“Women’s Work” in the 1950s: Nine Branches on a Feminist Tree

In this virtual presentation, art collector Michael T. Ricker provides a closer look at nine female artists whose works, loaned from his personal collection, are on view in the exhibition Art, Music, and Feminism in the 1950s. His presentation explores the various pathways that these artists took while negotiating the challenges of midcentury careers in the visual arts, each driven by a desire to compete and excel on an uneven playing field. From New York to the Florida Gulf Coast and from Texas to California, they set standards and kept pace with a rapidly-evolving art world.

Michael T. Ricker is an independent scholar, dealer, and collector living in North Texas. His areas of expertise include Mexican social realist works of the 19th and 20th centuries and American modernism. He is currently working on a study of the work of Maybelle Richardson Stamper, whose work is included in this exhibition.