Ethel Schwabacher: Woman in Nature: Paintings from the 1950s

Ethel Schwabacher (1903-1984) joins the gallery’s stable of women artists whose ambitious, independent, and insightful art is essential to a complete historical understanding of the ‘downtown’ art scene in the 1950s. Many of the thirteen works have not been on view since they were shown at one of her five solo exhibitions at Betty Parsons Gallery, including the large-scale center piece to the show entitled, Prometheus (1959).  Ethel Schwabacher: Woman in Nature (Paintings from the 1950s) focuses on Schwabacher’s unique brand of abstraction, which is characterized by both automatic drawing and sweeping brushstrokes that swirl across the surface of the canvas and which explores themes of motherhood, landscape, and creativity.

As part of the resurgence of women artists, Ethel Schwabacher was one of the twelve women artists included in the landmark traveling exhibition Women of Abstract Expressionism organized by the Denver Art Museum in 2016.  Concurrently with the Berry Campbell exhibition, Action! Gesture! Paint! is on view at the Whitechapel Gallery in London featuring 91 international women artists, including a major Ethel Schwabacher painting from the 1950s.

Berry Campbell’s exhibition is accompanied by a 26-page catalogue with an essay by Joan M. Marter, Ph.D. entitled “Woman in Nature.” Ethel Schwabacher: Woman in Nature (Paintings from the 1950s) opens with a reception on Thursday, April 20, 2023, 6 – 8 p.m. and continues through May 26, 2023.