Art Exhibition Celebrates Women Artists and Patrons

New Women Coming to Colorado Springs

Art Exhibition Celebrates Women in Portraits from John Singer Sargent to Cindy Sherman

Colorado Springs has a history of powerful and influential women. It seems fitting then that the wonderful Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center should host an art exhibition that celebrates women, as artists, subjects, and patrons of the arts.

This exhibition, titled “All New Women” is scheduled to open June 11, 2016.

“The title, All New Women, is referring to the “new woman” which was a woman at the turn of the last century, so 19th going into the 20th century, who was an early feminist in many ways,” says Armstrong. “These are women who were advocating for the advancement of higher education for women. They were patrons of the arts, much like the three women who founded the Fine Arts Center.”

The portrait of Elsie Palmer is one of the portraits on display by the famous portrait artist John Singer Sargent. As Elsie was the daughter of Colorado Springs founder, General William Jackson Palmer. This and other Sargent paintings are paired with work by contemporary artist, Cindy Sherman.

Sherman is one of the most important living artists in the United States, and her work has taken photography to new and fascinating places. This exhibition matches Sargent’s paintings with Sherman’s photographs, and together they make curious visual statements about trailblazing women who forged new paths for the next generations.

Sherman’s series of portraits are larger than life for this exhibition. Roughly 7-9 feet tall, her photographs are filled with detail and meaning. Her works have been featured at the Museum of Modern Art in New York among other venerable institutions. She was also the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship.

Another series of portraits of prominent women on display are the works of Sara Ware Howsam, painter and costume designer. Her pieces reflect both those passions, with paint, fabric and even sequins.

Tied together by the theme of women who are or were important, of a certain means, trailblazers, and art patrons. These artists each have their own style, which filled with detail, will provide an interesting contrast to one another.

---

Original article Women of Means by Edie Adlestein can be read on AAA.com

Image credits:

“Elsie Palmer” by John Singer Sargent, courtesy of Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center

“Debutantes Dreaming” © Sara Ware Howsam

Read more about Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center and this art exhibition