Gertrude Abercrombie: The Whole World Is a Mystery
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Official event information
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Venue: Norton Museum of Art, 1450 S. Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach, FL 33401. The museum is closed Tuesdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. Check the official event page for program-specific admission and schedules.
Event information supplied via the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County.
About this event
Gertrude Abercrombie (American, 1909 – 1977) produced hundreds of paintings imbued with autobiography that revealed her emotional truth and declared it as real. A critical figure in the mid-20th-century Chicago art and jazz scenes, Abercrombie made art to give her internal life visual form. She put herself into her painted world, in self-portraits, landscapes, interior scenes, and still lifes, through the use of personal symbols and enigmatic female figures. She probed her consciousness, mined her memories, drew on her dreams, and found the peculiar in everyday life, painting, as she said, “simple things that are a little strange.”
Abercrombie lived in defiance of her era’s social norms. By blending layers of reality, her paintings similarly question existence as commonly understood and posit alternate dimensions. Though she had a singular vision, her reliance on her inner consciousness and use of a fantastical style connected her to broader developments in American modernism.
This retrospective exhibition, the first nationally touring presentation of Abercrombie’s art, celebrates an artist who has been historically marginalized due to who she was and how she lived and worked. She created a universe that broadens our understanding of American art and identity. Abercrombie observed, “The whole world is a mystery,” a statement that asserts expansive possibilities for liberation and self-discovery through art.
Admission information
Admission: Free for Members; $20, general public; $17, seniors (60+); $5, students (with valid school ID); $10 Art After Dark, adults and seniors, $5, students. Free admission on Saturdays for West Palm Beach residents. Info: (561) 832-5196 or www.norton.org.
Plan your visit
City: West Palm Beach
County: Palm Beach County
Venue: Norton Museum of Art
1450 S. Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach FL 33401
End time was not provided by the source.
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Source: Cultural Council for Palm Beach County. Promotional image supplied with the event listing. Please confirm the latest schedule and admission details with the organizer.