Exhibition News: "Women Across America: 1945 to 1979" at Eric Firestone Gallery
Edith Schloss, Pink Zinnias and Wavy Sea, 1969
Eric Firestone Gallery is pleased to present Women Across America: 1945–1979, an exhibition that showcases connections between women across the country in the post-World War II period. This exhibition highlights the rich tradition of abstraction within the period across various mediums. Taking inspiration from William Gerdts’s sprawling Art Across America: Two Centuries of Regional Painting 1710–1920, the three-volume encyclopedia of art in the United States, this exhibition reimagines what an Americanist Art History of the postwar period might look like if told through women’s art. The show traces a transitional time for women within the art world, with figures such as Adaline Kent and Jeanne Reynal who forged their own paths in order to work as artists, painters like Pat Passlof and Helen Frankenthaler who fought for a place within the New York School, and artists who became outspoken in their feminism during the women’s movement like Miriam Schapiro and Nina Yankowitz. This exhibition furthers the gallery’s commitment to reexamining modern and contemporary art histories of the United States, especially championing underrecognized artists.
Women Across America: 1945 to 1979
Eric Firestone Gallery
40 Great Jones Street | New York, NY 10012
May 12 – July 11, 2026
Opening Reception: Tuesday, May 12, 6:00–8:00PM
“Still, some women did not find their place within the various art worlds in the United States and traveled or lived abroad. Edith Schloss (1919–2011), leaving a difficult marriage, fled to Italy in 1962 to find her personal freedom. Janice Biala (1903–2000), a Polish-born immigrant, returned to Europe shortly after the Second World War, and would split her time between New York and Paris for the rest of her life. For artists like Schloss and Biala, Europe allowed for greater freedom during the immediate postwar period.”