The Kemper Art Museum at Washington University last week debuted its largest-ever exhibition.
“Making Their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection” highlights women artists and artists of color. It is the third stop for the show, which debuted in New York City and then traveled to Berkeley, California.
The exhibition features more than 80 works by nearly 70 artists from the Shah Garg Collection. One standout is a monumental diptych by renowned abstract expressionist Joan Mitchell. Roughly the size of a small bedroom wall, the painting's yellow bursts resemble vibrant sunflowers, complemented by whites, magentas, blues and reds.
“There is a sense of urgency in the strokes, but there’s also a sense of confidence for an artist who’s in her prime and she knows what she’s doing,” said Komal Shah, a former tech executive and philanthropist who co-founded the Shah Garg Foundation with her husband, Gaurav Garg. “I see it as the cornerstone of the collection, because every single artist in the collection looks up to Joan Mitchell, and I think she is just a universally revered artist.”
The diptych was the artist’s last piece before she died of lung cancer in 1992.
Shah emphasized that the collection focuses on abstraction, which allows viewers to concentrate on the art itself rather than the artist’s gender, race or geographic origin. “You bring in your own ideas and emotions into the work and [that] lets you interpret it in many different ways,” she said, adding that the Shah Garg collection is one of the largest collections of abstraction made by contemporary women artists over the last eight decades.
Sabine Eckmann, director and chief curator at the Kemper, highlighted the opportunity for WashU students and the St. Louis community to directly experience Mitchell’s painting. “To have the opportunity to engage with the work and read it anew and maybe also respond to it through drawings, through paintings, is an amazing opportunity,” she said.
On display through Jan. 5, the exhibition also features acclaimed contemporary artists including Mary Weatherford and St. Louis-born Suzanne Jackson.
To hear more from Komal Shah and Sabine Eckmann, listen to St. Louis on the Air on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube or click the play button below.
Related Event
What: “Making Their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection”
When: Sept. 12 to Jan. 5
Where: Kemper Art Museum at Washington University, 1 Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Darrious Varner is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
