GWA Newsletter December '22 II

Artwork of the week: Grandma Moses, Out for Christmas, 1946

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Dear Great Women Art Lovers,

I hope you are all well in the run up to Christmas!

Final updates of the year from us at GWA HQ. We excitingly released the 100th (!) episode of The Great Women Artists Podcast with none other than the legendary Dame Mary Beard discussing all things classical women. Listen here.

Today, we released the penultimate episode of the season with art historian Tere Arcq on the Mexican Surrealist, Remedios Varo. Find out more about Varo’s hyper-detailed paintings investigating magic and alchemy by listening here.

In the Guardian, we spotlighted Grandma Moses and her snowy landscapes which made her one of the most famous artists in the US in the 40s and 50s! Read here.

And our final exhibition of the year was the annual The Great Women Artists Residency at Palazzo Monti featuring the brilliant Christina Kimeze, Lydia Blakeley and Eliza Hopewell. Catch it whilst ya can. On view until 30 Jan.

A huge thank you to all of you for your brilliant support for all things The Great Women Artists, and The Story of Art without Men (a fantastic Holiday gift, and check out this special edition…!). It’s been quite the year and we cannot wait to be coming straight into your inboxes in the New Year with a revised newsletter that is going to be your ultimate guide to everything women artists. Here’s to 2023!

Have a wonderful Christmas,
Katy xoxo

At Palazzo Monti earlier this month ^^^

Here are your top 5s:

5 Shows in Britain

Beatrix Potter at the V&A
The New Black Vanguard curated by Antwaun Sargent at Saatchi Gallery
New Contemporaries 2022 at South London Gallery
Sin featuring Sarah Lucas and Tracey Emin at York Art Gallery
Zineb Sedira at the De La Warr Pavillion, Sussex

5 Shows Overseas

Jenna Gribbon at Collezione Maramotti, Reggio Emilia, Italy
Nancy Holt at Sprüth Magers, Los Angeles
Nicole Eisenman at Kunstmuseum Den Haag, The Hague
Maria Lassnig at MFA Boston
When We See Us featuring Amy Sherald, Danielle McKinney, Joy Labinjo, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Mmapula Mmakgabo Helen Sebidi, Sungi Mlengeya, Zandile Tshabalala among many others at Zeitz MOCCA, Cape Town

5 Artists Discovered

1 Giulia Andreani - Andreani often paints in a blue-grey newsprint-like palette, compiling archival photographs and bringing attention to an individual’s expression. She is particularly effective at capturing a sense of doubt or unease.
2 Hung Liu - Liu grew up under the Maoist regime and trained in the Social Realist style. She lived in the US from 1984 until her death in 2021, and explored the parallels between migrants captured in Dorothea Lange’s photographs to the journeys made by Americans who came from East Asia. Liu’s current exhibition is on view at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco.
3 Marjolijn de Wit - Through painting, installation and sculpture, de Wit looks at National Geographic magazines from the 70s and 80s to explore the disconnect between modern lifestyles and the untouched, idyllic scenes set in the glossy magazine.
4 Rithika Merchant - Merchant works in Mumbai and her precise works on paper comprised of watercolour and collage elements connect nature with loaded spiritual symbol holding a presence beyond their size.
5 Ruth Ossai - Ossai, starting out photographing her grandmother and cousins, now shoots for the likes of Rihanna. She takes elements from historical studio portrait practice in Nigeria but inserts flashy colours and elaborate fake backgrounds. She is featured in The New Black Vanguard at Saatchi.

5 Things to Read

A conversation with Jordan Casteel and Calida Rawles for Gagosian Quarterly
Käthe Kollwitz: A Survey of Her Works (1888-1942) by Hannelore Fischer
Nancy Spero on Ana Mendieta for Artforum
Precious Adesina on Lynette Yiadom-Boakye for gal-dem
Veronica Ryan wins 2022 Turner Prize!

5 Things to Listen to

Amy Sherald, Ekow Eshun and Jenni Sorkin on The Frieze Masters Podcast
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Freedom of Speech for The Reith Lectures on Radio 4
Florence Pugh on This Cultural Life for Radio 4
Mary Beard and Louisa Buck dicussing The Arts on Our Archive Century for Radio 4
Toyin Ojih Odutola and Erin J. Gilbert in conversation for Nothing Concrete by the Barbican

5 Things to do in London

6-17 December, 11am-7pm: The Drawing Year 2022 Open Studios at SPACE Studios, Hackney
8 December - 8 January, 2:30pm, 3pm and 7:30pm: Dolly Parton's Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol at the Southbank Centre
15 December, 7pm: The Emerging Artist: a soft unwrapping with Young Writer in Residence Yulin Huang and artist Natasha Brown at Whitechapel
16 December, 6pm: Guts 2022 Closing Event in Support of Women's Rights in Iran at Guts Gallery
15, 16, 22, 29 and 30 December, 7pm last entry: Late Opening Carolee Schneemann at the Barbican

This newsletter is brought to you by Katy Hessel + Viva Ruggi

HAPPY NEW YEAR ! ! ! ! !