Berry Campbell is pleased to present West Coast Women of Abstract Expressionism. This exhibition highlights a selection of women artists whose work was central to the development of Abstract Expressionism on the West Coast. Working primarily in the San Francisco Bay Area, these artists developed distinct approaches to abstraction grounded in gesture, material exploration, and cross-cultural influence. Featured artists include Ruth Armer, Bernice Bing, Adelie Landis Bischoff, Claire Falkenstein, Sonia Gechtoff, Nancy Genn, Ynez Johnston, Emiko Nakano, Deborah Remington, and Ruth Wall.
This exhibition foregrounds artists associated with institutions such as the California School of Fine Arts (now the San Francisco Art Institute) and the University of California, Berkeley, which offered space for experimentation and, in many cases, greater artistic freedom than was available to women artists in New York at the time. Through painting, sculpture, and works on paper, this exhibition examines the ways these artists engaged abstraction as a site of personal, spiritual, and political inquiry, expanding the narrative of Abstract Expressionism beyond a single geographic and stylistic center. By narrowing its lens, the exhibition offers a deeper engagement with individual practices while underscoring the breadth and complexity of the West Coast avant-garde.
