Why Surrealist Painter Gertrude Abercrombie Feels More Relevant Than Ever
Casey Lesser, Artsy, February 26, 2025
The show, on view through June 1st (before traveling on to the Colby College Museum of Art this July), focuses on 85 paintings and the late American Surrealist’s unconventional life—her vibrant Chicago salons of the 1940s and ’50s; her numerous lovers and queer community; her disinterest in motherhood; and her four prolific decades of painting, in her words, “simple things that are a little strange.”
The teen stood up and approached the 8-by-10-inch painting Untitled (Lady with Cat) (1961), which shows a slender, blindfolded woman in a pink gown. The twist is that her dress and long black hair are pierced to the wall behind her with giant pins, preventing her from gliding towards a blue door and a small black cat. “So dope,” the girl said.
Clearly, Abercrombie’s enduring appeal transcends generations. Across her work from the late 1930s to the early ’70s, Abercrombie masterfully distilled emotion into deceptively simple imagery—from forlorn ladies and mystical figures to crescent moons, doors, cats, seashells, and pink carnations. Rather than merely a visual language to be decoded, the paintings are instinctual responses to her own experiences as well as more universal 20th-century strife—the Great Depression, post–World War II anxieties. Ultimately, Abercrombie’s steadfast commitment to her own enigmatic vision has catapulted her work across time, driving fresh interest nearly five decades since her death.