Modernism in the Pacific Northwest: The Mythic and the Mystical by Patricia Junker

Abstract

 OHQ vol. 116, no. 1 Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies between 2001 and 2007. It is up to editors Susan Gray and Gayle Gullett to show readers how these diverse essays “cohere topically, spatially, and temporally ,” despite the fact that they were chosen “more for their quality than because they address a particular theme related to gender, place, and the American West” (p. 13). Gray and Gullett attempt to supply that coherence with their introductions,and readers will have to decide how successful they were. They wish to add “place” to the analytical categories for understanding the North American West, alongside“gender,sexuality,class,colonialism, and race” (p. 10). But readers might note that six of the ten essays on the North American West are about California, and five of these six focus on either Los Angeles or San Francisco — spatial coherence indeed.Yet place is not to be defined by “physical locations,” the editors explain,but as a“way of understanding”(p.11). They rely on the work of feminist geographers such as Doreen Massey to suggest how place is constituted over time by a congeries of social networks and power relations, ever-shifting and contingent. Of all the contributors to the volume, however, only two seem to have had feminist geography in mind when writing their articles, at least to judge from their citations . And if “place” fails to enlighten readers, the editors have five other common themes to recommend — “racial ethnic diversity, colonization, global capitalism, immigration, and modernity” (p. 13). Rather than seeking to impose an artificial unity on the rest of the volume, Gray and Gullett might well have developed their ideas in a separate chapter. What they and the rest of the contributors have to say is intriguing and significant, and the book could more simply have been entitled, The Best of Frontiers, 2001–2007. Robert L. Dorman Oklahoma City University MODERNISM IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST: THE MYTHIC AND THE MYSTICAL by Patricia Junker Seattle Art Museum and the University of Washington Press, Seattle and London, 2014. Photos, notes, bibliography. 110 pages. $35.00 cloth. The catalog for the June 19–September 7, 2014, Seattle Art Museum (SAM) exhibition of the same name, Modernism in the Pacific Northwest : The Mythic and the Mystical, provides a glimpse into the museum’s collections development history and a detailed discussion of the ascent of the Northwest School into national prominence in the pre and immediately postWWII era. The catalog also demonstrates how an inspired museum leader with the assistance of collectors and gallerists can leverage artists’ reputations while preserving their legacies for generations. Patricia Junker, SAM’s Ann M. Barwick Curator of American Art, divides the book into three chapters —“Artist-Prophets of Their Times,”“Where East Meets West and the Ancient Informs the New,” and “And Women Made Them Famous”— and provides a wellresearched ,intelligent analysis of how a convergence of talent and the amenities of a particular locale enabled production of a unique pictorial style. That style wedded Asian, Native American ,and modern western culture with the blossoming of mid-century modernism. The beautifully written text, numerous color plates, and historical photographs provide a clear picture of that time. The book functions as an engaging refresher for those knowledgeable about this moment in Seattle’s art history and as an entertaining introduction to it for the uninitiated. Its comprehensive endnotes and a significant bibliography are an excellent guide to further study. It is, however, a limited presentation of the time, city (it is decidedly Seattle-centric, not Northwestern), and artists based almost Reviews  entirely on the strengths and limitations of SAM’s permanent collection. Artists Mark Tobey and Morris Graves are heavily represented in the museum’s collection and that representation is reflected by a more in-depth discussion of their lives and studio practice.This focus overshadows a limited presentation of Kenneth Callahan’s oeuvre and a bare mention of Guy Anderson’s life and work, even though the four artists were considered to be the central figures in the Northwest School. Anderson is barely included in the main text and there are only three reproductions of his paintings. He does appear in the...