Her View: The Bay Area Figuration of Gail Chadell Nanao is the first solo retrospective of the Berkeley-based artist associated with the Bay Area Figurative movement of the 1950s. Nanao’s work blends the spontaneous bravura brushwork of Abstract Expressionism with a reimagining of figuration. Sonoma Valley Museum of Art presents the full range of Nanao’s work, from her dark, existentialist paintings of the early 1960s, such as Birthday Party (1963)—a response to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy—to her dramatic Venus and Adonis series of the early 2000’s, which show her consummate handling of the drip and gesture, informed by a range of influences, from Asian calligraphy to modern masters such Edvard Munch and Francis Bacon.
Curated by Susan Landauer
