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During Amid the unsettled years following World War I, when artistic innovation thrived, critics were intrigued by the ambiguously titled avant-garde artist Tour Donas. “There is a certain charm in Tour Donas’s work that we are not accustomed to his contemporaries,” wrote one, “a sense of gentle timidity suggesting a woman’s touch.” The art, was in fact, created by Marthe Donas, namely Donas herself, an Antwerp native who adopted a gender-neutral name to succeed in a field largely controlled by males.

As Tour Donas, the artist enjoyed a brief but dazzling career, prior to fading from view. Today, Antwerp presents an extensive show positioning her alongside modernist masters, together with Piet Mondrian plus renowned creators. The exhibition, which opens on Saturday at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts (KMSKA), features numerous creations, ranging from cubist compositions in warm colours, glimmering fabric motifs, to flatter abstract pieces.

Abstract expression goes hand in hand with refinement,” an expert commented. “There is a true quest for novelty, for innovation … but there is also an immense desire, an appetite for timeless grace.”

Unlike provocative modernists, La Section d’Or were not radicals, as per the exhibition organizer. One of the most prized works featured is the work The Dance, which Donas painted during 1918-1919. It had been missing, until discovered in Japan ahead of this exhibition.

Beginnings and Struggles

The artist was born in 1885 from a prosperous francophone household in her birthplace. A forebear was a realist artist, but Donas’s father opposed her artistic ambitions; he pulled her out from her studies in 1902 following just one month.

A decade later, Donas enrolled again, determined to be an artist, following a pivotal incident. She fell off a roof while attempting to see King Albert I, during a royal visit, smashing through a glass ceiling as she descended. Her studies were then interrupted by the 1914 invasion. While her family fled for the Netherlands, Donas headed to Ireland, where she studied art and learned how to make glass art. Following time in Paris, transformative for her style, depleting her resources, she went to the French Riviera teaching drawing to an affluent patron.

Creative Evolution and Partnership

She encountered Archipenko on the French Riviera. They quickly bonded. He referred to her as “his top pupil” and started championing her creations. Donas created paintings with unique contours, works that shunned conventional shapes opting for irregular outlines that highlighted their cubist distortions.

Today’s non-rectangular works are frequently credited to the Hungarian artist, experts believe she pioneered in that era to pioneer this innovative approach.

However, her input remained unrecognized. Then, modernist movements were seen as male preserves; too intellectual, too rational, for sensitive women.

Rediscovery and Impact

More than a century later, Donas is slowly gaining recognition. The institution, freshly restored, aims to highlight women creators in its displays. Earlier, only one piece was owned by Donas, infrequently shown.

This event aligns with a rising effort to resurrect overlooked women artists, like other historical figures. Similar shows have unveiled from obscurity the works of additional female artists across different styles.

A specialist has spent two decades advocating for the artist, appreciating “the elegance, the palette, the originality and the beauty” of her work. A co-curator of the exhibition denounces the patronizing attitude of Donas’s contemporaries. She wasn’t “an inexperienced student” when she met Archipenko, instead an established painter in her own right.

Later Life and Enduring Impact

The connection they shared concluded around 1921. She wed and relocated to a pastoral setting; Archipenko emigrated to America. Subsequently, she disappeared from the artistic map for a long period after the 1920s, when she had a child in mid-life. Years afterward, Donas played down the connection with Archipenko, stating it was just “a brief period in his workshop”.

The current show uncovers a far deeper artistic energy. It ends with two artworks: one by Donas seemingly influenced by an Archipenko sculpture held onto afterward. The bright hues and lines in both pieces are in harmony, yet observers remark “she does something of her own, she didn’t imitate”.

• The exhibition Enchanting Modernism is at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts through early 2026.