"A writer should write with his eyes and a painter paint with his ears." - Gertrude Stein
American novelist and poet Gertrude Stein saw art as a conversation: between disciplines, between generations, between past and present. It’s only fitting that Gertrude, named in her honour, celebrates that same spirit. A digital platform dedicated to connecting independent artists with collectors, Gertrude The Art App curates and champions fresh voices in contemporary art. This International Women’s Day, Fetch highlights artworks that keep the dialogue alive: our staff picks from the Gertrude app’s IWD collection celebrate women whose visions continue to resonate - and for this week only, you can collect them at a special 15% discount using the code IWD15.
Agnes Houghton-Boyle | Writer & Critic Sara Sahores, Untitled (Swimming Studies), 2024
Sara Sahores, Untitled (Swimming Studies), 2024
"I’m obsessed with Sara Sahores dreamy dark Swimming Studies. There’s something gloriously dizzying about her swimmers illuminated against the black water by the flash of her camera. Something existential and voyeuristic about these images, taken from behind and below the moving, faceless aquanauts. They pull me back to teenage summers spent in outer London M25 town suburbs watching and reading about characters in LA and Florida, of a particular conception of girlhood articulated by Jefferey Euredes and immortalised by Sofia Coppola, of swathes of time, self-estrangement and self-discovery. Each image is untitled. We don’t know how old the women are, whether they are in fact the same woman, the speed of her movement or the reason for being here. In the water, there is a great freedom, fluidity and solitude. In one particularly arresting image, a woman in a vivid, royal blue cossie, twisting into a backstroke, splices the surface of the water. She comes up for air, shattering the surface and sending ripples of colour across the clear facade. From within the dark purgatory, with the distant sounds of bursting water and the pool’s filtration system, this atmosphere, this conjuring of girlhood, this distinctly feminine subjective can be climbed in and out of well into womanhood."
Emma Lee | Art Market Writer Sheenagh Geoghegan, Alive, alive oh, 2023
Sheenagh Geoghegan, Alive, alive oh, 2023
"We're seeing a market dip of figurative works and the way the centre of this works quite literally covers up the smoky portrait speaks to a much broader trend. The segmented lines in the window in the middle created this very structured, shuttered feeling and create a stunning textural contrast to the background. Her explanation is very compelling, especially her references to Kubrick and A Clockwork Orange. I would want this on my wall!"
Nzinga Audre Adaeze Ngola | Press & Communications Natalia Janula, love knife, 2025
From left to right: Natalia Janula, love knife, 2025, softness, 2024
"I'm obsessed with works that re-appropriate everyday and domestic objects because I think it's something we do on a subconscious level al the time and I love being confronted with that truth through art. The lucidity of putting the word 'love' on a table knife is so good and opens up such a simple object so many different emotional layers and directions. I also love the contrast of meaning and texture, like the depiction of hard chain on the fluffiness of a towel [in softness, 2025, also available on Gertrude]."
Daisy Culleton | Writer Hannah Knox, Yellow Jacket Fur Collar, 2025
Hannah Knox, Yellow Jacket Fur Collar, 2025
"Eyes may be the window to the soul, but fashion is the window to the self—something Hannah Knox clearly understands in her painting ‘Yellow Jacket Fur Collar’. I know this girl (the one that owns the jacket). She is like me. The obnoxious buttercup yellow, the bold faux fur collar, and the dainty bow—she’s someone who loves fashion and appreciates the way it makes her feel. I feel seen, and for this reason, it is my favourite painting in the collection. "
Carmen Destrain | Writer Jill Tate, Give Way, 2025
From left tor ight: Jill Tate, Give Way, 2025, Jill Tate, Tendencies, 2025
"Tate's entire body of work is just phenomenal. She creates these incredibly tender, atmospheric spaces using the language of minimalism but none of the austerity. It's beautiful to see the science of perspective and geometry treated with such warmth and humanity, although there's still a bit of mystery of her paintings - we're hiding behind corners, only getting peaks into different rooms and spaces defined by the interaction of light and shadow."
Victoria Comstock-Kershaw | Editor and Critic Catriona Robertson, Rosa Concrete, 2024
From left to right: Catriona Roberston, Rosa Concrete, 2024, Gigantic Pile, 2024
"I love Catriona's work so much. It sits somewhere at the intersection of art, evolution and architecture and has all of these incredible intricacies and layers that really suck you in. This wall piece is so elegant, almost delicate, but it still retains that historical monumentality and brawn. The way she manipulates so many different materials into these cohesive story-telling devices, simultaneously ravaged by time but still very contemporary and alive, is really special."
Will Jarvis | Founder & CEO of Gertrude Elena Saraceni, Aunt Flo’s Pearl, 2025
Elena Saraceni, Aunt Flo’s Pearl, 2025
"I've always been a sucker for Trompe-l'œil (trick of the eye for the non art school grads), this piece does it so well, the lighter parts of the embroidery allow more white through and make it look very visceral. I also love the sense of empowerment, the title Aunt Flo's Pearl makes it a point of celebration rather than of something to feel shame or disgust toward."
Jay Bristol | Graphic Designer Helen Clarke, Sheela Na Gig, 2023
Helen Clarke, Sheela Na Gig, 2023
"She's just like me frfr."
Gertrude app’s IWD collection is available for purchase now.
