Abstraction's Continuum at the Parrish

The current rediscovery of artists well known in their time, but who have faded from memory ever since, never ceases to be invigorating, particularly since so many of them were South Fork neighbors.
   
In national and even international shows of late, these artists are receiving their share of attention, but what is more rewarding than seeing them back in the place where many of them made their work and in the context of what has come after them?
    
Recognizing that, the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill has brought together the works of female artists in the show "Affinities for Abstraction: Women Artists on Eastern Long Island, 1950-2020." Many came from a generation in which wives were expected to subvert their ambitions to help foster their husbands' careers.
    
At the same time, Alicia Longwell, the show's curator, has placed these earlier artists in the company of contemporary artists, women who have had full and illustrious careers with and without husbands and families. That these two groups can now form a continuum says much about the way the art world has come to value the earlier pioneers and equate their contributions to later generations.
    
Rather than simply bring the artists together, Ms. Longwell narrows the scope to works that exemplify similar aesthetics and style. 
    
Although it's tedious to make a laundry list of artists and their dates, it is helpful here to show the range and variety of artists involved in the show, some of whom are still waiting to be discovered by wider audiences: Mary Abbott (1921-2019), Marina Adams (b. 1960), Victoria Barr (b. 1937), Jennifer Bartlett (b. 1941), Lynda Benglis (b. 1941), Nanette Carter (b. 1954), Louisa Chase (1951-2016), Elaine de Kooning (1920-1989), Natalie Edgar (b. 1932), Perle Fine (1908-1988), Audrey Flack (b. 1931), Connie Fox (b. 1925), Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011), Jane Freilicher (1924-2014), Gertrude Greene (1904-1956), Grace Hartigan (1922-2008), Mary Heilmann (b. 1940), Virva Hinnemo (b. 1976), Sheree Hovsepian (b. 1974), Jacqueline Humphries (b. 1960), Michi Itami (b. 1938), Virginia Jaramillo (b. 1939), Gina Knee (1898-1982), Lee Krasner (1908-1984), Agnes Martin (1912-2004), Mercedes Matter (1913-2001), Joan Mitchell (1925-1992), Louise Nevelson (1899-1988), Ruth Nivola (1917-2008), Charlotte Park (1918-2010), Betty Parsons (1900-1982), Howardena Pindell (b. 1943), Dorothea Rockburne (b. 1932), Dorothy Ruddick (1925-2010), Anne Ryan (1889-1954), Sonja Sekula (1918-1963), Amy Sillman (b. 1955), Joan Snyder (b. 1940), Pat Steir (b. 1940), Hedda Sterne (1910-2011), Michelle Stuart (b. 1933), and Sue Williams (b. 1954).
    
Given the range of materials, styles, and sensibilities, there is so much that holds this exhibition together, and some striking parallels between artists from wall to wall and room to room. 
    
Ms. Pindell's paper constructs appear singular at first, but they have much to say to works by Ms. Edgar, Ms. Humphries, Ms. Ruddick, Ms. Stewart, and Ms. Ryan. And in drawing the parallels to the other artists, they in turn join the conversation with Ms. Pindell and one another. 
    
It happens all over the show with, for example, the hard-edged geometry of Ms. Bartlett finding echoes in the work of Ms. Adams, Ms. Heilmann, Ms. Jaramillo, Ms. Martin, Ms. Rockburne, Ms. Sekula, and again Ms. Stewart. 
     
Then there are the works of artists who softened or made their rectangular constructs as part of a more organic overall curvilinear composition -- a bit of yang emerging from the yin. Ms. Chase, Ms. Fine, Ms. Flack, Ms. Fox, Ms. Greene, Ms. Hovsepian, Ms. Itami, Ms. Matter, Ms. Nevelson, Ms. Park, Ms. Parsons, Ms. Stillman, and even to a degree the works included by Ms. Snyder, Ms. Krasner, and Ms. Mitchell fall into this category.
    
The latter two are probably more aligned with the more free-form abstractions of Ms. Frankenthaler, Ms. de Kooning, Ms. Williams, Ms. Benglis, Ms. Carter, Ms. Sterne, Ms. Knee, Ms. Hinnemo, Ms. Hartigan, Ms. Freilicher, Ms. Barr, and Ms. Abbott. None of these artists, however, are easy to place in a niche. This is made obvious when two or more works from one artist are included and each shows a completely different approach to abstraction and overall style. 
    
Robert Longo said in the latest issue of East magazine that he appreciated Ms. Krasner for never having settled for a specific signature image, as most of her male peers did at the height of Abstract Expressionism. "She thought it was stupid to waste your time to do that, that as a woman her life was much too complicated to be associated with one image," he recalled. "I thought that was really kind of cool." From this installation, it's apparent that she wasn't the only one who felt that way.
    
As the curator, Ms. Longwell isn't tied down to time periods or direct comparisons of style. The result is a show that isn't too on the nose or didactic. She lets the artworks make their own cases for themselves on their own terms, whether they were painted last year or decades ago. It makes exploring the show fresh and full of wonderful surprises each and every time it is viewed. 
    
Visitors will have the chance to keep coming back through July 18.