“Hidden Figures: Abstract Expressionist Women Painters in New York and California, 1950s and 60s” Exhibition
David Richard Gallery presents Hidden Figures: Abstract Expressionist Women Painters in New York and California, 1950s and 60s, an exhibition of paintings by Sonia Gechtoff, Nina Tryggvadottir, Beate Wheeler and Anthe Zacharias. This presentation focuses on paintings that were made during seminal periods in each of the artist’s careers as they transitioned from the West coast to the East coast in the US, or in the case of Tryggvadottir, her trans-Atlantic move from Europe back to New York. The gallery represents each of the artists and this will be the inaugural exhibitions with the gallery for Gechtoff, Wheeler and Zacharias and the second exhibition for Tryggvadottir.
Initially, this exhibition was conceived as an online presentation during the holidays. However, after receiving so much interest and numerous requests to view the paintings in person, we are opening the new year with this presentation on the ground floor of our gallery on East 121st Street in New York.
These four women artists developed their signature visual language early in their careers. The sources of inspiration and techniques developed by each artist were distinct, yet similarly rooted in the aesthetic milieu of Abstract Expressionism. Each painted for six decades, with the exception of Tryggvadottir who died young in 1968. Tryggvadottir had a robust thirty-year professional career that was both productive and, like the other women artists, challenging.
Most recently, Gechtoff’s paintings were included in the very important exhibition, Women of Abstract Expressionism at the Denver Museum of Art in 2016 that subsequently traveled to the Mint Museum and the Palm Springs Museum of Art in 2017.
All four women studied under notable and respected artists and scholars; they were peers and enjoyed friendships with other important artists of the time. However, the recognition of their technical, aesthetic and historical significance did not happen contemporaneously. While each remained passionately committed to their painting practice and abstract art, their careers did not fully develop in New York. Zacharias and Wheeler became more reclusive in the 1970s and content to work in their studios, while Gechtoff pushed ahead and tried to remain active in galleries and the local scene.
Wheeler and Zacharias lived and studied in New York and Gechtoff was from Philadelphia. Each made their way to the Bay Area for work and studies, then each retuned to New York in the late 1950s. Tryggvadottir, originally from Iceland, came to the US in 1943, only to be deported in 1949 during the “Red Scare” and then returned to New York in 1959. Thus, each artist had an East / West bi-coastal or trans-Atlantic change in geography during seminal periods in their careers that had a significant impact on their critical recognition and commercial success.
On the cultural and historical fronts, there are several connections between the women. Gechtoff and Wheeler were among the first and life-long residents of Westbeth Artists Housing in the West Village of Manhatttan. Also, Gechtoff and Tryggvadottir both had direct ties to the New York School of artists. In 1954, Gechtoff was included in the exhibition, “Younger American Painters” and her work presented alongside Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, Jackson Pollock and Robert Motherwell at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. Gechtoff was also very close to many of the members of the San Francisco School of Abstract Expressionism who had numerous affiliations with the New York School. Tryggvadottir and her husband Alopley were part of the New York School and close friends with and colleagues of the other founding members.
Associated Artist
Associated Exhibitions
- HIDDEN FIGURES Abstract Expressionist Women Painters in New York and California, 1950s and 1960s Sonia Gechtoff, Nina Tryggvadottir, Beate Wheeler and Anthe Zacharias
January 26, 2019 - February 24, 2019
MORE INFO
Associated News
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January 28, 2024
The sharp, solitary eye of Sonia Gechtoff
Two Coats of Paint
Natasha Sweeten
January 28, 2024 -
January 28, 2024
The New Yorker Goings On -
August 1, 2022
Sonia Gechtoff
Artnet
Sarah Cascone
August 2022 -
August 1, 2022
Sonia Gechtoff
The New Yorker
Johanna Fateman
August 2022 -
July 27, 2022
Sonia Gechtoff Finally Gets Her Due
HyperAllergic
John Yau
July 27, 2022
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December 2, 2021
Getting to Know an Overlooked Pioneer of Bay Area Abstraction
HYPERALLERGIC
John Yau
December 2, 2021 -
October 27, 2021
Sonia Gechtoff
The 1960s In New York: A Series of Transitions
ArtDaily
October 27, 2021
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October 27, 2021
Sonia Gechtoff
The 1960s In New York: A Series of Transitions
GalleriesNow
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October 2, 2021
Nína Tryggvadóttir Museum Founded After Generous Donation
Iceland Review
Ragnar Tómas
October 2, 2021 -
April 26, 2021
Press Release - Sonia Gechtoff: Gesture Meets Hard Edge: Part 1 -
April 26, 2021
Sonia Gechtoff: Gesture Meets Hard Edge: Part I
GalleriesNow
April 26, 2021
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February 16, 2021
Nina Tryggvadottir Abstractions: Construction and Deconstruction
GalleriesNow
February 16, 2021 -
May 19, 2020
Beate Wheeler: The 1970s: Transition to Color Painting -
May 18, 2020
Press Release - Beate Wheeler "The 1970s: Transition to Color Painting" -
October 29, 2019
Anthe Zacharias: Shaken, Not Stirred: 1970s Color Abstraction
GalleriesNow.net
November 29, 2019 -
October 12, 2019
A Forgotten Painter and Her Visionary Abstraction
Hyperallergic
John Yau
October 12, 2019 -
October 1, 2019
Let it Flow
Art & Antiques
October 2019 -
September 24, 2019
Press Release - David Richard Gallery is pleased to present, Shaken, Not Stirred: 1970s Color Abstraction -
September 9, 2019
Paintings from 1988 to 1995 10 Sep?—?5 Oct 2019 at the David Richard Gallery
Wall Street International Magazine
September 9, 2019 -
September 9, 2019
Paintings from 1988 to 1995
Wall Street International Magazine09/09/2019
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September 4, 2019
Sonia Gechtoff: Forces of Nature on the Grand Stage: Paintings from 1988 to 1995
Galleriesnow.net
September 4, 2019 -
August 28, 2019
Press Release - Sonia Gechtoff "Forces of Nature on the Grand Stage: Paintings from 1988 to 1995" -
February 15, 2019
Anthe Zacharias
Wall Street International Magazine, 02/15/2019 -
February 8, 2019
Anthe Zacharias Natural Paintings from 1963 to 1966
GalleriesNow.net, 02/08/2019
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January 27, 2019
Anthe Zacharias: Natural: Paintings from 1963 to 1966
GalleriesNow.net
January 27, 2019
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January 27, 2019
Anthe Zacharias “Natural: Paintings from 1963 to 1966
NY Art Beat, 01/27/2019
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January 11, 2019
Press Release - Anthe Zacharias Natural: Paintings from 1963 to 1966 -
March 14, 2018
Sonia Gechtoff - The End of an Era in the Male-Dominated Abstract Expressionism
Ideelart
March 14, 2018
By Phillip Barcio -
February 9, 2018
Sonia Gechtoff, Acclaimed Abstract Expressionist, Dies at 91
The New York Times
By Neil Genzlinger
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February 9, 2018
SONIA GECHTOFF (1926–2018)
ArtForum
February 9, 2018
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February 8, 2018
Sonia Gechtoff was a key but little-recognized figure in the Abstract Expressionist movement. -
November 30, 2017
Press Release - Abstract Expressionism and Segue into the 1960s, Nina Tryggvadottir: Paintings from 1952 – 1963 -
May 22, 2017
Drawings from the early 1960's by Sonia Gechtoff on view at Anders Wahlstedt Fine Art
ArtDaily.com
Ma7 22, 2017
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June 23, 2016
The Divine Dozen: Sonia Gechtoff’s Star Still Shines Brightly
by Rosemary Carstens -
February 22, 2015
Momentum: An Experiment in the Unexpected
San Jose Art Museum
February 22, 2015
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April 13, 2014
Sonia Gechtoff in Her Studio: Then and Now
Westbeth.org -
March 18, 2013
Kill for Peace: American Artists Against the Vietnam War -
October 17, 2011
Sonia Gechtoff: The Ferus Years
Published on Oct 17, 2011
A collection of Ferus era drawings and paintings at Nyehaus.
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January 20, 2011
The Cool Revival: Sonia Gechtoff in San Francisco
Art In America
By Faye Hirsch
January 20, 2011
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February 12, 1972
Soho Opens Its Gallery for Photos -
January 26, 2019
“Hidden Figures: Abstract Expressionist Women Painters in New York and California, 1950s and 60s” Exhibition -
January 27, 2019
Hidden Figures: Abstract Expressionist Women Painters in New York and California, 1950s and 60s
NY Art Beat, 01/27/2019
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January 8, 2019
Press Release - HIDDEN FIGURES: Abstract Expressionist Women Painters In New York and California, 1950s to 60s -
January 7, 2019
Hidden Figures: Abstract Expressionist Women Painters in New York and California, 1950s and 60s
ArtFixDaily.org, 01/07/2019
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February 8, 2019
Hidden Figures: Abstract Expressionist Women Painters in New York and California, 1950s and 60s
GalleriesNow.net, 02/08/2019