Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona | March 9 – September 8, 2019
New Mexico Museum of Art, New Mexico | October 5, 2019 – January 5, 2020
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York | Dates to be announced
Palm Springs Art Museum, California| Dates to be announced
ABOUT THIS EXHIBIT
Intentionally moving away from the “mainstream” arts community, Pelton eventually settled in Cathedral City, California. She painted conventional desert landscapes to make a living, but it was her abstract studies of earth and light, biomorphic compositions of delicate veils, shimmering stars, and atmospheric horizon lines, that distinguished her work. A believer in numerology, astrology, and faith healing, Pelton’s abstract compositions propelled her into an esoteric world epitomized by the Transcendental Painting Group (1938-1942), a short-lived group that promoted abstract, non-objective art.
IMAGE CREDIT
Agnes Pelton, Day, 1935. Oil on canvas. Collection of Phoenix Art Museum, Gift of The Melody S. Robidoux Foundation.
Although Pelton received some attention during her lifetime, she has been relatively unknown within the field of American Art. Approximately 40–45 works will comprise this exhibition shedding light on Pelton’s artistic contribution to American modernism, while examining her practice against a broader, international framework of spiritual and esoteric abstraction.
Image Credit
Agnes Pelton, Fires in Space, 1938. Oil on canvas. Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY.
Agnes Pelton: Desert Transcendentalist is organized by Phoenix Art Museum. It is made possible through the generosity of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, and SRP.
Image Credit
Agnes Pelton, The Fountains, 1926. Oil on canvas. Collection of Georgia and Michael de Havenon.
Accompanied by a fully illustrated publication edited by the organizing curator of the exhibition, Gilbert Vicario with contributions by Elizabeth Armstrong, Director, Palm Springs Museum of Art; Dr. Michael Zakian, Director, Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art, Pepperdine University; Dr. Susan Aberth, Associate Professor of Art History; Coordinator, Theology, Bard College; and Dr. Erika Doss, Professor, Department of American Studies, University of Notre Dame.
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Image Credit
Agnes Pelton, Messengers, 1932. Oil on canvas. Collection of Phoenix Art Museum, Gift of The Melody S. Robidoux Foundation.
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