A Feminist Statement of Abstract Expressionism

Louise Fishman, Sven Jesper, Chrysler Museum of Art, November 2019

Louise Fishman (b. 1939) once dreamed of becoming an athlete. The Philadelphia native landed in art school instead and has treated the world with rich, textural paintings for the past five decades. One of those paintings now calls the Chrysler Museum home.

The Chrysler was thrilled to add Fishman’s Sven Jesper (2015) to the collection recently. The large abstract painting perfectly encapsulates the artist’s highly gestural style. Filled with dark blues, grays, and whites, it shows the maker’s mark of large, grided strokes made from a paint scraper. Fishman had created an earlier series of blueish-gray paintings in 2012 inspired by her time with the Emily Harvey Foundation residency in Venice in 2011. The artist walked along the same streets as Titian, one of her favorite historical painters. The blues referenced the color most associated with the Virgin Mary and the reflective colors of the numerous waterways. Her titles further alluded to her time in Italy with names such as Assunta and Calle dei Cinque.

Louise Fishman, Sven Jesper, 2015, Oil on linen

Fishman used the same color palette in Sven Jesper, though the reference was very different. The artist created this work in memory of her brother-in-law Sven Jesper Nyeboe (1943–1989). One could argue Nyeboe has a related story to Fishman in that both dreamed of doing something different than what they became known for. Nyeboe was an art historian who fantasized about being a fashion designer, so he left his academic career behind and moved to New York to work with major fashion houses. When he passed away due to complications from AIDS, Fishman created this piece in his honor.

Ann Cole Phillips (American, 1906 – 1990), Two Forces V, ca. 1964, Oil on canvas

Fishman’s practice is in the mode of Abstract Expressionism, a highly physical and dynamic style usually linked to male artists. It was made famous in the mid-twentieth century by artists such as Jackson Pollock and Hans Hofmann; however, Fishman and other female artists such as Helen Frankenthaler and Ann Cole Phillips worked in that style during the same period and in later generations. And wonderfully, there are examples of all these artists’ works within the Chrysler Museum’s permanent collection.

The artist’s dedication to working in such a visually and physically dynamic style suggests that women artists are just as vibrant in their creations and have been throughout history, despite their imagery traditionally being overlooked and undervalued within the canon of art history. Fishman—a feminist, political activist, and advocate for LGBT rights—lives and works in New York. She moved to the Empire State in 1965 after earning bachelor’s degrees in fine art and education from Tyler School of Fine Arts and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Illinois.

Thanks to the generosity of Tom and Selina Stokes, we can share this important painting with the Chrysler community. The longtime Masterpiece Society members donated the artwork to the Chrysler Museum last year. “We support the Chrysler and believe that some things are so rare, unique, and either so beautiful or interesting that they are important to share,” Tom said.