On This Spot Newsletter November 2025

On This Spot tells the stories of a diverse group of women artists through short-form documentaries. Join us as we put women artists on the map.

Video Spotlight – Lee Bontecou

Photograph by Hans Namuth © 1991 Hans Namuth Estate, Courtesy Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona

Lee Bontecou’s abstract wall reliefs of welded steel and canvas brought her the kind of notice reserved for men in the 1960s art world. In 1960, she was the only woman showing at the Leo Castelli Gallery, a bastion of male pop art stars. Bontecou worked in SoHo in its early days as an art district and became world famous when architect Philip Johnson commissioned a 21-foot-wide piece – including a piece of a WWII bomber – for Lincoln Center.

What's Happening

Events and exhibitions related to Spot artists

Abstract Expressionists: The Women

A touring exhibition organized by the American Federation of the Arts.

Until recently, the historical and critical reception of Abstract Expressionism, has almost uniformly marginalized its women practitioners. Abstract Expressionism has historically been associated with male creativity. The Women upends this gendered narrative, demonstrating that women artists were not merely acolytes or interpreters, but ambitious innovators all their own.

Spot Reads

Further reading on Spot artists

Women of Abstract Expressionism

This groundbreaking book reveals the richness of the careers of these important women artists and offers keen new reflections on their work and the movement as a whole. Yale University Press 2016 (Joan Marter, Gwen F. Chanzit, Robert Hobbs, Ellen G. Landau, Susan Landauer, Irving Sandler)

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