59: Mary Gabriel - a podcast by Town Hall Seattle

The world of twentieth-century abstract painting has traditionally been male-dominated—but five women broke from tradition and dared to enter that world and propel a revolution in modern art. To champion their stories, acclaimed author Mary Gabriel spoke at Town Hall, with accounts from her book Ninth Street Women. Gabriel joined us to explore the rich, revealing narratives of these five brilliant female artists—Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler. Gabriel met with local painter Julia Ricketts, whose work can be found in numerous private collections throughout the Pacific Northwest. Ricketts offered an artistic perspective as Gabriel highlighted the impassioned and exhilarating lives of these five movers and shakers of American art and society who challenged the prevailing social code during one of the most turbulent cultural and political periods of modern history. Listen in as Gabriel and Ricketts recounted the remarkable and inspiring stories of five women who shaped not just postwar America but the future of American art.

Mary Gabriel is the author of Love and Capital: Karl and Jenny Marx and the Birth of a Revolution, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award. She is also the author of Notorious Victoria: The Life of Victoria Woodhull, Uncensored, and The Art of Acquiring: A Portrait of Etta and Claribel Cone.

Recorded live at Impact Hub by Town Hall Seattle on Sunday, September 30, 2018.

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