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Janet Sobel’s abstract paintings were ahead of their time – Houston exhibit introduces her work to a modern audience – Houston Public Media

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Courtesy of Gary Snyder Fine Art, NY

Abstract Expressionist painter Janet Sobel surrounded by some of her works in her Brooklyn apartment, circa 1944.

https://cdn.houstonpublicmedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/17145345/Janet-Sobel-Exhibit.mp3?srcid=rss-feed

Artist Janet Sobel may not be as well known as other Abstract Expressionist painters of her time, such as Jackson Pollock. But she was acclaimed in her time and inspired artists like Pollock with some of her unconventional techniques.

Sobel’s rise to fame in the 1940s art scene was meteoric and relatively short-lived, and many of his works have not been exhibited together since the 1960s—until now, in Houston, thanks in part to the efforts of his grandson, who lives here.

An exhibition entitled Janet Sobel: Everywherewhich is on display at the Menil Collection through August 11, aims to change that.

Janet Sobel's famous 1945 painting, "Milky Way."
Janet Sobel’s famous 1945 painting, “The Milky Way.”

In the audio above, Houston counts Producer Michael Hagerty visits the gallery to view the works on display and learn what made Sobel’s work so revolutionary in its time. We also get to know Sobel’s personality through his grandson, Len Sobel.

And Natalie Dupêcher, assistant curator of modern art at the Menil Collection, explains how Sobel, who fled Ukraine with her family as a child for New York, began painting as a grandmother around 1940, and how her paintings began as more traditional scenes with figures and landscapes — before her work evolved into something very different.

PICTURES:

Len Sobel, a Houstonian whose grandmother was the famous abstract expressionist painter Janet Sobel, examines some of her works on display at the Menil Collection with curator Natalie Dupêcher. (Photo credit: Michael Hagerty/Houston Public Media)

Janet Sobel’s “Milky Way” (right) and other works on display at the Menil Collection in Houston. (Photo credit: Michael Hagerty/Houston Public Media)

Janet Sobel, “Untitled,” circa 1946. (Photo credit: Photo: MoMA/Licensed by SCALA/Art Resource, NY)

Janet Sobel’s painting, “Heavenly Sympathy,” circa 1947. (Photo credit: Edward C. Robinson III)

“The Burning Bush” (1944), an example of one of Janet Sobel’s paintings in which a human face or figure is visible (Photo credit: Photo: Museum Associates/LACMA)

Painting by Janet Sobel, Disappointment (1943). (Photo credit: Courtesy of The Menil Collection)

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