Les Pionnières, dans les ateliers de femmes artistes du XXe siècle

We could have spoken about them on March 8,since they are remarkable women. But we shouldn’t limit them to one category, since made art advance in general, regardless of their sex, and pushed abstraction as far as possible, or renewed the use of thread and yarn. These eleven creators showed character, audacity, freedom, and were cosmopolitan in design (Vera Molnar), painting (Geneviève Asse), textile (Sheila Hicks), or sculpture (Marta Pan). Many of them came from far, in particular from Hungary. We have one remark to make, regarding the print, which is very small, and we regret the lack of clear biographical notes. While these women all had long lives, as many are over 90 years old (Geneviève Asse is 95), some of them have already left us, such as Shirley Jaffe in 2016 or Aurélie Nemours in 2005. As the texts – clearly very interesting – are all written in the present and are rather discrete on the last few years, it is difficult to know who is still alive – even though they would all deserve to be. An exhibition has been organized on these eleven pioneers until 7 April at the galerie Pierre-Alain Challier (rue Debelleyme, in Paris).

• Les Pionnières, dans les ateliers de femmes artistes du XXe siècle, texts by Elisabeth Védrenne and Valérie de Maulmin, photos by Catherine Panchout, Somogy, 2018, 200p., €39.