Norton Museum of Art to Present Solo Exhibitions by Mimi Plumb and Gertrude Abercrombie

The Norton Museum of Art will present two solo exhibitions that explore the American life and landscape of the 20th century: Blazing Light: Photographs by Mimi Plumb and Gertrude Abercrombie: The Whole World Is a Mystery.

Opening concurrently, the exhibitions create distinct visual languages - Plumb's rooted in the powerful and evolving vision of American life and landscape, and Abercrombie's in introspection, dreams, memory, and imagination. They will go on view on October 31, 2026, and close in March 2027.

By placing Plumb's documentary aesthetic and poetic sensibility in dialogue with Abercrombie's enigmatic, dreamlike paintings, visitors encounter a nuanced and multifaceted exploration of place and identity. The exhibitions underscore the Norton Museum of Art's role as a leading platform for women artists of the 20th and 21st century whose work has been historically underrecognized.

'The exhibitions by Mimi Plumb and Gertrude Abercrombie reflect the Norton's commitment to highlighting women artists who have challenged the way we perceive and understand ourselves and the world around us. They mark the first time these artists have been presented at such a scale in the region, offering a rare opportunity for visitors to engage deeply with their work,' said Ghislain d'Humières, the Norton's Kenneth C. Griffin Director and CEO.

Blazing Light: Photographs by Mimi Plumb

Blazing Light: Photographs by Mimi Plumb is the first solo museum exhibition of the American artist (born 1953) in the United States, bringing together four of Plumb's major bodies of work, The White Sky, Landfall, The Golden City, and The Reservoir, that collectively contemplate the anxieties of American life in the waning years of the Cold War and its aftermath (1971-2025). The exhibition features 107 black-and-white photographs, including vintage gelatin silver prints and more recently produced pigmented inkjet prints.

Plumb began taking photos in the 1970s as a teenager in the San Francisco suburb of Walnut Creek at a time marked by rapid development coupled with global political and economic instability. Her early artistic life was defined by a burgeoning awareness of global warming, the AIDS epidemic, violent conflict in Latin America and the Middle East, and the looming threat of nuclear war. This atmosphere attuned Plumb to the evidence of such forces in the land, the built environment, and the ways people carry themselves and relate to one another - concerns that continue to resonate in her work today.

The artist's work provides a visual record of late-20th-century American life amid political unrest and a rapidly changing landscape. Her photographs focus on people, both friends and strangers, sometimes on the margins of society, capturing a pervasive sense of alienation between people and both the built and natural environments. This blend of documentary rigor and poetic sensibility expands the possibilities of photographic storytelling, positioning Plumb as a vital, if underrecognized, voice in the history of American photography.

'Since the 1970s, Mimi Plumb has been a keen observer of her surroundings, recording the subtle tensions and psychological undercurrents that shape everyday encounters with the landscape and built environment,' said Lauren Richman, Ph.D., William and Sarah Ross Soter Senior Curator of Photography. 'At the Norton, Blazing Light invites viewers into a space where reality feels at once intimate and unfamiliar, shaped as much by our inner states as by the shifting environmental and social pressures of our time.'

The exhibition was organized by Gregory Harris, Keough Family Curator of Photography at the High Museum of Art. At the Norton, the exhibition is curated by Lauren Richman, Ph.D., William and Sarah Ross Soter Senior Curator of Photography. It will be complemented by an exhibition catalogue co-published by Radius Books and the High Museum, including an essay by Richman, among others from partner institutions.

Gertrude Abercrombie: The Whole World Is a Mystery

Gertrude Abercrombie: The Whole World Is a Mystery constitutes the most comprehensive museum presentation to date on the art of American artist Gertrude Abercrombie (1909-1977). With approximately 70 paintings drawn from important institutional and private collections, the exhibition will offer audiences an opportunity to discover Abercrombie's dreamlike visions and highly personal surrealist language in depth and to understand her distinct contribution to 20th-century American art, offering audiences a comprehensive look at her artistic vision.

Throughout her lifetime, Abercrombie battled feelings of isolation despite her relationships with others and seemed to be eternally searching for a sense of home, as reflected in her work. Her life was difficult, and the struggles she faced were transcribed visually in her paintings. From the 1930s until her death in 1977, she produced enigmatic paintings populated with objects and figures of personal significance. Cats, owls, snails, doors, moons, barren trees, seashells, forking paths, and masked figures all converge in her mysterious works, which suggest a life of purposeful introspection and emotional struggle. Drawing consistently on her own dreams as source material, Abercrombie said, "The whole world is a mystery."

'Gertrude Abercrombie lived life by her own rules,' said Regina Palm, Ph.D., Harold and Anne Berkley Smith Senior Curator of Modern Art. 'Her very existence challenged societal norms, often leading to feelings of isolation which she processed and manifested visually in her work. Her paintings are her diary. They are revelatory as they illustrate not only the innermost thoughts and feelings of the artist but also document the happenings of her time from the jazz scene of Chicago to the civil rights movement.'

The exhibition was organized by Eric Crosby, Henry J. Heinz II Director of Carnegie Museum of Art, and Sarah Humphreville, Lunder Curator of American Art at Colby College Museum of Art, with Cynthia Stucki, Curatorial Assistant at Carnegie Museum of Art. At the Norton, the exhibition is curated by Regina Palm, Ph.D., Harold and Anne Berkley Smith Senior Curator of Modern Art. It will be complemented by an exhibition catalogue co-published by Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, Maine, Delmonico Books, D.A.P., New York.

Gertrude Abercrombie: The Whole World Is a Mystery is co-organized by Carnegie Museum of Art and Colby College Museum of Art, and is curated by Eric Crosby, Henry J. Heinz II Director, Carnegie Museum of Art, and Vice President, Carnegie Museums, and Sarah Humphreville, Lunder Curator of American Art, Colby College Museum of Art, with Cynthia Stucki, assistant curator, Carnegie Museum of Art.

Visionary support for this exhibition at the Norton Museum of Art was provided by Judy and Leonard Lauder. Presenting support was provided by Anonymous. Leading support was provided by the William and Sarah Ross Soter Photography Fund. Major support was provided by the Mr. and Mrs. Hamish Maxwell Exhibition Endowment and the Priscilla and John Richman Endowment for American Art. Additional support was provided by Annabelle and Denis P. Coleman, Chris and Anne Flowers, Freeman's, KHR McNeely Foundation, Sandy and George Garfunkel, and Luminary Circle Supporters.

Sponsored in part by the Board of County Commissioners, the Tourist Development Council, and the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County; the State of Florida through the Division of Arts and Culture and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Blazing Light: Photographs by Mimi Plumb is organized by the High Museum of Art, Atlanta.