Contemporary Abstract Expressionism

Lecture: Women of Abstract Expressionism in Context

Gwen Chanzit, Curator of Modern Art and the Herbert Bayer Collection and Archive, Denver Art Museum

Dean Sobel, Director, Clyfford Still Museum

Celebrate the women who helped forge Abstract Expressionism, the first fully American modern art movement. Speakers will reassess the role of women painters within this movement that has been customarily defined by heroic male painters.

Gwen F. Chanzit, curator of Modern Art and the Herbert Bayer Collection and Archive at the Denver Art Museum, is the curator of Women of Abstract Expressionism. Among her recent exhibitions are Figure to Field, Mark Rothko in the 1940s; Overthrown: Clay Without Limits; and Fracture: Cubism and After. Last year she organized Starring Linda: A Trio of John De Andrea Sculptures; Herbert Bayer: 1938-1974 New York and Aspen Paintings; Joan Miro: Instinct and Imagination; and Gunther Gerzso: Landscapes of the Spirit. Chanzit has written extensively, including From Bauhaus to Aspen: Herbert Bayer and Modernist Design in America, and contributes to future generations of museum professionals as director of museum studies for the University of Denver’s graduate program in art history.

As director of the Clyfford Still Museum, Dean Sobel spearheaded the efforts to create a permanent home for the Clyfford Still Estate, encompassing approximately 3, 200 works of art by Still that were donated to the City of Denver in 2004. From 2000 to 2005, Sobel was Director of the Aspen Art Museum, a non-collecting kunsthalle. During his tenure, Sobel led the institution through its accreditation process and developed museum goals and programs for its 25th anniversary, including an ambitious presentation of site-specific installations presented around Aspen. Prior to this appointment, from 1995–2000, Sobel was Chief Curator at the Milwaukee Art Museum, where he held the joint position of Curator of Contemporary Art.

Sharp Auditorium at the Denver Art Museum
Doors open at 6 p.m. | Pre-lecture exhibition viewing at Denver Art Museum 5:30–6:30 p.m.

$5 DAM and CSM volunteers
$12 artists, DAM members, and CSM members
$15 non-members
Free for members of DAM Contemporaries, Friends of Clyfford Still, and students with a valid student ID

Advance registration required
Co-sponsored by the Clyfford Still Museum and Denver Art Museum. Additional funding is generously provided by the Deborah Remington Charitable Trust for the Visual Arts and the Volunteer Executive Board of the Denver Art Museum.