Retrospective Hand-Picks Positive Images of Women in Art

The subject is women at Louis Newman Galleries. Genteel society ladies and working women; mothers, daughters, wives, lovers and friends are the center of attention in the handsome show, “In Praise of Women: Images of Leisure and Independence.”

“One of the most important focal points throughout all of art history is women,” said gallery director Louis Newman. “My emphasis is on the positive side of womankind. Some of the imagery focuses onelegance and grace, beauty and character, strength and dignity. Some of it is playful in nature. I try very hard to show different approaches, and a range of viewpoints and imagery.”

The exhibit consists of oil paintings, watercolors and drawings by 32 well-known and respected late 19th- and early 20th-Century American artists. It presents an array of captivating images that reflect the vitality of women from all kinds of backgrounds and economic circumstances.

Winslow Homer is represented by his “Woman With a Black Hat,” a circa 1878 watercolor over pencil on paper. Wearing a pretty country-style frock and the black hat, the woman sits among lush greenery, lost in her own thoughts. James Wells Champney’s more classically drawn pastel on paper, “Woman Seated Holding Lilies” (1902), glows from warm light and rich colors, which give texture to the woman’s yellow-gold gown and her bouquet of white lilies.

Mary Cassatt’s soft pencil on cream paper, “Heads of Two Young Women Looking to the Left” (circa 1896), depicts thoughtful women looking out at something we cannot see. They respond differently to their point of interest--one smiles, while the other appears serious and contemplative. However, from the way Cassatt has positioned them, the picture speaks volumes about the closeness of their friendship.

“Afternoon Tea” by Grace Spaulding John (1920s-30s) illustrates one of the primary themes associated with the leisure class in American art. In this oil on canvas painting, a woman wearing a fashionable dress and matching hat sits on a sofa on a shaded porch. A low table in front of her has been set with a tea service and vase of flowers. Unlike late 19th-Century paintings on the subject, which often portrayed passive women languishing about, this picture shows a woman confidently facing the viewer.

Other early 20th-Century images personify women as ladies of leisure and gentle beauty, confined to their comfortable homes. “Lady in a Kimono” (1924) by Alphaeus P. Cole presents a dreamy picture of an American woman in a kimono gazing at herself in a mirror, fan in hand.

However, during the early years of this century, significant numbers of American women had ventured outside the home, becoming involved in social, political and cultural activities. Several artists represented in this show reflect the changing status and attitudes of these women.

Abraham Walkowitz’s series of pencil, ink and watercolor drawings of dancer Isadora Duncan (circa 1910) present a graceful and strong woman fulfilling her passion to express the essence of life in movement.

Two etchings and a drawing by Isabel Bishop from the 1930s and ‘40s each show two city women engaged in intimate conversation. In Reginald Marsh’s “Walking Woman” (1949), a woman in a form-fitting dress and high heels strides with purpose and authority past a New York City brownstone, ready to meet the challenges of her urban world.

Also included in the exhibit are two of Joyce Treiman’s 1985 portraits of her mother, Rose, in charcoal and pastel on paper, and two works by Ruth Weisberg. Her 1977 “Salle Rotonde,” in ink and pencil on paper, illustrates young women taking a dance class. It brings together nicely the show’s themes of gentility and strength.

THE CHANGING SCENE: The California landscape is perpetually changing, and painters interested in it are often the first to recognize the differences.

“I noticed this coming up more and more with the painters that I work with,” said Terrence Rogers, director of the Tatistcheff Gallery. “They’d go back to paint something, and it would have changed. They’d comment on it in their work without changing their subject.”

In response to this condition, Rogers has organized “ Le Gusta Esta Jardin ?: Development and the California Landscape.” The show presents 19 works by six landscape artists who document in very personal styles the effects of development on our environment and depict some natural scenes that won’t be there for the next generation of painters.

John Iwerks, who lives in Santa Barbara, has researched development plans for the areas he presents in his oil-on-board paintings. “Tecolote Creek at Haskell’s Beach” (1992) is an approved site for a Hyatt Regency hotel. A residential subdivision has been proposed for the location in “Cypress Point at Wilcox Property” (1986). A retail-and-residential project is slated for the site of his “Carpinteria Bluffs” (1992), illustrated here in watercolor on paper.

Hank Pitcher’s colorful plein-air oil-on-canvas paintings of Ortega Ridge and the Santa Barbara coastline show houses popping up among the mountains and crops. A dusky haze hangs over the ocean.

Tom Jenkins’ oil-on-aluminum paintings reflect the more frenzied development in the Malibu area. In the left corner of “Land-escape,” the painter works at an easel, creating a beautifully open vista, while just over the hill, bulldozers and dump trucks are clearing the mountains to add to the homes already there. Beyond the mountains is the ocean, with its tankers and offshore rigs.

Stephanie Sanchez was able to capture in oil a farmhouse in Oxnard that she had admired on drives between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara. It has been torn down since 1990, when she painted it.

Adam Schnitzer’s “Sand Hill Road Interchange II” suggests that there is some beauty in man’s concrete-and-asphalt contributions to our environment. However, James Murray’s exquisite charcoal-on-paper drawings of belching smokestacks by the coast and his eerie view of the Century Freeway convey a much more ominous tone.

DOCUMENTING AMERICA: During the Depression, several fine photographers documented the people and landscape of rural America for the federal government’s Farm Security Administration (FSA). Among them were Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans, who are renowned today for their poignant images of the rural poor.

Less well-known until recently is Marion Post Wolcott (1910-90), one of the few women newspaper photographers of the 1930s, who went to work for the FSA from 1938 to 1941. Three years ago, University of New Mexico Press published F. Jack Hurley’s book, “Marion Post Wolcott: A Photographic Journey.” In May of this year, “Looking for the Light,” a biography of Wolcott by Paul Hendrickson, was released.

On view at the Paul Kopeikin Gallery are 30 black-and-white photographs by Wolcott illustrating her sharply focused vision of rural America. Wolcott was, she said, “committed to changing the attitudes of people by familiarizing America with the plight of the underprivileged.”

“Wolcott was a young woman traveling alone in the Deep South, taking these incredible pictures,” gallery director Paul Kopeikin said.

She captured segregation in a 1939 image of a black man by showing an outside stairway of a movie theater marked as the “colored” entrance. Ironically, the man is seen in silhouette, casting his shadow on the illuminated brick wall. In contrast, a black couple are all joy and smiles as she photographed them jitterbugging in a Mississippi juke joint.

Several of the photographs also document the lives of migrant workers and the wives and children of West Virginia coal miners. But some of Wolcott’s subjects are more fortunate. Winter visitors to Sarasota, Fla., sit on the running board of their car, enjoying a picnic on the beach. An elderly gentleman smoking a pipe and reading Life magazine relaxes in a trailer park.

Wolcott also shot striking landscapes. “Wigwam Motel” displays a row of wigwams popping up just off the road, and the hostelry owner’s neon sign imploring travelers to “eat and sleep in a wigwam.” “Train on Horizon” depicts the beauty of wide-open spaces and conjures up nostalgic feelings for the glory days of train travel.

Three of the works in the exhibit are vintage prints; one of these photographs, “Boy in Wagon,” was shot in 1933, before her FSA work. Wolcott made all her other prints during the 1970s and ‘80s. There are at least a dozen more images in Kopeikin’s back room.