ARTIS—NAPLES ANNOUNCES SPRING EXHIBITIONS

ARTIS—NAPLES ANNOUNCES SPRING EXHIBITIONS CELEBRATING THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON OF THE BAKER MUSEUM

Blurring Boundaries: The Women of
American Abstract Artists, 1936-Present

March 28-July 25, 2021

Making a Mark: American Women Artists

March 28-July 25, 2021

Marcus Jansen: Two Decades of Relevance

April 24-July 25, 2021

Artis—Naples announced today three exhibitions that will continue the celebration of the 20th anniversary season of The Baker Museum. Blurring Boundaries: The Women of American Abstract Artists, 1936-Present and a companion show, Making a Mark: American Women Artists open on March 28, while Marcus Jansen: Two Decades of Relevance opens on April 24. All three exhibitions will be on view at The Baker Museum through July 25.

Kathleen van Bergen, CEO and President, said “We are thrilled to have already welcomed over 8,000 visitors to The Baker Museum this season, and we look forward to safely welcoming more guests this Spring to experience the new exhibitions, as well as the beauty of our museum and Norris Garden. These exhibitions – including Marcus Jansen’s first solo show in Southwest Florida – demonstrate our continued commitment to safely providing enriching and engaging cultural experiences for our community.”

Courtney McNeil, Museum Director and Chief Curator, The Baker Museum, added “These visually rich exhibitions offer visitors the opportunity to experience vibrant works of art created from the 1920s to the present day that highlight the expressive potential of abstraction and figuration. From women artists of the early 20th century to the present, and to contemporary artist Marcus Jansen, the artists featured at The Baker Museum this spring utilize color, gesture and form to convey meaning to the viewer.”

Blurring Boundaries: The Women of American Abstract Artists, 1936-Present

Rhia Hurt (American, born 1977) Pretty in Peach, 2018

More than eighty years after it was created in order to advocate for abstract art and the inclusion of all abstract artists in museums and galleries, American Abstract Artists (AAA) continues to nurture and support a vibrant community of artists with diverse identities and wide-ranging approaches to abstraction. In celebration of this tradition, Blurring Boundaries: The Women of American Abstract Artists, 1936 – Present traces the extraordinary contributions of the female artists within AAA, from the founders to today’s practicing members. The exhibition is an awe-inspiring celebration of this intergenerational group of artists, highlighting the indelible ways in which the women of AAA have shifted and shaped the frontiers of American abstraction. Included are works by historic members Perle Fine, Esphyr Slobodkina, Irene Rice Pereira, Alice Trumbull Mason and Gertrude Greene, as well as current members including Ce Roser, Irene Rousseau, Judith Murray, Alice Adams, Merrill Wagner and Katinka Mann.

Making a Mark: American Women Artists

Esphyr Slobodkina (Russian-American, 1908-2002 Heart of Time, 1941

This companion exhibition to Blurring Boundaries highlights the significant legacy and continuous contributions of women artists in the development of modern and contemporary art in America. The majority of the works on view are drawn from the museum’s permanent collection, which comprises more than 4,000 works, and they are augmented by works on loan from Naples collectors. Some artists are represented in both Blurring Boundaries and Making a Mark.

Featured artists include Alice Adams, Naomi Boretz, Rosalind Bengelsdorf Browne, Elsie Driggs, Ruth Eckstein, Barbara Ess, Gabriele Evertz, Perle Fine, Helen Frankenthaler, Viola Frey, Helen Gilbert, Nancy Graves, Gertrude Greene, Nancy Grossman, Grace Hartigan, Martha Keller, Jane Marie Logemann, Katinka Mann, Nancy Manter, Dorie Marder, Alice Trumbull Mason, Joan Mitchell, Mary Obering, Georgia O’Keeffe, Betty Bierne Parsons, Christine Taylor Patten, Irene Rice-Pereira, Joanna Webster Price, Raquel Rabinovich, Beatrice Riese, Ce Roser, Irene Victoria Rousseau, Niki de Saint-Phalle, Miriam Schapiro, Esphyr Slobodkina, Thea Tewi, Helen Torr and Charmion Von Wiegand.

Abstraction is the critical visual language that these artists all share, although their styles differ greatly. Some employ nonfigurative abstraction while others straddle the boundary between representation and abstraction in a range of mediums including paintings, drawings, collages, prints, photography and sculpture. Selected works were created between the 1920s and 1990s. Many of them are either on view for the first time or have not been exhibited for nearly a decade.

Marcus Jansen: Two Decades of Relevance

Marcus Jansen, The Colonialist, 2021

For Marcus Jansen, an internationally exhibited artist based in Fort Myers and New York, painting is an act of intense engagement with the world. His art offers critical commentary on global sociological, political and economic issues and visceral responses to the world events that have shaped his life. Visitors are invited to discover Jansen’s creative output, which has garnered numerous national and international accolades, in his first solo museum exhibition in Southwest Florida.

Jansen’s works, which are charged with a sense of empathy and a commitment to justice, are simultaneously emotional, introspective, and intellectual.

Two Decades of Relevance showcases 18 powerful paintings by Jansen, including Foreclosures (2008), Spotlight (2020) and The Colonialist (2021). His expressive paintings, with their timeless, relevant themes and their colorful abstract and figural constructions, fully engage the viewer in critical topics about our world. These works demonstrate the artist’s sustained preoccupations with power structures and their manifestations across different spheres, struggles of the disenfranchised and displaced, urban and rural landscapes, surveillance and technology.

In addition to his studio practice, Jansen is founder of the Marcus Jansen Foundation Fund in Fort Myers, which aims to serve veterans with PTSD and economically disadvantaged children through enhanced cultural awareness of art and music.

Blurring Boundaries: The Women of American Abstract Artists, 1936-Present, is organized by The Clara M. Eagle Gallery, Murray State University, Murray, KY and the Ewing Gallery, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN and is toured by International Arts & Artists, Washington, D.C. Making a Mark: American Women Artists is organized by Artis—Naples, The Baker Museum. Marcus Jansen: Two Decades of Relevance, is organized by Artis—Naples, The Baker Museum.

Related Events
Lecture: Why Women Artists? April 2, 10am, Virtual Event
This spring at The Baker Museum, our new exhibitions Blurring Boundaries: The Women of American Abstract Artists, 1936-Present and Making a Mark: American Women Artists
expand art historical narratives by celebrating the work of women artists from the early 20th century to the present. Join Director of Curatorial Affairs Rangsook Yoon, PhD., for this virtual presentation, which provides an overview of the two shows while also examining the importance of making a space for women-centric narratives in museums. Yoon further offers
her insights into her favorite works in the exhibitions and shares unique perspectives from which works of divergent styles and media on display could be appreciated.

Q&A with Marcus Jansen
April 27, 10am, The Baker Museum Signature Event Space
On the occasion of his first solo museum exhibition in Southwest Florida, join artist Marcus Jansen for a Q&A session exploring topics including his early years as an artist, his sources of
inspiration, and the trajectory of his work over the past two decades. Jansen will be in conversation with Courtney McNeil, Museum Director and Chief Curator, The Baker Museum.
Additional information on the exhibitions, related events, timed-entry tickets and details on our safety protocols including face masks, social distancing and forehead temperature scans is
available at artisnaples.org.