THROUGH 1/5/25: Maud Gatewood Retrospective at BRAHM: A Delicate and Bold Success

Maud Gatewood, Painter

BLOWING ROCK, NC – A substantial, deliberate presentation of 40 artworks by celebrated Yanceyville, North Carolina native Maud Gatewood (1934-2004), The Hard Edge & The Soft Line: A Retrospective of Maud Gatewood at the Blowing Rock Art and History Museum (BRAHM) is a major occasion for our state and the Southeast. Beyond the exhibition’s impact on the field of American 20th century representational painting – the exhibition statement includes the project is a “recuperative exercise” to “rectify that dissonance” whereby Gatewood’s work has been historically neglected outside the region – there is a particular sense of reverence found on the walls as image after image capture subtleties in a manner both delicate and bold. Shown together en masse, Gatewood’s individual paintings speak louder, crooning a special chorus of chords I have only heard sung from the mouth of North Carolina.

The exhibition is divided into four thematic sections: “The Artist and Her Origins,” “Land and Landscape,” “On Postmodern Life,” and “Reflecting the Body and the Self.” These themes are united by a singular “Technical Throughline” which analyzes Gatewood’s methods of paint application and experimentation.

About Dissolution (1996)

Found in the first section, “The Artist and Her Origins,” viewers encounter About Dissolution (1996), a painting I first engaged with in the Weatherspoon Art Museum’s 2021 exhibition Vibrant: Artists Engage with Color. A freak blustery storm drenches the house in white. Wind carves relief lines into the accumulated banks. The white picket fence nearly disappears, seamlessly blended in a monochromatic snow scene where flakes dot the air. Rendered large-scale, snow scores, sweeps, and envelops the picture plane. You’re transported into a moment at Gatewood’s home and caught in her repeated juxtaposition: definitive, even harsh forms with softened, often velvety edges.

Early Morning Early June (1998). Photo credit: Joshua White

This relationship of hard and soft–seen in About Dissolution and throughout Gatewood’s oeuvre–informed the title of this retrospective and is multiplied in size in the six-panel polyptych Early Morning Early June (1988), gifted to BRAHM by GSK (formerly GlaxoSmithKline) this year. The monumental beach scene spanning over 25 feet depicts the early morning light at Wrightsville Beach, NC across unaligned canvases. Rendered in varied textures and values achieved through diverse methods of paint application, the cresting water, shadowed sand lumps, sporadic footprints, and active beach-goers equipped with their characteristically blue chairs and umbrellas astonishingly encapsulates the simultaneity of “be in the moment” and “remember every detail,” an impossible battle.

Skater–Spring (Molly Skating), 1982, acrylic on canvas, On loan from the collection of Christine Burns-Fazzi and Lee Fazzi

Such simultaneity is mirrored within the exhibition itself as viewers do not just track Gatewood’s career but experience her evolution as an artist. I moved from one gallery to the next (and back again a few times), steadfast in my determination to “remember every detail” by accounting for variations in thematic elements, technical skills, and environmental influences, but pulled backwards by the overwhelming need to “be in the moment” and reflect upon Gatewood’s larger story, the legacy within her collective body of work.

One can quite easily assess the artist’s shift from her early abstracted, expressionist compositions–see Three Sisters (1957-58) and Mississippi Cafe (1960) – to meticulously planned representational panels covered in sharp patterns, rich texture, and saturated color that, though flat individually, layer atop one another to craft astounding depth. Without context, I surmise that the question “are these by the same artist?” would not be unexpected. However, it’s the discernable maturation of Gatewood – her introspections on aging and queerness as well as her infusion of social commentary – that produce such notable success in The Hard Edge & The Soft Line. Not forcibly, but subtly through the paintings and skillfully written wall text, you’re confronted with 20th century history in the Southeast, made privy to its effects on Gatewood’s artistic (and general) identity, and encouraged to assess lingering influences here in NC and beyond.

So read the “Technical Throughlines” wall plaques displayed on beautifully intentional ripped edge paper, but during your dive into Gatewood’s evolution of technicality, ask yourself how her persistent experimentation functions as a conduit of deep introspection and pointed observations from a North Carolinian just like yourself.

The Hard Edge & The Soft Line: A Retrospective of Maud Gatewood is on view at the Blowing Rock Art and History Museum through Sunday, January 5. The exhibition is curated by Ian Gabriel Wilson, Curator of Exhibitions & Collections with Bella Sollosi, Curatorial Associate. To accompany the physical exhibition, BRAHM produced a free digital exhibition catalog that expands access to the exhibition and furthers the scholarly discussion of Gatewood’s artwork.

You can access the online exhibition catalog here. October 19 will bring the “Memories of Maud” program – a screening of Facing the White Canvas: Maud Gatewood followed by a reminiscence period of shared stories about Gatewood. Tickets are required; find more information here.