Women, Surrealism, and Abstraction

August 25, 2020 - July 9, 2022

Drawn exclusively from the Museum collection, Women, Surrealism, and Abstraction endeavors to look beyond typical art historical boundaries and to begin to lay claim to a more holistic and complex view of art history—one that includes parties left out because of aesthetic biases based on a system of privileged white male patrimony.

During the 20th century, art made by women was often overlooked or dismissed by museums, collectors, and art historians. An ironic side effect of this absence of attention was that it lessened the constraints and dictates of the marketplace for women, allowing for increased experimentation and the pursuit of a personal vision in ways often less available for their male counterparts.

Until more recently, women of color—especially Native American women—have rarely been included in art historical studies focusing on Surrealism and abstraction. In addition, artists who work in ceramics, fiber arts, photography, and printmaking, rather than painting and sculpture, are often left out of these studies as well. However, Surrealism and abstraction offered women a glimpse of a world in which creative activity and liberation from societal expectations co-existed, allowing them to embark on the difficult path to artistic freedom.

Explore the Exhibition

    

You can also see the objects in Women, Surrealism, and Abstraction in our Collections page.

This exhibition and programming have been made possible through the support of the Utah Division of Arts & Museums, with funding from the State of Utah.



This virtual tour is made possible by Engel & Völkers Logan and Johnny Perez. Thank you!

Women, Surrealism, and Abstraction: Poetry Project

Poetry has a long tradition of drawing inspiration from the visual arts. In that spirit—and in the spirit of an exhibition celebrating women’s talent and creativity—we invited women from the local poetry community to choose an artwork from the exhibition and write a poem inspired by it. These Surrealist and abstract artworks provoke us to wonder and see in new ways. The same is true of the poems, which offer glimpses into the poets’ personal responses to the art. In this way, the pairings of words and imagery bring the women in conversation with each other, a dialogue that reaches across art forms and across time.

Thank you to the following poets for participating: Brittney Allen, Shanan Ballam, Terysa Dyer, Taylor Fang, Jordan Forest, Mary Ellen Greenwood, Lauren McKinnon, Jannell Schroder, and Anne Shifrer.

To hear readings of selected poems from the project, click the button below.
 

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