Flying Woman: The Paintings of Katherine Bradford, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME
June 25–September 11, 2022
In summer 2022, the PMA is proud to host Flying Woman: The Paintings of Katherine Bradford, the first solo museum survey of the painter’s work. Bradford’s figures, who often defy society’s expectations of women and all genders, serve as surrogates for a mother, painter, and lesbian coming of age at the turn of the 21st century. The performance of paint on the canvas—her modus operandi—activates her characters who collectively chronicle her life and present universal themes of humanity as they float, swim, dive, and commune in candy-colored cosmos of ethereal abstraction and terrestrial routines of daily life.
Flying Woman highlights Bradford’s ongoing commitment to abstraction, figuration, and color. She is widely applauded for her vibrant palette, eccentric compositions, and her approach to narrative and figurative painting in a wholly personal, unpredictable way. Organized chronologically from 1999 to the present, the exhibition explores her bathers, swimmers, superheroes, friends, and strangers for the very first time.
Consisting of approximately 40 paintings, Flying Woman offers an intimate presentation of the artist’s oeuvre and properly positions Bradford as a key figure within the canon of American painting from the late 20th century. The PMA and Rizzoli are co-publishing a fully illustrated catalogue that will feature scholarly essays by curator Jaime DeSimone and art historian Nancy Princenthal, as well as an artist-curator interview.
Organized by the PMA’s Robert and Elizabeth Nanovic Curator of Contemporary Art, Jaime DeSimone, the exhibition will premiere at the PMA in summer 2022 and then travel to the Frye Art Museum in winter 2023.
Born in 1942, Katherine Bradford is only now receiving due recognition. She unapologetically blazed her own path in the art world, painting daily, and building a community of likeminded artists in both Maine and New York. She is at a pivotal moment in her career, creating some of her most thought-provoking paintings and exploring her biography as an artist, woman, mother, and lesbian. Bradford, who splits her time between New York and Maine, is aware of Maine’s long lineage of nautical painting and builds upon the legacies of Marsden Hartley and John Marin, among others, yet her works transform the genre of marine painting into densely packed, metaphorical realms.
Katherine Bradford (United States, born 1942), Woman Flying, 1999, oil on canvas dropcloth, 84 x 72 inches. Portland Museum of Art, Maine. Museum purchase with support from the Friends of the Collection, 2012.14. © Katherine Bradford
Katherine Bradford (United States, born 1942), Woman in Water, 1999, oil on canvas, 68 x 80 inches. Collection of the artist © Katherine Bradford
Katherine Bradford (United States, born 1942), Two Tables, 2001, oil on canvas, 32 x 28 1⁄2 inches. Farnsworth Art Museum. Museum purchase, 2002.13. © Katherine Bradford
Katherine Bradford (United States, born 1942), Group Swim, 2004, acrylic on canvas, 72 x 60 inches. Private collection © Katherine Bradford
Katherine Bradford (United States, born 1942), Dark Ship, 2006, oil on canvas, 30 x 48 inches. Collection of Harry Hu, Los Angeles © Katherine Bradford. Image courtesy Harry Hu
Katherine Bradford (United States, born 1942), Mother Ship, 2006, oil on canvas, 30 x 24 inches. Collection of William Finn and Arthur Salvador © Katherine Bradford. Image courtesy Stephen Petegorsky Photography
Katherine Bradford (United States, born 1942), Super Flyer, 2013, oil on canvas, 48 x 36 inches. Erica J. Hickey © Katherine Bradford. Image courtesy Wes Magner
Katherine Bradford (United States, born 1942), Superman Responds, Night, 2013, oil on canvas, 48 x 36 inches. Private collection © Katherine Bradford. Image courtesy Julia Featheringill Photography
Katherine Bradford (United States, born 1942), Fear of Waves, 2015, oil on canvas, 84 x 72 inches. Collection of Peggy and Danny Comden, Los Angeles © Katherine Bradford. Image courtesy Jason Mandella
Katherine Bradford (United States, born 1942), Superman Big Circle of the Universe, 2015, oil on canvas, 36 x 36 inches. Collection of Michael Sherman © Katherine Bradford. Image courtesy Silvia Ros Photography
Katherine Bradford (United States, born 1942), Pond Swimmers, 2016, acrylic on canvas, 68 x 80 inches. Private collection. © Katherine Bradford. Photograph by Jason Mandella, courtesy the artist, Canada, and Sperone Westwater, New York
Katherine Bradford (United States, born 1942), Prom Swim, Green, 2016, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 48 inches. Dallas Museum of Art. Dallas Air Fair Foundation Acquisition Fund, 2017.27 © Katherine Bradford. Image courtesy Dallas Museum of Art
Katherine Bradford (United States, born 1942), Fear of Shoes, 2018, acrylic on canvas, 80 x 68 inches. Hall Collection. Courtesy Hall Art Foundation. © Katherine Bradford. Image courtesy Joe DeNardo
Katherine Bradford (United States, born 1942), Green Tie, 2018, acrylic on canvas, 80 x 136 inches. Collection Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, Kansas, Acquired with funds provided by the Barton P. and Mary D. Cohen Art Acquisition Endowment at the JCCC Foundation © Katherine Bradford. Image courtesy EG Schempf
Katherine Bradford (United States, born 1942), Lunch Painting, 2018, acrylic on canvas, 68 x 80 inches. The Collection of Edwin Oostmeijer © Katherine Bradford. Image courtesy Joe DeNardo
Katherine Bradford (United States, born 1942), Water Lady, 2018, acrylic on canvas, 80 x 68 inches. Hort Family Collection © Katherine Bradford. Image courtesy Jason Mandella
Katherine Bradford (United States, born 1942), Yellow Dress, 2018, acrylic on canvas, 84 x 66 inches. Private collection, Miami © Katherine Bradford. Image courtesy Jason Mandella
Katherine Bradford (United States, born 1942), Superheroes, 2020, acrylic on canvas, 68 x 80 inches. Collection of Nancy Mladenoff and J. J. Murphy © Katherine Bradford. Image courtesy Alan Wiener
Katherine Bradford (United States, born 1942), Motherhood, 2021, acrylic on canvas, 80 x 68 inches. Private collection © Katherine Bradford. Image courtesy Joe DeNardo