Berry Campbell Presenting the Women of Abstract Expressionism
Booth C6
Co-founded by dealers Christine Berry and Martha Campbell, Berry Campbell has built its program and business model around in-depth archival research and historical scholarship, carving out a reputation as a leading destination for neglected artists of the American postwar era, with a particular emphasis on the women of Abstract Expressionism. Here, the gallery is bringing renewed attention to a group of long-overlooked figures of postwar abstraction, including Alice Baber, Janice Biala, Bernice Bing, Elaine de Kooning, Dorothy Dehner, Judith Godwin, Mercedes Matter, Ethel Schwabacher and Lucia Wilcox. Alongside them is Lynne Drexler, whose market has followed a particularly remarkable upward trajectory in recent years.
Drexler's rediscovery is a telling example of how sustained gallery advocacy and institutional reassessment can reshape an artist's market. She gained considerable attention after Berry Campbell, which represents her estate in the U.S., collaborated with Mnuchin Gallery in 2022 to present a major exhibition of her early abstractions. The momentum continued with White Cube's 2023 announcement that it would represent her archive internationally, followed by solo exhibitions in London and Hong Kong. Her auction market has since posted a series of remarkable results: after Flowered Hundred (1962) sold for $1.38 million at Christie's in 2023, Airlee (1960) achieved $1.56 million at Sotheby's in November 2024. A year later, Keller Fair II (1960) set a new auction record of $2.03 million at Christie's New York against an estimate of $800,000-1.2 million. At Art Basel this June, White Cube reportedly sold an early work for $2.5 million.
— Elisa Carollo, Observer
