Worth The Drive: The Honoré Sharrer Exhibit at Columbus Museum of Art

<i>A Dangerous Woman: Subversion and Surrealism in the Art of Honoré Sharrer</i> is the first major assessment of the artist’s works since the mid-century.
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Honoré Sharrer was a rebel. A prominent American artist in the years surrounding World War II, she refused to submit to the dominant political, social, and artistic conventions of Cold War-era America.

Reception, 1958, Oil on canvas, 22 1⁄2 x 30 inches; Collection of Adam Zagorin and the late Perez Zagorin

Image courtesy Columbus Museum of Art

While her male contemporaries—including Jackson Pollock—monopolized the art world with their Abstract Expressionism, Sharrer “drew from from popular culture and mass media to invent a complex visual language equal parts wit, seduction, and bite,” says the Columbus Museum of Art.

Mother Goose, 1960, Oil on canvas, 26 1⁄2 x 37 1⁄2 inches; Collection of Adam Zagorin and the late Perez Zagorin

Image courtesy Columbus Museum of Art

Young Man Standing on the Foundation, 1988, Oil on canvas, 20 x 17 inches; Collection of Adam Zagorin and the late Perez Zagorin

Image courtesy Columbus Museum of Art

Before the Divorce, 1976/1999, Oil on canvas, 48 1⁄2 x 72 inches; Collection of Adam Zagorin and the late Perez Zagorin

Image courtesy Columbus Museum of Art

A Dangerous Woman, the first major assessment of Sharrer’s works since the mid-century, will include around 45 paintings. Sharrer’s most famous piece, Tribute to the American Working People, will be on display. The painting is over 6 feet long and 3 feet high and took the artist five years to complete.

Tribute to the American Working People, 1946-51, Oil on composition board38 3⁄4 x 77 1⁄4 (overall) Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation

Image courtesy Columbus Museum of Art

Among the paintings A Dangerous Woman will feature sketches, prints, photographs, and ephemera from Sharrer’s extensive archive.

Feb 10–May 21, Columbus Museum of Art, 480 E Broad St., Columbus, (614) 221-6801, columbusmuseum.org

Side Trip: Fox in the Snow Café
After all that culture, you’re going to need some sustenance. Check out Fox in the Snow Café, a 6-minute drive around the corner from the Columbus Museum of Art. Located in a renovated garage in the Little Italy district, Fox in the Snow Café serves up a wide selection of coffee drinks and above-average snacks like ham and Swiss tarts and brioche sugar doughnuts.

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Fox in the Snow Café, 1031 N 4th St, Columbus, foxinthesnow.com

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