Hopefully, in time, this rich and remarkably varied exhibition will be seen as the impetus for a renewed discussion about her career, one that considers her contemplative yet fallible grappling with so many pertinent issues.

When Monica Sjöö’s canvas God Giving Birth (1968) was installed at St. Ives Town Hall in 1970 it was met with immediate controversy. The challenge to Christian conceptions of God posed by its depiction of a woman of color delivering a child outraged the town mayor, who demanded its removal on grounds of blasphemy.

The forerunner of several of the greatest dissident movements of the twentieth century—from Dada to punk to feminist performance—Freytag-Loringhoven pushed modernism forward while challenging its tenets.