Central to Their Lives: Southern Women Artists in the Johnson Collection

The Taubman Museum of Art is proud to be the exclusive Virginia venue for Central to Their Lives: Southern Women Artists in the Johnson Collection, which explores the art, careers, and lives of a variety of women artists working in the American South from the end of the nineteenth century to the early 1960s.

Featuring works by forty-two artists from all the Southern states, the exhibition includes names such as Loïs Mailou Jones, Augusta Savage, Helen Turner, Anne Goldthwaite, and Ida Kohlmeyer, alongside lesser-known practitioners such as Dusti Bongé, Minnie Evans, Hattie Saussy, Dixie Selden, and Catherine Wiley.

Central to Their Lives examines the complex challenges female artists confronted in a traditionally conservative region during a decades-long timeframe when women’s social, cultural, and political roles were being redefined and reinterpreted. The range of artists also encourages an examination of the different obstacles presented by class and race. Whether working from studios, spare rooms in the home, or on the world stage, the artists made significant contributions to the art world while mentoring future generations through teaching, promoting new aesthetics, and challenging the status quo.

Located in Spartanburg, South Carolina, the Johnson Collection contains an extensive survey of artistic activity from the late eighteenth century to the present day, and has been hailed for its work illuminating the history and cultures of the South.