Matriarchs of Modernism

“Matriarchs of Modernism” features works from the Yellowstone Art Museum’s collection by four influential Montana artists, part of the museum-wide theme of “Women’s Work” commemorating the centennial of women’s suffrage. A companion exhibition, Modern Connections, highlights a few of the artists who were taught, influenced, or sustained by these early Modernists.

Modernism was a global movement that aligned with the social upheavals brought on by the industrial revolution. Building on late nineteenth-century precedents, artists began reflecting on the realities, hopes, and fears they experienced in the modern world. From the early decades of the twentieth century through the 1960s, Modernist art encompassed a broad range of expressions while sharing a few underlying principles: rejection of traditional illusionistic styles and conservative values, formal experimentation and a tendency toward abstraction, and innovative materials and processes. Modernism was generally optimistic, driven by utopian ideals and a belief in linear progress.

Jessie Wilber, Frances Senska, Gennie DeWeese, and Isabelle Johnson were not the first Montana artists to embrace Modernist art and values, but they were among the most influential. They mentored students and connected other creatives working in the arts, sciences, and humanities to construct an alternative to the nostalgic cowboy culture of mid-Century Montana.

Image courtesy Yellowstone Art Museum