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    Art Review: The Timeliness of ‘Modern Women Masters 1900-1950’ at Keny Galleries

    I don’t expect the folks at the Keny Galleries anticipated Elon Musk’s Twitter fiasco as they planned their current exhibition, Modern Women Masters 1900-1950. Why would they? They’re a mostly unassuming gallery plying their trade (as they have for decades) in the quiet confines of German Village and Twitter is a gloriously incandescent garbage fire. From what I can tell, the proprietors of the Keny Galleries don’t even have a Twitter account. It seems unlikely then that there would exist a relationship between Twitter’s implosion and the Keny Galleries’ current exhibition of women artists from the early 20th-century. So, why the labored lede?

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    Well, it turns out that a wholly refreshing side-effect of Musk’s failure to responsibly run the company he bought has been some lively discourse over the ways society both bestows and lionizes success. It’s the kind of discourse that calls into question who might reap rewards and why. More specifically, Musk’s failure subverts our cherished notions of meritocracy, the belief that success in America is justly earned by the best and the brightest.

    The fact is, success and its inherent rewards are often as not the result of social constructs, power, and privilege and not the natural byproduct of knowledge and skill (see also FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried). Some will bristle at this observation (particularly those inclined to reflexively applaud the wealthy and villainize the poor). Others, of course have known and lived with this reality all along. If you know, sadly, you know.

    So it is that Modern Women Masters 1900-1950 makes a similar point.

    Which is to say, it’s impossible to walk through this exhibition and not reflect on the social and institutional barriers that kept these artists from the same level of fame and notoriety as that of their male contemporaries. These collected works from the nascent decades of American modernism provide proof that true meritocracy would have made the names Imogen Cunningham, Blanche Lazzell and Jane Peterson at least as well-known today as the likes of Man Ray, Stuart Davis and Arthur Dove.

    Berenice Abbott | Consolidated Edison Power House. 666 First Avenue, Manhattan | c. 1938 | Vintage gelatin silver print | 9 3/8 x 6 13/16 inches
    Berenice Abbott | Consolidated Edison Power House. 666 First Avenue, Manhattan | c. 1938 | Vintage gelatin silver print | 9 3/8 x 6 13/16 inches

    Gallerist Tim Keny describes exactly the kind of barriers these artists faced, recounting in the exhibition’s essay that artist Gene Kloss, “…changed her first name Geneva to that of a man to enable her to participate in juried print exhibitions…” And while we might want to believe that we’ve advanced beyond those early 20th-century gender barriers, research from Yale University would beg to differ. It turns out that institutional bias in the art world is alive and well in the 21st-century. In recent comments for Yale Insights, William Goetzmann , co-author of the study Art and Gender: market bias or selection bias, notes succinctly, “The market is fair, but the institutions are not.”

    As a result, the chance to enjoy the subtle etchings and drypoint work of Gene Kloss becomes a rare and welcome treat. So too is the opportunity to see the works of Ethel Mars while learning about her connection with Ohio artists Maud Hunt Squire and Edna Boies Hopkins – both exceptional artists in their own right and both of whom are represented in the exhibition. It’s works like these, and the attendant stories behind them, that add to a deeper understanding of American modernism’s roots, reach and scope.

    That’s perhaps why exhibitions like Modern Women Masters 1900-1950 are so important. In pushing back against known institutional biases, viewers are given the chance to see a part of art’s history that goes beyond the dominant narrative, highlighting artists that were on par with, if not superior to their more renowned male counterparts. Such exhibitions give us a way to reconnect with, and to a certain extent, relearn art’s past. And truth be told, I’m not sure I need to see another photograph by Robert Weston or Ansel Adams, at least not when there is still so much to discover from artists like Alma Lavenson, Dorothy Norman, Berenice Abbott and a host of others.

    Modern Women Masters 1900-1950 is on view at the Keny Galleries through November 25, 2022. For more information, visit kenygalleries.com.

    (Editor’s Note: The show has been extended from its original end date to November 25.)

    All images courtesy Keny Galleries

    Alma Lavenson | Silhouette of a Tank | 1933 | Vintage gelatin silver print: Unique | 2 7⁄8 x 3 7⁄8 inches
    Alma Lavenson | Silhouette of a Tank | 1933 | Vintage gelatin silver print: Unique | 2 7⁄8 x 3 7⁄8 inches
    Edna Boies Hopkins | Zinnias and Sweet William | c. 1914-15 | Color woodcut | 9 x 8 1⁄8 inches
    Edna Boies Hopkins | Zinnias and Sweet William | c. 1914-15 | Color woodcut | 9 x 8 1⁄8 inches

    Gene Kloss | Taos in Winter | 1934 | Drypoint and aquatint | 9 3⁄4 x 13 7⁄8 inches
    Gene Kloss | Taos in Winter | 1934 | Drypoint and aquatint | 9 3⁄4 x 13 7⁄8 inches
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    Jeff Regensburger
    Jeff Regensburger
    Jeff Regensburger is a painter, librarian, and drummer in the rock combo The Christopher Rendition. He received a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts (Painting and Drawing) from The Ohio State University in 1990 and an Master’s Degree in Library Science from Kent State University in 1997. Jeff blogs sporadically (OnSummit.blogspot.com), tweets occasionally (@jeffrey_r), and paints as time allows.
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