Coming Fall 2025
Rediscovering Margaret Gest (1900-1965): Philadelphia’s Modernist Pioneer
The Frances M. Maguire Art Museum at Saint Joseph’s University is organizing a groundbreaking exhibition on Margaret Ralston Gest (1900-1965), an artist who exhibited with the Philadelphia Ten. The exhibition is scheduled for the fall of 2025, in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the artist’s death.
Gest played an important role in shaping Philadelphia as a center of modernism during the first half of the 20th century. Her individual brand of modernism, informed by direct engagement with European avant-garde styles and her investigation into global religions, gained her significant recognition and acclaim. Her extensive body of work includes landscapes, still lifes, portraits, genre scenes, female nudes, and abstract pieces, reflecting her eclectic artistic interests. Underlying all her works, however, is an emphasis on rich, saturated color, contrasting textures, and patterns of line and form.
Despite her achievements, Gest fell into obscurity after her death in 1965. This exhibition will reestablish Gest’s position as a Philadelphia modernist, draw attention to her exceptional body of work, and elucidate her role within the close-knit network of artists, intellectuals, and professionals that enabled women like Gest to break into and find success in the male-dominated art world. The exhibition also emphasizes Philadelphia’s importance as a center for avant-garde art during this period, revising the traditional narrative that tends to focus on only New York City.
This exhibition will appeal to a diverse audience comprising Saint Joseph’s University students, faculty, and staff, K-12 students and teachers, scholars from various fields, including art history, history, and gender studies, and the broader public. This exhibition is curated by Erin Downey, MA, PhD.