Inspired by Katherine Ace’s 9 Portraits as the foundational starting point for the exhibition, Nine Women Artists will feature the work of the artists shown in Ace’s portrait painting. All mature artists in their careers and with a significant presence in the Northwest, their work reveals a diverse expression of artistic styles from representation to abstraction.
There are rich details in the painting. Most notably on the left hangs Henri Fantin-Latour’s A Studio at Les Batignolles, 1870 (Musée d’Orsay). In this painting is a formal gathering of male artists. In response to this painting, Katherine asked her subjects to dress in their studio/work clothes as counterpoint, all marked in their characteristic poses. Other Portland women artists are recognized here through their paintings—a small Sally Haley still life hangs in the background, as well as an Amanda Snyder painting behind Phyllis Yes. And to the far right, we have a glimpse of Lucinda Parker’s very large work. Postcards and newspapers scattered on the floor are the exhibition announcements and reviews highlighting the artists’ works.
An epic portrait featuring nine women artists of the Northwest, Ace responded to the lack of self-portraits by women artists in history. From left, the artists are: Laura Ross-Paul, Katherine’s self-portrait seated with phone, Mary Josephson, Judy Cooke, Phyllis Yes, Sharon Bronzan, Shu-Ju Wang, Lucinda Parker, and Sherrie Wolf. All are women artists who have made long careers in Portland. As Ace notes about these women, “They have tenacity, have lived through sexist decades, told they couldn’t really be artists—only fit for sleeping with the professor, expected to subvert themselves to male artist machismo.”
