Berry Campbell Gallery and Frampton Co present Women Choose Women, an exhibition of women artists on view August 5 through September 9, 2023 at Exhibition The Barn in Bridgehampton. Spanning the 1950s to today, the exhibition includes art and design works by Lynne Drexler, Elaine de Kooning, Nanette Carter, Elizabeth Osborne, Yvonne Pickering Carter, Lillian Thomas Burwell, Susan Vecsey, Perle Fine, Mary Dill Henry, Jill Nathanson, Charlotte Park, Yvonne Thomas, Carmen D’Apollonio, and Barbora Žilinskaitė.

With a shared vision for supporting women in the fields of art and design, this exhibition is curated by Christine Berry and Martha Campbell, co-founders of Berry Campbell, and Elena Frampton, principal of Frampton Co. Berry Campbell is known for bringing to light artists who were overlooked due to age, race, gender or geography, particularly women of Abstract Expressionism. Frampton Co focuses on contemporary art and design with emphasis on promoting emerging and undiscovered mid-career artists.

“It is our aim to ensure women artists receive more than occasional exposure, and that their work is placed firmly beside their male counterparts,” says Christine Berry. “Having this exhibition in the Hamptons, a historically important artist community, allows us a unique opportunity to share our larger curatorial mission by introducing women artists who are deserving of more attention.”

Women Choose Women takes its name and curatorial theme from the seminal exhibition held at the New York Cultural Center in 1973. As the first large-scale museum exhibition of women artists in New York, also curated by a committee of women artists, the show made an impact both in the art world and beyond. Like its namesake, the 2023 exhibition was organized in an efficacious and cooperative spirit with the belief that advocacy for - and by - women in the arts is as necessary today as it was 50 years ago. The inaugural Women Artists Market Report, recently released by Artsy, found that of all works sold at auction between 2012 and 2022, only 6 percent were by female artists. In a study by Williams College, women only make up 13% of work in the permanent collections of eighteen major US museums. 

“Much progress has been made since 1973, however there is still necessary work to be done to advance women in the arts,” says Elena Frampton. “Not just through conscious and deliberate curation, but also in the spirit that is brought to the process - one of inclusivity, partnership, and sensitivity.”

The exhibition comprises wide-ranging painting, works on paper, sculpture, lighting, and furniture. Highlights include works like Ethel Schwabacher’s Wild Honey, on view to the public for the first time since 1987, as well as a rare work on paper by Elaine de Kooning. A selection of contemporary sculpture and furniture is presented in collaboration with Friedman Benda, including ceramic lighting and sculpture by self-taught artist Carmen D’Apolllonio, and anthropomorphic stools by emerging designer Barbora Žilinskaitė.

Exhibition The Barn, located at 141 Maple Lane in Bridgehampton, is open to the public Thursday - Saturday, 11am - 5pm, as well as by appointment.