NEW YORK, NY.- The Ukrainian Museum opened the first solo exhibition of Ukrainian-American artist Janet Sobel’s work, entitled ‘Janet Sobel: Wartime’, which runs from the 27th April - 2nd September 2023.

The exhibition, which focuses on the Second World War, is a showcase of Sobel’s early work, spanning from the time she began painting in 1937 to her inclusion in Peggy Guggenheim’s group show ‘The Women’ in 1945.

Images of American soldiers, European battlefronts and works that channel the artist’s thoughts and fears about distant relatives living through the war in Dnipro, Ukraine, are rich with the folk art motifs of her homeland.

Peter Doroshenko, Director at the The Ukrainian Museum New York, and curator of the exhibition has stated, “Janet Sobel embraced New York City as her new home, but never forgot formative years in Dnipro. The focus on Sobel’s war images is an important issue because of the current Russian invasion in Ukraine.”

Variously labelled a Primitivist, Surrealist, and Abstract Expressionist, Janet Sobel (1893 - 1968) was a Ukrainian-American artist who influenced the New York art world of the 1930s and 1940s. Sobel pioneered the drip painting technique, famously adopted by Jackson Pollock, locating her at the heart of the Abstract Expressionist movement. Born Jennie Olechovska in Katerynoslav, Ukraine, she moved to New York with her mother and siblings in 1908, shortly after her father’s death. At 16 years of age, she married Max Sobel, with whom she had five children.

Sobel took up painting at the age of 44, in 1937. Her son Sol, an art student at the time, recognized his mother’s talent and began to promote her work. Sobel's works exemplify the tendency to fill up every empty space, sometimes interpreted as horror vacui – a fear of vacancy. Her initial works show a flair for a Primitivist figuration reminiscent of early Marc Chagall, and the abundant floral motifs recall Ukrainian folk art.

The works are laden with the images of her childhood: soldiers with cannons and Imperial armies, as well as depictions of traditional, Jewish families. Her main goal was visual intensity, which she attained with unrestricted whirls of colour and texture.

Art collector Peggy Guggenheim included Sobel’s work in a 1945 group show featuring art created by exclusively women artists, including work by a young Louise Bourgeois - called ‘The Women’ at her Manhattan gallery Art of This Century. The following year, Sobel had a solo show at the gallery.

Janet Sobel was not easily categorized by the art world, and the media often referred to her as a mother and housewife first, then as an artist. While she initially received attention for being a self-taught outsider artist, she was just as quickly forgotten by that same token. Sobel eventually moved to New Jersey, away from the New York art world she had influenced, which contributed to her disappearance from the public eye.

‘Janet Sobel: Wartime’ is organised from the private collection of Gary Snyder. A 128 page catalogue will accompany the exhibition, published by Rodovid Press, Kyiv.