June 17th, 2010
Cartwright and the Ten in Philadephia
In the history of art, there are moments when things fall together in beautiful ways, where the conjunctions of ideas and people are simply there at the right time and place. It’s sometimes just a matter of connecting the dots. Of course, there has to be someone who’s willing to do the footwork and make the dots connect, and it usually depends on a mutually beneficial support system. That’s not entirely difficult, especially with artists who have had to struggle at least a little bit.
At other times, it’s not necessarily a question of fortuitous moments, but seems driven by a decision to make a moment because there is a need to have something happen. This seems to be the case with The Philadephia Ten , a group of women artists who worked together to promote their works together from 1917-1945. Recent exhibitions have been making the public aware of the group’s work and activities, and making works of their members, like Isabel Branson Cartwright very much in demand once again.
The works themselves are not particularly revolutionary in style, and don’t really break new ground in terms of a high level of experiment, but they’re solid and demonstrate a very consistently high level of skill. What becomes important, then, is the way they organized and exhibited. This is such an exciting idea that it just might bring critics, art lovers, and other young artists to luxury Philadelphia hotels to see what makes this city so terribly interesting.
It doesn’t matter much the time or the place. Safety in numbers is a rule that always works. For artists, then, it can be a means of survival. Because The Ten clearly saw that the odds were very much against them, but if they joined forces, then there might be no stopping them. It caught on, too, over the years they were together. They started with ten painters, and soon involved sculptors, too, and by the time they were at their peak, there were 30 in the 10, and they all recognized the historical moment, because they were also in the process of creating it.
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