A Void of Voids

James D. Balestrieri, American Fine Art Magazine, July/August 2025

When an artist’s work is elusive, when it doesn’t fit the received wisdom of art history, two things can happen. One, the artist is ignored. I’d love to give you examples, but I can’t. Ignored here means unknown, and unknown comprises the greatest part of the current of the arts that runs through history. I’m not talking about “Anonymous.” Plenty of artworks by Anonymous are part and parcel of the vernacular of human culture. I said “two things can happen.” The second is that the artist was known, and may have even had a career, a reputation, enjoyed fame. In this instance, the artist’s elusiveness isn’t in the life of the artist; it’s in the work. When this is true—and it is true in the truest sense of true when it comes to the art of Gertrude Abercrombie—the artist is rediscovered, time and again, defined and redefined, claimed and reclaimed.