1450 S. Dixie Highway West Palm Beach, FL 33401

Gertrude Abercrombie:
The Whole World Is a Mystery

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.

A woman in a black dress and hat walks down a dirt road holding a pitchfork, with a church in the distance and a barren tree nearby.

Gertrude Abercrombie (American, 1909 – 1977), The Church, 1938

A letter sits on a blue table with a blue tablecloth. Next to it, close to the viewer, sits a single flower on it's side. To the right sits a white vase with 5 of the same flowers sitting in it. On the wall behind is a window, or painting, of a nightscape

Gertrude Abercrombie (American, 1909 – 1977), Letter from Karl, 1940

A figure in a striped black and white blouse and short black hat picks grapes out of a bowl on a table. Behind them is a window with red curtains framing the outside night.

Gertrude Abercrombie (American, 1909 – 1977), Self-Portrait, the Striped Blouse, 1940

Two ladders extend to the ground to the sky. The left ladder heads up to a crescent moon. The right ladder leads to a pale red cloud.

Gertrude Abercrombie (American, 1909 – 1977), Two Ladders, 1947

A woman in a pink dress stands in a room. She holds a thread that connects her to a cat on the left and a cone on the right.

Gertrude Abercrombie (American, 1909 – 1977), Where or When (Things Past), 1948

On the left, an tree shaped like a pitchfork stands. The right branch sports a red flag. To the right of the tree , an egyptian pyramid dominated the image. Above the pyramid the sky appears ripped apart from its usual grey to a pale blue.

Gertrude Abercrombie (American, 1909 – 1977), A Terribly Strange Tree, 1949

Three doors stand erect outside, unconnected from any building or context. the left is green, the middle red, the right white. A black cat sits at the foot of the green door towards the viewer.

Gertrude Abercrombie (American, 1909 – 1977), Demolition Doors, 1964

A log that you would find on a dock is alone, springing out from the sea. A rope is tied around it and leads to the moon, on the upper left portion of the sky. Two pale red mountains sit in the background to the right.

Gertrude Abercrombie (American, 1909 – 1977), Moored to the Moon, 1963

A row of six doors stand side by side outside at night by the sidewalk.

Gertrude Abercrombie (American, 1909 – 1977), Doors, 4 (5 ½), 1957

A green rec;omer sots om a room, a closed door on the right, with a letter partially visible under the door. Above the recliner is an painting of the room, with the same composition, save that the door is open, and a figure stands in that room's painting.

Gertrude Abercrombie (American, 1909 – 1977), A Picture in a Picture in a Picture, 1955

A still life of the listed images sit on a blue table and black background. The ribbon and leaf are pinned to the wall and hang down to the table. Items: leaf, ribbon, domino, dice, shell.

Gertrude Abercrombie (American, 1909 – 1977), Leaf, Ribbon, Domino, Dice, Shell, Pieces of Eight, 1954

Nightscape by the sea. A man in black and white and a mask points at a woman in a pink dress. The woman holds her hands up as if being mugged. In the foreground, a cat sits to the left, watching the viewer. A purse sits on the ground adjacent to the girl.

Gertrude Abercrombie (American, 1909 – 1977), The Courtship, 1949

Gertrude Abercrombie: The Whole World Is a Mystery is co-organized by Carnegie Museum of Art and Colby College Museum of Art, and is curated by Eric Crosby, Henry J. Heinz II Director, Carnegie Museum of Art, and Vice President, Carnegie Museums, and Sarah Humphreville, Lunder Curator of American Art, Colby College Museum of Art, with Cynthia Stucki, assistant curator, Carnegie Museum of Art.

Visionary support for this exhibition at the Norton Museum of Art was provided by Judy and Leonard Lauder.

Presenting support was provided by Anonymous.

Major support was provided by the Mr. and Mrs. Hamish Maxwell Exhibition Endowment and the Priscilla and John Richman Endowment for American Art.

Additional support was provided by Annabelle and Denis P. Coleman, Chris and Anne Flowers, Freeman's, KHR McNeely Foundation, Sandy and George Garfunkel, and Luminary Circle Supporters.

Sponsored in part by the Board of County Commissioners, the Tourist Development Council, and the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County; the State of Florida through the Division of Arts and Culture and the National Endowment for the Arts.

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