Sneak Peek: Newly Accessioned Women Artists

March 28, 2014

As covered in our August 20, 2013 newsletter, we've been busy processing an extensive collection of artworks donated by Dr. Myron and Anne Jaffe Portenar. It was primarily Anne Jaffe Portenar who made the curatorial choices for this collection, and she included a number of compelling artworks by female artists. In celebration of Women's History Month, here is a sneak peek of a few staff favorites.

Margaret Bourke-White

Margaret Bourke-White, Refugees, Pakistan, 1947, silver gelatin print

Margaret Bourke-White (1904-1971) was an American photographer and photojournalist. She was the first female war correspondent and the first female photographer for Life magazine, and she is famous for her photographs of Gandhi and the India-Pakistan partition violence.

Berenice Abbott

Berenice Abbott, Radio Row, Cortlandt Street, 1931, silver gelatin print

American photographer Berenice Abbott (1898-1991) was commissioned by the Federal Arts Project of the New Deal's Works Progress Administration to take photographs of New York City.

Mary Frank

Mary Frank, Poppy, 1979, monotype

Mary Frank (b.1933) is an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker. Despite her lack of formal training, she has worked successfully with multiple artistic media and has been the subject of several solo exhibitions and retrospectives.

Susan Rothenberg

Susan Rothenberg, Yellow Spinner, 1987-1988, mezzotint

Susan Rothenberg (b. 1945) is a contemporary American painter and printmaker. She is largely known for her paintings of horses and the human figure in motion.

Betye Saar

Betye Saar, Return to Dream Time, 1990, etching

Betye Saar (b. 1926) is an American artist best known for her assemblages. She was a member of the Black Arts Movement of the 1970s and much of her work challenges stereotypes about African Americans.

The Office of the Curator will be presenting an exhibition of selected artworks from the Portenar Collection this summer, in collaboration with the Arthur Ross Gallery. More details will follow in our next newsletter!