentary slated for 2026, directed by Frédéric Wilner, will take a deeper dive into the details of this excavation. In the meantime, explore more on the MAFS website.
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‘Doing Is Living’ Highlights Five Decades of Ruth Asawa’s Biomorphic Wire Sculptures
by Aurelia Butler 7 January 2025, 22:07
Installation view, ‘Ruth Asawa: Doing Is Living,’ David Zwirner, Hong Kong, November 19, 2024 to February 22, 2025. All artworks © 2024 Ruth Asawa Lanier, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Images courtesy of David Zwirner, shared with permission
‘Doing Is Living’ Highlights Five Decades of Ruth Asawa’s Biomorphic Wire Sculptures
January 7, 2025
ArtHistory
Kate Mothes
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In the wake of World War II panic and paranoia, the U.S. government feared that Japanese Americans would commit acts of sabotage against the nation. Along with some 120,000 Japanese Americans living in the western part of the country, Ruth Asawa (1926-2013) and her family—separated from their father, who was sent to a camp in New Mexico—were uprooted in 1942 and sent to another internment camp hastily organized at the Santa Anita race track in Arcadia, California. There, Asawa and her siblings lived in two horse stalls for five months.
Since Asawa no longer had to work on the farm, she began to fill her days by drawing. “Among the detainees were animators from the Walt Disney Studios, who taught art in the grandstands of the race track,” says the artist’s estate. “In September, the Asawa family was sent by train to an incarceration camp in Rohwer, Arkansas, where Ruth continued to spend most of her free time painting and drawing.” This creative practice would shape the rest of her life.
“Untitled (S.081, Hanging Four Interlocking Cones)” (c. 1960-1965)
At David Zwirner in Hong Kong, a new exhibition titled Doing Is Living celebrates Asawa’s renowned wire sculptures (previously) and intimate works on paper. The show marks the first solo presentation of her work in Greater China, focusing on the artist’s connection with the natural world.
“I study nature and a lot of these forms come from observing plants,” Asawa said in a 1995 interview. “I really look at nature, and I just do it as I see it. I draw something on paper. And then I am able to take a wire line and go into the air and define the air without stealing it from anyone.”
Asawa began developing her wire sculptures in the 1940s while a student at Black Mountain College. An experimental liberal arts school nestled in the hills of rural North Carolina, the college was a progressive program designed to shape young people into well-rounded individuals who could think critically as they proceeded into society.
The school centered democratic processes, placing the responsibility for education with the students themselves, who often weighed in on admissions and new faculty selections. Students were expected to contribute to everyday operations by working on the farm, cooking in the kitchen, and constructing school buildings and furniture as needed.
Asawa enrolled at BMC in 1946 and spent three years there. “Teachers there were practicing artists,” she said. “There was no separation between studying, performing the daily chores, and relating to many art forms.” She counted painter Josef Albers, inventor Buckminster Fuller, mathematician Max Dehn—and many others—among lifelong influences. “Through them, I came to understand the total commitment required if one must be an artist,” she added.
Installation view
“For Asawa, her time at Black Mountain was so transformative because its culture gave her the right to do anything she wanted to do,” says her estate, adding:
For the first time, she was expected to have an opinion. She encountered teachers who gave her the freedom and responsibility to fail or succeed as only she could, as a unique individual. She lived among strong, creative women—Trude Guermonprez, Anni Albers, and Marguerite Wildenhain, to name a few—who lived as working artists. Black Mountain College gave her the courage to become an artist and the creed by which she would live the rest of her life.
In late 1949, after her time at the college, Asawa moved to San Francisco with Albert Lanier, whom she soon married. In the 1950s, prestigious exhibitions like the Whitney Biennial and a show at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art introduced her work to a growing audience. Asawa was also passionate about education, and she became the driving force behind the creation of the San Francisco School of the Arts.
When she began working with wire, Asawa experimented with relatively conventional basket designs before moving into biomorphic, abstract works that could be strung from the ceiling. She learned a crochet technique in Toluca, Mexico, where she visited Josef Albers in 1947 while he was on sabbatical.
“Untitled (S.210, Hanging Single-Section, Reversible Open-Window Form)” (1959)
Many of her works incorporate nested, membrane-like “form-within-a-form” layers in which elements appear to fold in on themselves or turn inside-out. Asawa later remarked, “What I was excited by was that I could make a shape that was inside and outside at the same time.”
Doing Is Living highlights intricate, ethereal pieces that merge elements of textile and sculpture. Delicate and airy, her compositions “range from elaborate multi-lobed compositions to small spheres and billowing conical forms that require extreme technical dexterity to achieve,” the gallery says. Highlights also include her heavier tied-wire pieces, which she began making in 1962, which showcase branch-like organic forms and biological phenomena.
“After having been gifted a desert plant whose branches split exponentially as they grew, Asawa quickly became frustrated by her attempts to replicate its structure in two dimensions,” the gallery says. “Instead, she utilized industrial wire as a means of mimicking the form through sculpture and, in doing so, studying its shape.” Asawa was fascinated by the permeability of the sculptures and the viewer’s ability to look through them, like seeing the sky between tree branches.
“Relentlessly experimental across a variety of mediums, Asawa moved effortlessly between abstract and figurative registers in both two and three dimensions,” the gallery says. The work in this show spans five decades and exemplifies the range of media and techniques she employed in her career.
Doing Is Living continues through February 22. Learn more about the exhibition on David Zwirner’s website, and dive further into Asawa’s work and biography on her estate’s website.
“Untitled (S.862, Wall-Mounted Tied-Wire, Open-Center, Five-Pointed Star with Five Branches)” (c. 1969)
Installation view
“Untitled (S.524, Hanging Miniature Single Section, Reversible Six Columns of Open Windows)” (c. 1980-1989)
Installation view
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Gertrude Abercrombie’s Autobiographical Surrealism Traverses Dreams and Reality
by Aurelia Butler 6 January 2025, 22:21
“Where or When (Things Past)” (1948), oil on canvas, 21 1/2 x 35 1/2 inches. All images courtesy of the Carnegie Museum of Art and Colby Museum of Art, shared with permission
Gertrude Abercrombie’s Autobiographical Surrealism Traverses Dreams and Reality
January 6, 2025
ArtHistory
Kate Mothes
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“Surrealism is meant for me because I am a pretty realistic person but don’t like all I see,” Gertrude Abercrombie (1909-1977) once said. “So I dream that it is changed. Then I change it to the way I want it.”
Abercrombie’s stark, symbol-rich landscapes and enigmatic portraits painted in oil were influenced by the European Surrealist movement, magical realism, and her own dreams. A leading figure in Chicago art, she was also involved in the city’s jazz scene, counting musical greats like Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and Sarah Vaughan among her friends.
“Queen and Owl in Tree” (1954), oil on masonite, 4 1/2 x 6 inches (unframed)
The artist’s mystical works “suggest a life of wistful introspection and emotional struggle,” says a statement for the forthcoming exhibition Gertrude Abercrombie: The Whole World Is a Mystery at the Carnegie Museum of Art. The show and accompanying catalog present an opportunity for visitors to experience the artist’s highly personal work in significant depth, with access to artworks held in a range of private and public collections all gathered in one place.
Born in Austin, Texas, Abercrombie grew up in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago and spent some time in her father’s hometown of Aledo, Illinois. The small town in the northwestern part of the Midwestern state eventually became a source of inspiration for her atmospheric paintings.
The artist studied the Romance languages at the University of Illinois—Urbana-Champaign and then pursued a course in commercial art at the American Academy of Art in Chicago, where she may also have briefly attended the School of the Art Institute.
In 1932, Abercrombie began her career as a professional artist, which was spurred soon after by the support of the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration (FPA/WPA). The program ran from 1935 to 1943 and provided economic relief to artists and craftspeople during the Great Depression. Along with Abercrombie, a slew of notable artists participated, from Arshile Gorky and Lucile Blanch to Jackson Pollock and Diego Rivera, among many others.
“Demolition Doors” (1964), oil on masonite, Masonite, 20 x 25 1/2 inches (unframed)
The Federal Art Project set up community centers around the U.S., sustaining the careers and livelihoods of around 10,000 artisans who contributed an estimated 400,000 easel paintings, prints, murals, posters, and other works during the program’s eight-year run.
Abercrombie participated in the FAP/WPA from 1935 to 1940. Around this time, she showed her work widely, including in annual exhibitions presented by the Art Institute of Chicago and venues like Katharine Kuh Gallery, one of the city’s first commercial galleries to feature avant-garde work.
Motifs like solitary women, dead trees, forking paths, stark landscapes, doors, cats, towers, and shells recur in her work. Abercrombie remarked that the scenes were always “pretty real,” merging facets of reality and the fantastic. “Only mystery and fantasy have been added,” she said. “All foolishness has been taken out. It becomes my own dream.”
“Split Personality” (1954), oil on masonite, 8 x 10 inches
In “Demolition Doors” (1964), for example, a black feline parks in front of a series of three multi-colored panels occupying most of the frame, behind which sits a gray, mostly empty landscape that could be either indoors or outdoors. Portal-like, the doors represent choices one makes about what direction to take, what threshold to cross. The cat stands sentry, waiting on the viewer’s—and by extension, the artist’s—ultimate decision. “The whole world is a mystery,” she had said.
Abercrombie associated some of her recurring symbols with a witch’s persona—historically an identity connected predominantly to women—which she sometimes embraced in her own fashion choices. She occasionally donned a pointed velvet hat to accentuate her sharp features and tall stature. The female figure, including Abercrombie’s own likeness, is often shown traversing barren terrain, reclining in pensive quietude, or interacting with otherworldly forces.
In an interview with Studs Terkel shortly before her death, Abercrombie said that “it is always myself that I paint.” For example, in “Split Personality” (1954), a woman in a blue dress, standing inside an unadorned room, has been cut in half at the waist. Her torso and head hover over a pitcher, and she reaches out toward her legs, but the shadow on the wall to the left depicts a complete figure—the sum of two parts—as a way of suggesting that looks can be deceiving.
“The Ivory Tower” (1945), oil on masonite, 15 x 19 inches
“With a deft hand, a concise symbolic vocabulary, and a restrained palette, she created potent images that speak to her mercurial nature and her evolving psychology as an artist,” says an exhibition statement.
Later in life, Abercrombie’s artistic output gradually waned as ongoing health issues related to arthritis and alcoholism took a toll. She became more reclusive as she eventually required a wheelchair, before being confined to bed. A major retrospective of her work was held at the Hyde Park Art Center the year she died, and her will established the Gertrude Abercrombie Trust, which distributed her work and pieces by others in her collection to cultural institutions across the Midwest.
Gertrude Abercrombie: The Whole World Is a Mystery opens in Pittsburgh on January 18 and continues through June 1. The exhibition then travels to Colby College Museum of Art in Waterville, Maine, opening on July 12 and running through January 11, 2026. Find more on the Carnegie website.
“Winding Road” (1937), oil on board, 7 7/8 x 10 inches (unframed)
“Letter from Karl” (1940), oil on canvas, 24 x 30 inches
“The Countess Nerona” (c. 1945), oil on masonite, 8 x 10 inches (unframed)
“Self-Portrait Brooch” (1954), oil on board, set in wire mount, 1 x 1 inch overall
“The Church” (1938), oil on canvas, 18 x 24 inches
“Shell and Drape” (1952), oil on canvas, 24 x 36 inches (unframed)
“Charlie Parker’s Favorite Painting” (1946), oil on masonite, 17 15/16 x 21 7/8 x 1 1/8 inches
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Near Liverpool, a One-of-a-Kind Art Environment by Ron Gittins Is Saved
by Aurelia Butler 3 January 2025, 10:00
“The Minotaur Room.” All images courtesy of Historic England, shared with permission
Near Liverpool, a One-of-a-Kind Art Environment by Ron Gittins Is Saved
January 3, 2025
ArtDesignHistory
Kate Mothes
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Behind the unassuming red brick facade of a gable-roofed flat in Birkenhead, England, sits a home like no other. The only clue passersby would have had, until recently, was a pair of hand-sculpted figurative columns that flanked the wooden front door. But to step inside this corner flat near Liverpool is to be transported into the imaginative world of Ron Gittins.
A gifted artist who also dabbled in local acting groups and music, Gittins was a complex character. He took day jobs here and there, but he was much more inclined to work for himself, on his own terms. Anecdotally, he was known for his zest for life and determination to do great things; his sister recounts that he once exclaimed to their brother, “I will not be ignored!” His creativity shone through in every facet of his life, and his home is no exception.
Hallway
In a ground floor rented flat, which he let in 1986, Gittins created monumental hearths in the shapes of a lion, minotaur, and relief-adorned Roman altar. He painted bright murals inspired by ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt, including a central hallway adorned with hieroglyphs. The columns at the front door were reminiscent of palatial stone depictions of pharaohs and deities.
Gittins turned to the era of English romantic portraiture in one room’s Georgian era-inspired murals, which feature framed paintings in a row above an ornate hearth. And in the bathroom, the walls swim with aquatic-themed images.
“Although Ron was extremely proud of his artwork, he generally refused entry to landlords, maintenance staff, and any kind of officialdom in order to protect the fantasy world he had created for himself,” says a statement from Wirral Arts & Culture Community Land Trust, which now owns and manages the property. It adds, “After all, not every property owner would allow their tenant to build an epic concrete lion fireplace in their living room.”
Gittins’ tenancy agreement permitted him to “decorate the interior of the property to his own taste and the external porch in classical style without the prior written consent of the Landlord.” He also had access to the garden, which he was able to landscape at his own expense.
“The Lion Room”
Few people were granted the privilege of seeing Gittins’ creations during his lifetime, as he was protective of his art and preferred to maintain his privacy. He continued to collect unique objects and transform his home into his ultimate fantasy, his self-described “villa.” Then, following his unexpected death in 2019, its fate was suddenly uncertain.
In December 2021, artist Jan Williams—who is also Gittins’ niece—along with Chris Teasdale of The Caravan Gallery, launched a campaign to save the flat. Along with a dedicated team of volunteers comprising family, friends, and experts in arts and heritage, a last-minute purchase at auction was successful in March 2023. Since then, the team has continued caring for the installations and sifting through the artist’s eclectic collection of books, magazines, videos, clothes, furniture, and trinkets.
The Wirral Arts & Culture Community Land Trust continues to catalogue Gittins’ belongings and work to preserve this unique environment for years to come. Learn more and take a virtual tour on the organization’s website.
“The Georgian Room”
Ceiling of “The Georgian Room”
The “Roman Altar” in the kitchen
Bathroom
“The Minotaur Room”
“The Georgian Room”
Exterior of Gittins’ flat in Birkenhead, England
Front door columns
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In Paintings and Quilts, Stephen Towns Spotlights Black Leisure in the Jim Crow South
by Aurelia Butler 2 January 2025, 13:30
“Looking for Lorraine” (2024), natural and
synthetic fabric, polyester and cotton thread, and acrylic and crystal glass beads, 55.5 x 68 inches. All images courtesy of the artist and Rockwell Museum, shared with permission
In Paintings and Quilts, Stephen Towns Spotlights Black Leisure in the Jim Crow South
January 2, 2025
ArtHistorySocial Issues
Kate Mothes
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In central Florida, Ocala National Forest is dotted with more than 600 lakes and rivers. A nearby recreation hub, Silver Springs, has capitalized on the tourism potential of these glistening, clear bodies of water for decades, offering sandy riverside beaches and taking visitors on jaunts in glass-bottom boats.
Until 1968 and the passing of the Civil Rights Act, Silver Springs—similar to many other places in Florida and the South more broadly—was racially segregated and only open to white patrons. In 1949, the owners of Silver Springs opened Paradise Park a mile down the road as a destination “for colored people,” as the welcome sign read, who were prohibited from the other resort.
“Swimming Lessons” (2022), acrylic, oil, and metal leaf on panel, 40 x 40 inches
Paradise Park was one of three beaches in Florida open to Black visitors during this time and also offered sandy beaches, rides in glass-bottom boats, a petting zoo, a dance pavilion with a jukebox, performances, games, and a softball field. It remained in operation until 1969, shortly after desegregation, and became a subject of fascination for photographer Bruce Mozert (1916-2015), who documented happenings at both recreation areas.
For artist Stephen Towns, Mozert’s images and the history of Paradise Park provide the foundation for Private Paradise: A Figurative Exploration of Black Rest and Recreation, now on view at the Rockwell Museum. Through paintings and quilted compositions, the artist explores how certain parks could be places of refuge and leisure for Black Americans during the Jim Crow era.
“Black people had to set up their own spaces in order to find recreation and to find peace,” Towns says in a video accompanying the exhibition. “This show is a way of illuminating that. It gives people a sort of way into history that’s not as scary as it can be in other forms.”
Towns’ paintings portray groups of children swimming, sunbathing, and playing on the sandy shoreline. His fabric compositions are imagined scenes of respite and togetherness, which come across as disarming and candid.
“Motown in Motion” (2024), natural and synthetic fabric, polyester and cotton thread, and acrylic and crystal glass beads, 55.5 x 68 inches
“Motown in Motion,” for example, depicts a group of young people gathered on the beach, and “I Will Follow You My Dear” trails two women swimming underwater—another nod to Mozert’s work as a pioneer in underwater photography.
The figures in Towns’ paintings are more posed, drawn directly from Bruce Mozert’s snapshots, depicting smiling kids at play. Towns often uses reflective materials like metal leaf that emanate light back toward the viewer, reiterating a sense of brightness. “I want people to feel that warm, reflective energy when they see the show,” he says.
Explore more on Towns’ website and Instagram, and if you’re in New York, you can see Private Paradise in Corning through January 19.
“Taking Flight” (2022), acrylic, oil, and metal leaf on panel, 40 x 40 inches
“I Will Follow You My Dear” (2024), natural and synthetic fabric, polyester and cotton thread, and acrylic and crystal glass beads, and shells, 55 x 72 inches
“When We Were Young” (2022), acrylic, oil, and metal leaf on panel, 40 x 40 inches
“A Taste of Lemonade” (2024), natural and synthetic fabric, polyester and cotton thread, crystal glass beads, metal and resin buttons, 55.5 x 68 inches
Photograph of visitors at Paradise Park by Bruce Mozert
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