Philadelphia’s place in American Modernism, and American Modernism’s place in Philadelphia, are at the heart of two exhibitions at the Woodmere Art Museum this month. “Flirting with Abstraction” is built around a group of paintings that Karen Segal has promised the museum. This gift will almost certainly cement Woodmere’s reputation as the premier repository of regional Modernist abstract painting. the exhibition of 75 works by Philadelphia artists includes many complementary pieces from the permanent collection.
If you’ve ever been smitten with a Philadelphia abstract or Modernist painter, from poetic Warren Rohrer to energetic Doris Staffel to marvelously moody Stuart Shils, chances are there’s an example in this show. its title, “Flirting with Abstraction,” makes it clear that total commitment to abstraction is not required. most of the paintings record an artist’s internal dialogue — so flirtation is a happy description — with pigment, ground, gesture and vision. Painter and art writer Bill Scott contributed an essay to the catalog, “An Artist’s thoughts on Abstraction.” he is acquainted with so many of the artists — including Segal herself — that one can’t help but suspect he was a key figure in organizing the show.
It’s easy to see the truth of Scott’s contention that the apparently effortless felicity of his own paintings is rooted in nature. Representational references in Jane Piper’s white-out edited still-life works and garden paintings are even clearer; and some pieces, like Rose Naftulin’s luscious blue and green Lily Pond, are more Fauve than abstract. Segal’s oil pastels, executed in meandering calligraphic color, are distinctive and infused with immediacy.
A small, resonant translucent-red panel with black splotches reminded me what an accomplished painter Bruce Pollock is. There’s even a work by Ree Morton, who died at the age of 41 just as her career was moving into high gear. she is often associated with the Pop movement, but her Manipulations of the Organic leaf forms fits well here. the absence of two-dimensional collage is a surprise, and despite the show’s subtitled reference to modern and contemporary, no attempt is made to define or categorize movements. But perhaps that’s for the best. Flirting is best enjoyed on an experiential rather than a theoretical level.
The Woodmere’s companion show, “Mary G.L. Hood and Philadelphia Modernism,” is fascinating in the way it illuminates chunks of the 20th century in a particular affluent and artistic New Hope corner of Pennsylvania. Hood (1886-1967) and her daughter, Agnes Hood Miller (1908-1967), might be called semi-professional artists. they worked diligently at painting, each on her own. Mary kept 350 live birds in the basement and designed her own clothing. they studied, hosted artistic events, exhibited briefly and once traveled to Mexico where they visited the house of Diego Rivera and met him for a few moments. Mary Hood’s paintings are often successful. she had a delightful sense of color and feeling for line (as in Untitled, pictured, detail) reminiscent of her teacher, Arthur B. Carles. she spent way too much time (years!) making a needlepoint stair runner documenting the history of her house. This show is fleshed out with a number of related works from the museum’s collection.
The catalog to the Hood show includes a wonderful account of Mary Hood and her house, Springdale, by her granddaughter, Sarah Hood Bodine. For anyone interested in Delaware Valley painting, this and the handsome Segal show catalog would make excellent stocking stuffers.
Flirting with Abstraction: Modern and Contemporary Art of Philadelphia/Mary L.G. Hood and Philadelphia Modernism | through Jan. 8, Woodmere Art Museum, 9201 Germantown Ave., 215-247-0476, woodmereartmuseum.org
