Image: Speed Art Museum, Louisville
‘Abstract Expressionists: The Women’ is entering its final week at the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, where the exhibition closes on August 30, 2026, having opened on May 16. The presentation brings together more than 30 artists associated with Abstract Expressionism, including Helen Frankenthaler, Joan Mitchell, Vivian Springford, Grace Hartigan and Lee Krasner.
The exhibition is organised by the American Federation of Arts, drawn from the Christian Levett Collection and FAMM (Female Artists of the Mougins Museum) in France, and curated by Dr Ellen G. Landau. The Speed Art Museum’s own presentation of the touring show is organised by Tyler Blackwell, its Curator of Contemporary Art.
According to the museum, this is Kentucky’s first exhibition devoted to Abstract Expressionism. Its subject is the women who helped build what the organisers describe as the first truly avant-garde movement born in the United States, across a period running from post-war America through the 1970s. The framing places women artists at the centre of a movement more often narrated through a predominantly male group.
The artists named in the announcement represent several distinct approaches to abstraction. Frankenthaler became closely associated with thinned paint and staining techniques, while Mitchell’s work is known for its forceful, gestural painting. The organisers single out Frankenthaler’s Circus Landscape (1951) and Springford’s Scuba Series (1972–1984/5), and note that the display also includes archival photographs, historical documents and a timeline of women’s artistic achievement.
Works illustrated on the exhibition page include Pat Passlof’s Stove (1959), oil on linen, 77 by 69 inches, credited to The Milton Resnick and Pat Passlof Foundation and courtesy of Eric Firestone Gallery, the Levett Collection and FAMM; Joan Mitchell’s When They Were Gone (1977); Mercedes Matter’s Untitled (1936); Grace Hartigan’s Cedar Bar (1951); and Claire Falkenstein’s Untitled (1946).
Docent-led exhibition tours are listed through the closing weekend, on August 28, 29 and 30, together with a Speed Chat Spot session on August 30; a special exhibition ticket is required. In Louisville the exhibition is shown alongside ‘Abstraction, Continued: Recent Paintings from the Speed Art Museum Collection’. The museum’s newsletter states that the collection travels on once the Louisville presentation closes on August 30, 2026.
