Helen Torr: navigating the woman's experience in American modernism

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-COLUMBIA AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] In 1971, scholar Linda Nochlin called for a feminist art history that not only sought to recover the work of women artists, but that examines the institutional constructs that have limited them. This essay influenced forthcoming generations to rewrite the art historical canon and reexamine the work of women artists from the medieval period to contemporary times. Although Nochlin's essay and feminist framework has inspired a reevaluation of the art historical discourse, there are still ongoing attempts to incorporate marginalized women artists into the discipline. This thesis is a product of Nochlin's essay that analyzes the sociocultural structures that have limited women artists' professional mobilization. Specifically, this thesis examines the relegation of one female artist in the American modernism canon, Helen Torr. American modernism in twentieth-century New York is the paradigm of women artist's omission from the art world based on systemic bias. At the turn of the twentieth century women recently gained access to male-dominated institutions, including equal formal training. Ultimately, this created a masculinity crisis in the modern art world, and its effects were felt in the construction of the first 'pure' American art form. Photographer and gallery owner, Alfred Stieglitz promoted a 'purely' American art that displayed the fleeting city life and natural landscapes in abstracted forms. However, Stieglitz's construction embraced an exclusive group of artists and a gendered ideology of their work. Modern artists' identities were based on their individual conscious, which was intended to embrace their sex. Establishing this construct marginalized and altogether eclipsed artists who did not strictly conform to this ideal. Torr is one among many women artists working within the modern art world who were relegated to the periphery because of their gender. Despite her success and expansive oeuvre--over two hundred paintings and works on paper--in the modern style, Torr was continually dismissed by Stieglitz, never gaining solo-exhibition status during her lifetime. This research examines the experiences and circumstances Torr faced within the modern art world based on the gendered discourse of twentieth-century American culture. Each chapter of this thesis exclusively focuses on a significant time period--1924, 1927, 1933- 35--within Torr's life. By analyzing Torr's joint diaries with fellow artist and husband, Arthur Dove, and her body of work from the 1920s into the 1930s we have evidence of how one woman artist adroitly navigated the American modern art world. Over the course of the three chapters it becomes apparent that Torr's optimism and confidence witnessed at the beginning of her career (in1924) slowly transitioned into a disenchanted state towards the end (1933-35) as she was continuously relegated based on her identity as a woman.