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During n those unsettled years post World War I, while artistic experiment thrived, critics found fascination with the pseudonymous contemporary artist Tour Donas. “There is a certain charm in Donas’s art that we are not accustomed to seeing in painters of his school,” wrote one, “a sense of gentle timidity that seems to reveal delicate femininity.” These pieces, in reality, created by Marthe Donas, that is Marthe Donas, from Belgium who adopted a non-gendered alias to succeed in a field largely controlled by males.

Using this identity, she enjoyed a brief but dazzling career, prior to fading from view. Now, her hometown presents a major exhibition positioning her among modernist greats, with Piet Mondrian plus prominent figures. The exhibition, which opens on Saturday at KMSKA, showcases over fifty pieces, including cubist artworks in warm colours, textile-inspired shimmer, plus minimalist forms.

The feeling of abstraction complements elegance,” the curator commented. One finds a true quest for novelty, for advancement … but there is also this incredible thirst, an appetite for classical beauty.”

In contrast to more radical artists, La Section d’Or eschewed rebellion, stated by the curator. A standout piece on display is the work The Dance, which Donas painted during 1918-1919. This piece had been missing, until found in Japan ahead of this exhibition.

Beginnings and Struggles

She came into the world in 1885 to a well-to-do family speaking French in Antwerp. Her grandfather had been a realist painter, yet her parent opposed a career in art; he removed her from training early on after a month.

Later on, she resumed her education, determined to be an artist, after a life-changing accident. She fell off a roof while attempting to see King Albert I, during a royal visit, crashing downward as she descended. Her education were halted by the 1914 invasion. As her relatives escaped to the Netherlands, Donas headed to Ireland, where she enrolled in art school and discovered stained glass creation. After a spell in Paris, transformative for her style, yet exhausted her funds, she moved to the Riviera teaching drawing for a wealthy woman.

Innovation and Alliance

She encountered Archipenko in Nice in 1917. The pair soon clicked. He referred to her as “his top pupil” and advocated for her art. Donas created her shaped paintings, art that avoided conventional shapes for uniquely shaped pictures accentuating their cubist distortions.

While modern shaped paintings are often attributed to a different pioneer, historians contend she pioneered among her peers to develop this innovative approach.

Yet her role remained unrecognized. Then, cubism and abstract art were dominated by men; excessively rational, too logical, for female artists.

Recognition and Legacy

Now, after decades, her work is receiving attention. KMSKA, freshly restored, aims to highlight female artists in its displays. Earlier, only one piece was owned from her oeuvre, rarely exhibited.

The exhibition aligns with a rising effort to rediscover long-neglected female masters, such as pioneers from the past. Parallel events have retrieved from obscurity the works of other pioneers from various movements.

An art historian has spent two decades trying to bring attention to Donas, praising “the elegance, the colours, the originality and the aesthetic” of her creations. A co-curator involved in the project questions the dismissive treatment from her era. She was not “an inexperienced student” during their collaboration, instead an established painter independently.

Later Years and Lasting Influence

The partnership of the two artists had ended by mid-1921. Donas married and moved to the Walloon countryside; he moved overseas. Then Donas dropped off public view for a long period from the late 1920s, after she unexpectedly became a mother in mid-life. Years afterward, Donas played down their relationship, claiming she had only spent “a short time with him”.

The current show uncovers a far deeper innovative drive. It ends with two artworks: a composition by Donas reflecting his sculpture she retained post-separation. The dynamic colors and forms in both pieces are in harmony, although specialists emphasize “she forged her own path, she never copied”.

• This collection Enchanting Modernism is on view closing in January 2026.