Spotlight on Sculpture: Dorothy Dehner and Margaret Ponce Israel

Late-spring – Late-fall 2024
The Colonel L.C. Christensen Sculpture Courtyard at Racine Art Museum

Dorothy Dehner
Demeter’s Harrow, 1994
Corten steel, edition 2/3
32 x 45 x 25 inches
Racine Art Museum, the Karen Johnson Boyd Collection
Photography: Rachel Comande

RAM inaugurates an ongoing series of collection exhibitions in its sculpture courtyard, made possible by recent major gifts from longtime benefactor Karen Johnson Boyd and her daughter, Karen Henrietta “Henni” Keland. Both women were born and raised in Racine and became nationally known for supporting artists by acquiring their work.

This exhibition focuses on one of RAM’s strengths—women artists—by featuring steel and bronze sculpture created by two important New York-based figures who are being rediscovered today. Dorothy Dehner’s abstract pieces employ spare shapes to suggest possible imagery. Margaret Ponce Israel’s paintings and sculptures reflect influences from many aspects of art history, including Etruscan art, Impressionism, twentieth-century modernism, and folk art. Both women are represented at RAM by multiple examples presented by these two donors.

Artists in the Exhibition

Dorothy Dehner and Margaret Ponce Israel