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This week I decided to showcase some work by a few female artists I discovered in the vault. We have many, but these are some of my personal favorites.

This piece by Adrienne Day became one of my favorites in our collection the moment I saw it. I fell in love with how dream-like it all is. I researched the artist a bit more, and discovered that she works in printmaking, painting, and drawing. Her work often depicts humans, animals, and the natural world. Many pieces composite several subjects in surreal and dreamy compositions.

Twister by Adrienne C. Day

1995

The next artist I’d like to share is Florence Brown Eden. I’ve unfortunately not been able to find much information about her, other than that she also worked in silkscreen and woodcut. This triptych might be my favorite work we have. While these three paintings are beautiful in photographs, they are absolutely breathtaking when viewed in real life. There are so many nuances of color; some delicate, and some exuberant. I also love how the rocks are only semi-abstract, giving them a dream-like quality (a quality that I love in art, if you haven’t figure that out yet…).

Down to the Sea (triptych) A, B, and C by Florence Eden Brown

1993

This next artist is more well known. Her name is Marie Laurencin. She was a French artist working in painting and printmaking. Laurencin was associated with the Parisian avant-garde and the Cubists. She was one of the few female Cubist painters. Her work differed from that of her male peers in that it used more feminine, pastel colors. The subject of her work was usually women and femininity. The piece we have in our collection was done in colored pencils and has very delicate colors and lines.

Untitled by Marie Laurencin

20th century

The final artist I’m sharing is also well known: Colleen Browning. She was described as a magical realist painter. Reality is blurred in her works, which depict realistic subjects with small mystical elements added in. I love this painting because it’s painted quite realistically in terms of shapes and colors, but the proportions are off just enough to make it somewhat unsettling. This gives it a, you guessed it, dream-like quality.

Girl in White by Colleen Browning

1965