Among the essential features of Abstract Expressionism in San Francisco was its lack of patronage—yet there were great advantages to this situation for women. Unlike their counterparts in the East, women artists in San Francisco never had to contend with what Alfonso Ossorio called the “doctrinaire powerhouses” that excluded them, leaving them free to pursue their own artistic inclinations. This presentation will discuss the women who benefited from working in a far less chauvinistic environment—artists like Jay DeFeo and Sonia…