Women in the Arts Summer 2020 by Women in the Arts

CHAMPION WOMEN THROUGH THE ARTS dear members and friends,

Normally when I pen these letters to you, my message is filled with good news about current exhibitions and excitement about NMWA’s plans. At this moment in time, however, I feel compelled to speak about events outside the museum that are affecting us all. The global coronavirus pandemic has changed and claimed lives on a scale that most of us have never experienced. It has made us worry about every breath we take and each interaction we have with others. It has thrown tens of millions out of work and laid bare the deep and systemic social inequalities of structural racism. Incidents of police brutality have shaken us to the core, causing anguish and anger. In recent weeks we have seen civil protest, unrest, and fervent calls for social justice. Like you, we love the arts as a source of beauty, solace, and spiritual uplift. We also know that art is a powerful agent of expression in helping us cope with suffering, anger, injustice, and even death. Today, I hope that these two qualities will intertwine to help us see our shared humanity as we mourn the recent murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd, among those of too many other Black Americans. To be lasting, positive social change must happen in every institutional sphere—including the arts—as well as through individual accountability. At our museum, founded to redefine traditional histories of art that excluded women, we commit to centering racial equity and championing Black women artists and women artists of color. Over the coming months, we commit to listening, learning, and creating a plan to be part of the solution. I hope that you find strength and connection with the people and causes that you care about in these difficult times. The path ahead is uncharted, but I am grateful for your support and partnership as we work to create a more just and equitable world.

Susan Fisher Sterling The Alice West Director

MUSEUM INFORMATION

WOMEN IN THE ARTS

1250 New York Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20005

Summer 2020 Volume 38, no. 2

PUBLIC TRANSIT

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Women in the Arts is a publication of the National Museum of Women in the Arts® DIRECTOR

Susan Fisher Sterling EDITOR

Elizabeth Lynch ASSISTANT EDITOR

https://blog.nmwa.org

Alicia Gregory

MAIN

Alexa Kasner Emma Weiss

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DESIGN

Studio A, Alexandria, VA For advertising rates and information, call 202-266-2814 or email elynch@nmwa.org. Women in the Arts is published three times a year as a benefit for museum members by the National Museum of Women in the Arts, 1250 New York Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. 20005-3970. Copyright © 2020 National Museum of Women in the Arts. National Museum of Women in the Arts®, The Women’s Museum®, #5WomenArtists™, and Women in the Arts® are registered trademarks of the National Museum of Women in the Arts. On the cover: Alma Woodsey Thomas, Iris, Tulips, Jonquils, and Crocuses, 1969; Acrylic on canvas, 60 x 50 in.; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay; © Estate of Alma Woodsey Thomas; Photo by Lee Stalsworth Director’s photo: © Michele Mattei

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Contents

“This [image] exposed an unexpected and powerful sign of the artist’s presence.” PAGE 8

// DEPARTMENTS

2 Arts News 4 Culture Watch 6 Education Report 7 Dedicated Donor Northern Trust 16 Recent Acquisitions: Joana Vasconcelos 22 On View: Welcoming Audiences to Graciela Iturbide’s Mexico 25 Museum News and Events ↑ 18

Linda Nochlin: The Maverick She

NMWA’s Library and Research Center features a selection of artifacts from the archives of the renowned feminist art historian. lynora williams //

FEATURES

↑8

Alma Woodsey Thomas: Reading Between the Lines

New conservation research on works in NMWA’s collection sheds lights on the artistic process of this innovative abstract painter. elizabeth lynch

Virtual Museum: # 5 WomenArtists, NMWA@ Home, and Expanding Engagement

During the spring, the museum pivoted to expand online offerings and create new opportunities for digital engagement from home. alicia gregory

28 Supporting Roles 29 Museum Shop

Arts News 2

SUMMER 2020

Create Art for Earth For Earth Day 2020, Judy Chicago launched Create Art for Earth, a global response to the climate crisis. The project calls people to create works of art that envision healing, caring, repairing, and joining together to protect the planet. Participants are encouraged to share their visual art, poems, performances, and songs on social media using the hashtag #CreateArtForEarth. During this period while in-person gatherings are limited, the project offers a significant way to demonstrate a collective commitment to stopping the climate crisis. Jane Fonda and Swoon are project partners, along with NMWA, the Serpentine Galleries, Fire Drill Fridays, and Greenpeace. NMWA helped organize and promote the response on social media, sharing selected works from participating women artists on Instagram.

The Art World Responds to COVID-19 When the COVID-19 pandemic slowed much of the world’s activity to a halt, museums, galleries, and cultural institutions rallied to bring their collections, exhibitions, and programs online. This pivot created an abundance of digital content that has provided unprecedented access to artists and their work. The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden’s “Artist Diaries” video series has featured Mariko Mori, Aliza Nisenbaum, Marilyn Minter, Shirin Neshat, and Christine Sun Kim responding to the pandemic and its effects on their practices and the world. Janaina Tschäpe recorded a tour of her studio in Bocaina, Brazil, for the Sean Kelly Gallery, and Delita Martin did the same in Texas for NMWA. Judy Chicago produced a virtual tour of her Through the Flower Art Space in New Mexico, and Jordan Casteel narrated a tour of her exhibition Within Reach at the New Museum in New York City. Previously, these experiences might have been accessible only to small groups of in-person visitors—now they are shared by people all over the world. Foundations and arts funders also stepped up to

support artists affected by COVID-19. Anonymous Was a Woman, in partnership with the New York Foundation for the Arts, announced a $250,000 emergency grant fund for women artists over the age of forty. The Helen Frankenthaler Foundation will offer $5 million in relief funding over the next three years. And the GLB Memorial Fund launched in May to provide financial support to woman-identifying artists and curators who reside in D.C., Maryland, or Virginia to further advance women-led contemporary art initiatives. In Memoriam Zarina Hashmi, the abstract printmaker and multimedia artist known solely as Zarina, died April 25, at age eightythree. The artist was born in Aligarh, India, in 1937, and with her family was among the millions of Muslims displaced to Pakistan in 1947 during the Partition of India. Through numerous additional moves related to her marriage and work, she embraced a nomadic

PHOTO BY RAM RAHMAN

PHOTO BY SANCHA MCBURNIE

In September 2019 at NMWA, Judy Chicago (left) spoke with philosopher Martha Nussbaum about her work The End: A Meditation of Death and Extinction, which addresses environmental concerns connected to the Create Art for Earth campaign

lifestyle, although she settled in New York City in 1976 and remained there for most of the next four decades. In New York, she joined feminist art circles and contributed to the journal Heresies. Zarina frequently created work around the ideas of home, rootlessness, and political conflict. She was a master printer in a variety of techniques; she also wrote poetry and created art in other mediums, including metal and paper sculpture. Her approach to printmaking often featured series of abstract works with iterative shapes or patterns that suggest a multiplicity of locations or concepts. Her work has been exhibited globally in retrospectives and museum collections, and she represented India in the 2011 Venice Biennale.

Martha Graham Archive The New York Public Library of the Performing Arts (NYPL) announced its acquisition of the archive of influential dancer and choreographer Martha Graham (1894–1991). The multimedia collection documents Graham’s life and career through films; images by renowned

photographers including Barbara Morgan, Martha Swope, and Arnold Eagle; choreographic notations; and correspondence. This archive, which joins the broad holdings of the NYPL’s Jerome Robbins Dance Division, provides insight into American modern dance and Graham’s creative legacy.

Right: Bertram Ross, Gene McDonald, Helen McGehee, and Martha Graham in Clytemnestra Far left: Alexandra Bell speaks at Fresh Talk: Art, Power, and the Vote—100 Years After Suffrage on November 17, 2019

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Her work investigates the relationship between media consumption and perception. Minaya explores constructions of identity and multicultural spaces and hierarches. Prominent women writers and artists were also recognized with Guggenheim Fellowships and the Pulitzer Prize this spring. Photographer Zoe Leonard, filmmaker Stephanie Wang-Breal, poets Ada Limón and Aimee Nezhukumatathil, choreographer Gabrielle Lamb, and artist Helen Mirra were among those honored with Guggenheim Fellowships. Writer Nikole Hannah-Jones was awarded a Pulitzer for her creation of the New York Times Magazine’s 1619 Project. Ida B. Wells received a posthumous Pulitzer, eighty-nine years after her death, in a symbolic recognition of her fearless reporting on racial segregation, lynching, and inequality.

PHOTOGRAPH BY MARTHA SWOPE

PHOTO BY SANCHA MCBURNIE

Winner’s Circle Multidisciplinary artists Alexandra Bell and Joiri Minaya won the 2020 New York Artadia Award. The artists will each receive $10,000 in unrestricted funds to continue to develop their practices. Bell spoke at NMWA during the November 2019 event Fresh Talk: Art, Power, and the Vote—100 Years After Suffrage.

The U.S. Postal service will release stamps featuring art by Ruth Asawa in August

Stamp of Approval Dramatic images of wire sculptures by Ruth Asawa (1926–2013) can soon adorn your mail—the U.S. Postal Service is honoring the innovative California-based artist through an upcoming release of postage stamps. In addition to the numerous public sculptures she created, Asawa is known for her delicate and sinuous crocheted-wire works, which recall organic or hourglass forms. As a child, Asawa was sent to Japanese internment camps with her family during World War II; she later trained at the progressive Black Mountain College and built a career as an artist, activist, and educator. The stamps are scheduled for release August 13, with a pane including ten stamp designs—many featuring images of her curvy hanging sculptures—and a surrounding selvage that shows Asawa in a 1954 photograph taken by Nat Farbman for Life magazine.

EXHIBITIONS: ONLINE AND OUTDOORS

EDITOR’S NOTE: Many plans and events are uncertain in the coming months. In this issue, we focus on exhibitions with noteworthy highlights online, such as video tours, artist interviews, and image galleries. Check museum websites for more.

CALIFORNIA

Sula Bermúdez-Silverman: Neither Fish, Flesh, nor Fowl California African American Museum, Los Angeles https://caamuseum.org Bermúdez-Silverman unites several bodies of work created since 2014 that draw upon her experiences as an AfroPuerto Rican and Jewish woman. Images and a video interview with the artist are available online.

ILLINOIS

Hive Krannert Art Museum, Champaign https://kam.illinois.edu A sculpture and sound installation steeped in references to antiquity, Hive interrogates gender identity and physicality. The work can be viewed from outdoors; the website features video and sound elements.

ILLINOIS // Nancy Davidson and Lakshmi Ramgopal, Hive, 2020; Installation on view at Krannert Art Museum

COURTESY THE ARTIST AND MARION GOODMAN GALLERY; © AN-MY LÊ.

PHOTO BY FRED ZWICKY; COURTESY OF UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN

Culture Watch

MAINE

Carrie Moyer and Sheila Pepe: Tabernacles for Trying Times Portland Museum of Art https://www.portlandmuseum.org Moyer and Pepe reimagine the historic symbolism of the tabernacle to create a richly colorful, tactile space for connection and activism. Virtual tours, images, and artist interviews are available online.

PENNSYLVANIA // An-My Lê, Fragment I: General P.G.T. Beauregard Monument, New Orleans, 2016; On view at the Carnegie Museum of Art

MARYLAND

Candice Breitz: Too Long, Didn’t Read

SUMMER 2020

Baltimore Museum of Art https://artbma.org

CALIFORNIA // Sula Bermúdez-Silverman, Neither Fish, Flesh, nor Fowl; On view at the California African American Museum

In two cinematic and documentary video works, Breitz examines the complexities of human rights in the sex industry and global refugee crisis. The films, with interactive components, are presented in full online. NEW YORK

Neri Oxman: Material Ecology MoMA https://www.moma.org In a practice she dubs “material ecology,” Oxman designs innovative interdisciplinary works using organic materials

and species. The website highlights images, interviews, and other audio and video features. PENNSYLVANIA

An-My Lê: On Contested Terrain Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh https://cmoa.org The artist’s first comprehensive survey features more than 100 politically charged photographs that draw on landscape tradition to address the complexity of war. Selected images and a short video tour are available online.

BOOKS

International

GERMANY

Bettina Pousttchi: In Recent Years

Recent photographic and sculptural work by Pousttchi is presented inside the gallery, while an installation on the façade merges these practices with references to architectural traditions of Europe and Asia. The website features an exhibition trailer. Online Only

How Can We Think of Art at a Time Like This? https://artatatimelikethis.com Inspired by the power of art to foster connection and community, this fully online presentation offers a platform for artists worldwide to exchange ideas, opinions, and experiences during a time of crisis.

Frida in America

Faith Ringgold

The Equivalents

Celia Stahr’s Frida in America (Saint Martin’s, 2020) traces journeys by Frida Kahlo (1907–1954) to San Francisco, Detroit, and New York in the 1930s, spurred primarily by the established painting career of her husband, Diego Rivera. Stahr’s descriptions of Kahlo’s formative years in “Gringolandia” are grounded in extensive research, but the narrative flows like a novel. It features excerpts from Kahlo’s correspondence with her family in Mexico—including excerpts from correspondence in the NMWA Library and Research Center’s Nelleke Nix and Marianne Huber Collection—as well as intimate testimony from the diary of Lucienne Bloch, Kahlo’s close companion who played cheerful witness to the artist’s provocative antics. Kahlo’s leftist politics and status as a public figure helped redefine American society’s perceptions of Mexican women. Stahr offers insight into the complexity of Kahlo’s identity, which was often overshadowed by her husband’s fame, and vividly depicts the Depressionera sociopolitical landscape. Frida in America leaves readers with a new and entertaining view into Kahlo’s life at a pivotal point in her early career, within the equally turbulent context of 1930s America.

Published on the occasion of Faith Ringgold’s recent survey exhibition at Serpentine Gallery in London—the eighty-nine-year-old artist’s first at a European institution—Faith Ringgold (Walther König, 2020) presents the artist’s work from the 1960s to 2010. Through her paintings, political posters, tankas, and story quilts, Ringgold (b. 1930) embodies the artist/activist, challenging perceptions of African American identity and gender inequality for more than five decades. The catalogue is distinctive for its intimate foregrounding—it opens with an essay by Ringgold’s daughter, writer and cultural critic Michele Wallace, who contextualizes her mother’s career and provides personal insights. We also hear from Ringgold herself in an extensive interview with Hans Ulrich Obrist, which underscores the artist’s identity as a prolific storyteller across mediums. Ringgold’s parting words, when asked for her advice to young artists, reflect her belief in the importance of owning, embracing, and remembering history—both personal and universal: “Raise your voice. Unite. Tell your story.” Faith Ringgold was on view at the Bildmuseet in Umeå, Sweden, prior to COVID-19 and was scheduled to travel to the Glenstone Museum in Potomac, Maryland, in 2020.

Maggie Doherty plumbs the history of the second-wave feminist movement as well as the alchemical conditions that sustain creative work in The Equivalents (Knopf, 2020). Her engaging narrative follows five tight-knit women writers and artists in the early 1960s. They met at the Radcliffe Institute for Independent Study, newly founded to help women reenter stalled academic or artistic careers. As Doherty explains, “It was for a ‘special’ woman, a woman who was educated. . . . Such women tended to have many things already working in their favor: money, racial privilege, some degree of social support.” Five members of the first two classes—Pulitzer Prize–winning poets and best friends Anne Sexton and Maxine Kumin, writer and activist Tillie Olsen, painter Barbara Swan, and sculptor Marianna Pineda—became a close group of collaborative colleagues. Doherty traces several of the artists’ legacies to the present day, and Olsen emerges as prescient: a working-class activist, she never finishes her planned novel, instead using her time in the creative community to lay the intellectual foundation for the representative, canon-expanding literature courses she would later teach.

// Alicia Gregory

// Elizabeth Lynch

// Alexa Kasner

WO M E N I N T H E A RTS

Berlinische Galerie Museum of Modern Art https://berlinischegalerie.de

Education Report

ADRIENNE L. GAYOSO, NMWA

SUMMER 2020

JENNIFER ALBARRACIN, NMWA

Left: At an artist talk in February, Delita Martin (right) discusses her work with a visitor Above: A participant creates artwork inspired by Alma Woodsey Thomas at World Thinking Day

NMWA @ NMWA We kicked off the year’s Artists in Conversation programming on January 8, with Janaina Tschäpe, who spoke about her photographic series 100 Little Deaths (1996–2002). Installed for the first time in its entirety for the Live Dangerously exhibition, the expansive series covered the walls of two large gallery spaces from floor to ceiling. Surrounded by ambiguous images of the artist’s prone body in natural and urban settings, the sold-out audience learned about Tschäpe’s mindset and process. She also clarified her intentions: “[100 Little Deaths] is not about dying; [it’s] about finding your place in life, society as a woman.” On February 20, we welcomed Delita Martin for two talks in conjunction with her exhibition, Delita Martin: Calling Down the Spirits. Speaking in front of her art, she shared her inspirations for the largescale, mixed-media works. Martin captivated visitors with personal insights and stories, including her desire to create a powerful presence for African American subjects.

Delita Martin captivated visitors with personal insights and stories, including her desire to create a powerful presence for African American subjects.

Her complex process, which blends drawing, sewing, printmaking, collage, and painting, inspired numerous questions. Did you miss her talks? You can listen to Martin discuss her work here: https://nmwa.org/ delita-martin-online-exhibition. NMWA around Town We joined area Girl Scout troops and other arts, humanities, and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math)

organizations for the National Capital region’s first joint celebration of World Thinking Day on February 22, which drew approximately 1,100 people. This year’s focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion inspired NMWA educators to introduce D.C. artist and teacher Alma Woodsey Thomas (1891–1978). Attendees learned about the artist’s colorful abstract style, which she called “Alma Stripes,” and produced their own Thomas-inspired compositions using colored tape to approximate her mosaic-like daubs of paint. Thomas also featured in the Women’s History Month gallery quest we created for the “Phillips After 5: Wonder Women” event on March 5, our second annual collaboration with museum colleagues at the Phillips Collection. The selfguided activity encouraged visitors to locate artworks by five women on view at the Phillips and discover connections to works in NMWA’s galleries. NMWA @ Home Since mid-March, NMWA educators have reimagined existing

programs and developed new ones to engage audiences virtually. For Slow Art Day, an annual international event that encourages people to visit museums and look at art slowly, senior educator Adrienne L. Gayoso transformed the experience to meet the current circumstances. After viewing a curated selection of works online, participants from the D.C. metro area, California, New York, Pennsylvania, and the U.K. joined Gayoso for a virtual conversation, during which they shared insights and discussed their experiences. Inspired in part by the museum’s popular weekly Gallery Talks, we launched a new online series of informal discussions facilitated by NMWA educators every Friday, 5–5:30 p.m. Eastern. Each Art Chat @ Five focuses on two to three works in NMWA’s collection linked by a theme. We limit registration to twenty participants, ensuring that everyone has an opportunity to share observations and questions. Explore upcoming topics and register by visiting the museum calendar. We hope to see you at future programs!

Dedicated Donor 7

NORTHERN TRUST

Left to right: NMWA Advisory Board member and Northern Trust Vice President Rebecca Chang (second from right, with colleague Stephanie Bennett) enjoys the Rodarte exhibition; Northern Trust mid-Atlantic President Brett Rees; NMWA Trustee and Northern Trust Senior Vice President Joanie Stringer

NORTHERN TRUST, major sponsor of NMWA’s upcoming exhibition Paper Routes— Women to Watch 2020, has been an important corporate partner for the museum’s programs over the past decade. Among other initiatives, the company has provided lead support for the 2013 exhibition American People, Black Light: Faith Ringgold’s Paintings of the 1960s and our first major fashion exhibition, Rodarte, in 2018. The Women to Watch exhibition series is a collaboration between the museum and its national and international outreach committees, and Paper Routes, scheduled to open in October, features emerging and underrepresented women artists working in the medium of paper. Northern Trust’s sponsorship has been transformative in enabling these innovative exhibitions of modern and contemporary art. Brett Rees, president for the company’s mid-Atlantic region, says, “Northern Trust is pleased to support the National Museum of Women in the Arts in its mission to

honor women artists of the past, to promote women artists of today, and to avail a national as well as international platform for emerging women artists of the future.” Rees is proud of the company’s record of community involvement—they are committed to strengthening the neighborhoods and cities where they live and work through progressive investments, contributions to local organizations, and employees’ volunteer work. Rees adds that the company has been lauded for its diverse workforce. “Culturally, Northern Trust and NMWA are closely aligned in our commitment to advocate for better representation of women, whether in the arts or in finance, and both organizations are leaders in addressing the gender imbalance that exists in society today.” NMWA Trustee Joanie Stringer, a senior vice president at Northern Trust, has been integral in growing the museum’s relationship with the company. She joined NMWA’s board in 2012 after

organizing a program that year on philanthropy at the museum featuring Maya Angelou—one of her favorite memories with the museum. Stringer also served a term as Treasurer and built connections at the museum with leaders including NMWA Founder Wilhelmina Cole Holladay. She says, “NMWA is such a unique gem for Washington, D.C., the nation, and the world. Mrs. Holladay is truly a visionary and inspiring woman. I feel blessed to know her personally and to help advance NMWA’s mission on the Board of Trustees for many years. NMWA holds a special place in my heart, and I hope to be a part of the museum family for many years to come.” Rebecca Chang, vice president at Northern Trust, was closely involved with the company’s sponsorship of Rodarte. She is a member of the NMWA Advisory Board and part of the group’s mid-Atlantic committee for the upcoming Women to Watch exhibition. Chang says, “I have experienced firsthand Northern Trust’s commitment to creating a culture that is

diverse, equitable, and inclusive. Upon relocating to Washington, D.C., I was thrilled to learn of NMWA and its mission to bring recognition to women globally. This is not simply a statement by NMWA but is lived out by the museum’s staff, its showcase exhibitions, and by the individuals who have banded together to promote NMWA and female artists in their communities throughout the world.” The team at Northern Trust— committed to the museum and closely involved in its work— exemplifies the impact that a corporate sponsor can have. NMWA Director Susan Fisher Sterling says, “More than ever in this time, it is important to have partners like Northern Trust who understand the unique role NMWA plays in supporting women artists and bolstering community connections. We are grateful to Brett, Rebecca, and Joanie for their ongoing commitment to our progressive exhibition program. There is a real sense of purpose in what we’re doing together to champion women in and through the arts.”

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PHOTO CREDIT

PHOTO BY TONY POWELL

PHOTO BY ALLISON TREMBLAY

Alma Woodsey Thomas, Iris, Tulips, Jonquils, and Crocuses (detail), 1969; Acrylic on canvas, 60 x 50 in.; NMWA, Gift of Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay; Photo by Cameron Robinson

Conservator Sydney Nikolaus imaging Alma Woodsey Thomas’s Iris, Tulips, Jonquils, and Crocuses (1969) at NMWA; Photo by Gwen Manthey

Alma Woodsey Thomas

READING BETWEEN THE LINES

Many details of artworks are invisible to the naked eye. Some of these features— when observed through careful scrutiny or with special tools—reveal fascinating information about an artist’s process, the materials she used, or other aspects of a work’s history. Conservators from the Lunder Conservation Center at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) visited NMWA in 2019 to examine two paintings in the museum’s collection by Alma Woodsey Thomas. Spurred by an ongoing technical study of materials and techniques used by the artist, the researchers brought equipment to perform multispectral imaging of the paintings Iris, Tulips, Jonquils, and Crocuses (1969) and Orion (1973). They shared imagery and some initial findings from their peek below the paintings’ surfaces, which yielded intriguing results.

Elizabeth Lynch

Left to right: Alma Woodsey Thomas, Iris, Tulips, Jonquils, and Crocuses, 1969; Acrylic on canvas, 60 x 50 in.; NMWA, Gift of Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay An infrared detail image of Iris, Tulips, Jonquils, and Crocuses shows graphite pencil lines that guided Thomas’s colorful paint marks; Photo courtesy of SAAM

SUMMER 2020

One aspect of Thomas’s process that piqued the conservators’ curiosity was her use of guiding pencil lines.

Making Her Mark Alma Woodsey Thomas (1891–1978) gained renown late in life for a signature abstract painting style featuring colorful rows or circles of lozenge-shaped brushstrokes. Born in Columbus, Georgia, Thomas moved to Washington, D.C., as a teenager in 1907, as her family sought to escape racial tensions and violence in Georgia. In spite of its segregation, D.C. offered greater opportunities for African Americans, particularly in education. The family bought a house in the Logan Circle neighborhood, where, except for short intervals elsewhere during her young adulthood, Thomas resided until her death. Thomas attended Howard University, where her teachers included Loïs Mailou Jones and James V. Herring. In 1924, she became the institution’s first-ever fine arts graduate and began a thirty-five–year period teaching art at D.C.’s Shaw Junior High School. During her decades of teaching, she continued to paint in her spare time as well as advance her own education. When she retired from teaching in 1960, Thomas renewed her focus on her art. Although her early work was realistic, after retirement she began developing her distinctive style. She first exhibited her abstract paintings in 1966 at Howard University, when she was seventy-five years old. Thomas is often associated with the Washington Color School, a movement of artists whose work relied on fields or juxtapositions of color. Her style was original, though, and in contrast to other Color School painters, Thomas emphasized nature as her primary source of inspiration. Titles such as Iris, Tulips, Jonquils, and Crocuses reflect her never-ending fascination with the colorful interplay of flowers and other natural phenomena outside her window. Orion, named for the constellation, is part of a series of paintings sparked by her wonder and enthusiasm for space exploration following the Apollo 11 lunar landing in 1969. With its tiled or puzzle-piece effect, her work has also drawn comparisons to mosaic art and Pointillism.

Thomas amassed achievements and fame during her late years, and she continued painting into her eighties, despite debilitating arthritis, a broken hip, and a heart ailment.

Hidden History At SAAM, paintings conservators undertook their current study of Thomas’s art in preparation for an upcoming traveling exhibition of her work organized by the Columbus Museum in Georgia and the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia. Amber Kerr, chief of conservation at SAAM, said, “I’ve been fascinated by Thomas’s paintings since first coming to SAAM. We are lucky to have deep holdings of her art—some twentyeight paintings—so I’ve had a chance to study many of her works carefully.” When an exhibition scheduled to open at SAAM in 2021 prompted Kerr and her team to examine and plan treatment for several works, they decided to dig deeper. They reached out to NMWA as well as other institutions, including the National Gallery of Art, the Baltimore Museum of Art, and the Phillips Collection, to look closely at additional examples. In October 2019, two members of Kerr’s team, Gwen Manthey and Sydney Nikolaus, visited NMWA to examine and photograph Iris, Tulips, Jonquils, and Crocuses and Orion. Through multispectral imaging, a safe method of measuring light at different spectral channels, they hoped to learn more about Thomas’s work process. These two acrylic paintings seem similar at first glance, but the researchers uncovered interesting details that set them apart. One aspect of Thomas’s process that piqued the conservators’ curiosity was her use of guiding pencil lines. Many of her works in this style—the artist’s so-called “Alma stripes”— show faint graphite lines that Thomas placed on her canvases, providing a structure for her colorful marks. But those lines cannot be seen on some other works, raising the question of whether Thomas sometimes used a different technique to guide her brush.

A partial handprint glows on the surface of Orion. 11

Elizabeth Lynch is the director of publications at the National

Museum of Women in the Arts.

Top: Alma Woodsey Thomas, Orion, 1973; Acrylic on canvas, 59 ¾ x 54 in.; NMWA, Gift of Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay Center: An image of Orion (and detail, left) captured using UV-induced luminescence shows fluorescing pigment and a partial handprint that the artist may have made while supporting or reworking the painting; Photos courtesy of SAAM

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The Bottom Line Kerr says, “Thomas was a creative and inventive painter who overcame many physical challenges due to her deteriorating health in the creation of her late paintings.” Their research conclusions, addressing changes in Thomas’s work as her technique evolved during her advancing years, will be published in the future exhibition catalogue documenting her work. Through collaborating with SAAM’s research team and delving beneath the surfaces of these paintings, NMWA staff gained vivid new insight into these beloved works by a Washington, D.C., artistic icon.

To investigate her use of pencil lines, the conservators used infrared reflectography to differentiate carbon-containing mediums, like graphite, from other art materials. They found distinct lines in one work: “In developing Iris, Tulips, Jonquils, and Crocuses, Thomas charted each section of color by scribing the vertical lines with a sharp graphite pencil on the prepared canvas. Their even distribution and unwavering lines indicate the use of a straight edge.” In comparison, though, the images demonstrate that Thomas did not use pencil lines in creating Orion. She rendered the precise red “Alma stripes” in this work through other means, likely using another form of guide or straight edge when applying the pigment. A second technique the conservators used was ultraviolet (UV)-induced luminescence, which can cause certain materials to “‘fluoresce’ and emit light,” the researchers explain. “Conservators regularly identify varnishes, surface coatings, and areas of restoration with this technique. In some cases, conservators are able to infer the use of pigments due to their characteristic fluorescence.” In their imagery, both of the paintings showed areas that fluoresced. “When viewing Iris, Tulips, Jonquils, and Crocuses and Orion with UV-induced luminescence, similar translucent orange brushstrokes in each painting fluoresce bright orange-red, possibly indicating the use of an organic red lake pigment such as rose madder.” This technique also exposed an unexpected and powerful sign of the artist’s presence: a partial handprint glows on the surface of Orion. The research team believes that this “may be an artifact of Thomas contacting the work (possibly for support) while her hand was coated with red-lake paint, during reworking of the fluorescing sections.”

PHOTO BY SANCHA MCBURNIE

Virtual Museum #5WomenArtists, NMWA @ Home, and Expanding Engagement

SUMMER 2020

Alicia Gregory

There is no doubt that the magic of museums is best experienced in person. They are temples to the human spirit—meditative spaces that bring visitors closer to creativity and history. At NMWA, you can stand before the only Frida Kahlo painting in Washington, D.C., or in the glow of Yael Bartana’s neon sculpture What if Women Ruled the World? (2017). You can participate in lively conversations about art and social issues during our Fresh Talk series, or listen to renowned women artists discuss their work in our Artists in Conversation programs.

You may have experienced some of that magic on our @WomenInTheArts social media accounts and website. These platforms have become essential conduits in communicating the museum’s mission, resources, and programs. Over the past decade, our digital presence has cultivated a broad, international audience—more than 57,000 followers on Twitter and 100,000 on Instagram—in support of women artists. This spring, in the unprecedented time of COVID-19, NMWA quickly pivoted to become an online museum, creating new opportunities for engagement from home. Five Years of #5WomenArtists On March 1, at the start of Women’s History Month, the museum’s #5WomenArtists social media campaign kicked off for

Below: Instagrammers enjoyed #5WomenArtists posts from NMWA as well as partners like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art.

started posting bright landscapes, florals, and other peaceful nature scenes on Sundays. While many of the campaign’s most engaged institutional participants, including Tate, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, and the Guggenheim, join each year, #5WomenArtists always attracts new contributors. Notable this year: actress Piper Perabo tweeted; a group of academic museums organized together to post throughout the entire month; and the new, yet-to-open Museum of Art & Photography in Bangalore, India, joined.

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a fifth year of amplifying the lives and work of women artists. Since 2016, the question at the center of the campaign—“Can you name five women artists?”—has catalyzed more than 23,000 individuals and 1,800 cultural organizations to participate. They have not only shared the work of women artists who inspire them or are part of their collections, but have also joined us in examining the art world’s gender disparity and committing to actions that could help right the balance. This year, the campaign encouraged participants to highlight women artists who use their work to address social issues, including gender equity, immigration, LGBTQ rights, racial justice, and climate change. More than 675 cultural institutions and 5,129 individuals chimed in from 49 states, plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, and 35 other countries. The campaign garnered 4,092 Instagram posts and 9,568 tweets—despite coinciding with the global COVID-19 outbreak. NMWA Digital Content Coordinator Adrienne Poon paid close attention to online audiences and shifted #5WomenArtists content accordingly. She explained, “The overwhelmingly positive response to our ‘First Day of Spring’ post, which featured cheerful images of nature, demonstrated people’s desire for comforting, uplifting content.” Creating a balance with the campaign’s socially engaged content, Poon

We Won a Webby Award! In May, NMWA won the Webby People’s Voice Award for Best Social Media account in the Art & Culture category. Thanks to everyone who voted!

Top to bottom: NMWA educators hosted participants from around the world for Art Chat @ 5 NMWA Librarian Tricia Glaser reads aloud The Princess and the Pony by Kate Beaton, part of the YouTube series “Story Time with Women in the Arts”

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In association with Black Box Press Studio, NMWA presented a short film on artist Delita Martin, who shared insight into her studio practice

Creating NMWA @ Home In mid-March, when the museum closed temporarily due to COVID-19, staff launched NMWA @ Home, a virtual hub for experiencing NMWA online. The dexterous digital engagement team joined forces with colleagues from around the institution to engage and inspire audiences who could no longer visit in person.

NMWA @ Home shares fresh new offerings alongside existing museum resources that are accessible online. Spring exhibitions Graciela Iturbide’s Mexico and Delita Martin: Calling Down the Spirits took new form as online exhibitions, as did past shows such as Women Artists of the Dutch Golden Age and Wanderer/Wonderer: Pop-Ups by Colette Fu. The site gathers links to artist and artwork profiles, Fresh Talk videos, Women in the Arts magazine, and more. Each department worked creatively to shift efforts and reach out online. The museum’s educators and librarians produced digital activities for families with young children, including a video story time series featuring children’s picture books authored or illustrated by women. In May, educators debuted Art Chat @ Five, a series of thirty-minute informal conversations about selected artworks from NMWA’s collection each Friday at 5 p.m. on Zoom. Events were filled to capacity. The Betty Boyd Dettre Library and Research Center staff created new research guides for high school and college students on Graciela Iturbide and art historian Linda Nochlin, with more in process. NMWA’s public programs team, in support of the Women, Arts, and Social Change audience, started a Google spreadsheet of resources for artists and arts organizations in need. Staff members compiled the firstever NMWA Coloring Book and shared photos of their pets staged in interpretations of artworks from the collection—a hit with social media users. In this unique time, digital platforms are a key channel to engage audiences and fulfill our mission. Director of Digital Engagement Mara Kurlandsky is hopeful about what this moment reveals. “In 2020, there is a digital component to everything we do—that’s not going to change and it will continue to intensify. It has been inspiring to see my colleagues at NMWA, and in the museum field at large, pivot quickly, learn new skills, and get creative. I’m excited about this new collaborative model of working.” Advocating for gender equity in the arts and supporting women artists has never been easier—or more important. NMWA can now meet you at home, though we look forward to seeing you in the museum again someday soon. // Alicia Gregory is the assistant editor at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

COMING SOON

A Digital Makeover NMWA announces the launch of a redesigned, mobile-friendly website at https://nmwa.org. An elevenmonth project in collaboration with the Orlando-based creative agency Purple Rock Scissors, the new website features simplified, intuitive navigation and a contemporary design that places the museum’s art, artists, and advocacy at center stage. Debuting in mid-June, the new site is customizable, flexible, and responsive. It also brings NMWA’s technical infrastructure up to date. In consultation with experts at Prime Access Consulting, the new site was developed and built according to the latest guidelines from the Web Accessibility Initiative. This ensures that all digital visitors, regardless of ability or assistive technology, are able to access and enjoy our resources. Accessibility work is ongoing and now part of the web team’s workflow.

Simplified content architecture helps visitors find what they need and encourages exploration and discovery. Enhanced exhibition pages unite related content like artist profiles, blog posts, events, large-print object labels, and audio guides in one engaging format. A filterable calendar presents the museum’s schedule of gallery talks, tours, and public programs. A new “In Your Region” page lists current exhibitions featuring women artists around the world. Resources from museum educators and the Betty Boyd Dettre Library and Research Center are presented in easily findable and downloadable formats. The site’s bright and dynamic design powerfully communicates the museum’s offerings: inspirational art by women, thought-provoking programs, and high-impact advocacy. The design features large photographs, including detail imagery of selected

collection artworks, the galleries, and the museum’s historic building. Through this format, users will feel closer to the experience of viewing artworks in person. NMWA’s advocacy for women in the arts is woven throughout the site. Statistics that lay bare the art world’s gender disparity appear in engaging color blocks and infographics. Bold colors underscore the enthusiasm and energy behind the museum’s mission. Pages on NMWA’s advocacy initiatives, including the

#5WomenArtists campaign; Women to Watch exhibition series; and Women, Arts, and Social Change public programs initiative, are enhanced by embedded social media feeds that gather content shared by participants. The site’s updated infrastructure will ensure that the museum’s digital presence remains fresh and flexible for years to come. Look around for changes the next time you visit https://nmwa.org! // AG

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RECENT ACQUISITIONS

Joana Vasconcelos Rubra (2016) // Orin Zahra

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Internationally renowned Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos (b. 1971) creates exuberant mixed-media works that foreground and elevate the collective identity of women in art and society. Emblematic of her bold, feminist sculpture is the nearly six-foot-tall glass and textile chandelier Rubra, an exciting addition to NMWA’s collection through a gift from museum patron Christine Suppes. In October 2019, Suppes participated in a trip to the Venice Biennale with the museum’s Director’s Circle. She noticed Rubra suspended from the ceiling during the group’s visit to the exhibition Glasstress at Studio Berengo on the island of Murano, and she observed its powerful presence. Already familiar with NMWA’s strong support for Vasconcelos, Suppes offered to acquire the work for the museum. Rubra Rubra (Latin for “red”) hangs above viewers in a spectacular display of fiery crimson hues and glowing light. The arts of stitching, sewing, and knitting—traditionally perceived as feminine and domestic—take on a central role in the work. The chandelier features a mélange of handmade wool crochet, lace, sequined fabric, gold tassels, delicate beaded ornaments, and Murano glass. Elongated garlands of sewn fabric dangle at various heights, topped by embroidered crowns. Myriad LED lightbulbs studded throughout the piece create dazzling effects. In Rubra, as in many of her other works, Vasconcelos

The highly decorative and sensual aesthetic of Rubra alludes to the Portuguese baroque style of art and architecture from the seventeenth century, which used rich color, ornate details, expression, and grandeur to create a sense of awe and wonder.

reinvigorates a traditional craft through contemporary artistic practices. Here, the artist merges the 1,500-year-old art of Murano glassmaking with contemporary design. Smooth, bulbous forms of orange-red glass compose the center column of the chandelier, while other curvilinear elements branch out from the top and connect to the crocheted embellishments. The highly decorative and sensual aesthetic of the work alludes to the Portuguese baroque style of art and architecture from the seventeenth century, which used rich color, ornate details, expression, and grandeur to create a sense of awe and wonder. Vasconcelos incorporates her cultural history by imbuing the work with this opulence and drama, a vital facet of her art. Elevating the Domestic Many of the artist’s recent works are large-scale pieces intended to be suspended from above. Her organic and colorful series “Valkyries,” named for Norse war goddesses, hang from ceilings in order to interact and engage with the surrounding architecture. Another well-known work, A Noiva (The Bride; 2001–05), also takes the shape of a chandelier, but close looking reveals that instead of crystals, it is festooned with tampons. These works have occupied historical spaces of wealth and power, such as in Venice and Versailles. By transforming their lofty spaces, they perform as interventional installations: they monumentalize the domestic and argue for alternate histories that include women and other marginalized groups.

Rubra is the second work by Vasconcelos to join the museum’s collection. Viriato (2005), a commercially made ceramic German Shepherd swathed in green crochet, was featured in the 2017 exhibition Revival and is a popular object of visitors’ fascination in NMWA’s collection galleries. Vasconcelos’s creative process relies on decontextualizing and appropriating everyday items into surprising iterations and new realities. A tongue-in-cheek commentary on the conditions of domesticity, the yarn fabric covering the dog symbolizes the simultaneous protection and imprisonment of women in the domestic sphere. Both Viriato and Rubra work to recast the art historical canon by challenging hierarchies of materials and subject matter, disrupting and interweaving ideas about “high” and “low” art. The sparkling Rubra is unabashedly flamboyant, vibrant, and dynamic. This deliberately unsubtle nature of Vasconcelos’s work aligns her practice with NMWA’s aim—to champion the inclusion of women in the art establishment, and to celebrate their experiences in a multitude of diverse manifestations. // Orin Zahra is the assistant curator at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

Joana Vasconcelos, Rubra, 2016; Murano glass, wool yarn, ornaments, LED lighting, polyester, and iron, 69 ¼ x 43 in. diameter; NMWA, Gift of Christine Suppes

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Â© JOANA VASCONCELOS; PHOTO BY FRANCESCO ALLEGRET TO

Linda Nochlin in Paris in 1978; Photo by Marion Kalter; Betty Boyd Dettre Library and Research Center, NMWA, Courtesy of Marion Kalter

Linda Nochlin The Maverick She

SUMMER 2020

Lynora Williams

Linda Nochlin (1931–2017) had an inquiring mind. She was never afraid to ask and answer hard questions. In 2007, in handwritten notes on a printed email exchange, she asked,

“Memorial or power? Does museumification kill feminism??” Thirty-six years earlier, she wrestled with another question: “Why have there been no great women artists?”

An Innovative and Inspirational Scholar Nochlin’s approach was far outside the mainstream at the time. It challenged the thinking of both traditional art experts as well as feminist artists and their champions. Her prodding, deeply researched article engaged the social and economic issues that often deprived women of taking their artistic work to the highest levels. It was also written well enough to be widely accessible. In a letter found among her personal papers, a budding artist wrote, “Thank you for adding to my life by writing it for me to be able to read.” She added, “It’s time for a change in occupation from housekeeper to artist. . . . There is a small amount of fear of the unknown, but a greater amount of excitement in expectation of growth in my art.” Nearly fifty years since it was first published, “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” remains required reading for many students in the field. The essay set the stage for Nochlin’s career as a public intellectual. Her upbringing, intellect, love of art, writing skills, and interest in philosophy merged to make her a leading twentieth-century historian.

Memorabilia from Nochlin’s childhood on view includes (left to right) a certificate from her Ethical Culture summer camp (1943), and a doodle that presaged her lifelong affinity for French culture (ca. 1940s); Images courtesy of the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution; Linda Nochlin papers, circa 1876, 1937–2017

“The question of women’s equality—in art as in any other realm— devolves . . . on the very nature of our institutional structures themselves and the view of reality which they impose on the human beings who are part of them.”

NOCHLIN

She wrote or edited more than 150 publications, from her first book Mathis at Colmar to the posthumously published Misère: The Visual Representation of Misery in the 19th Century. She wrote art criticism, and she co-curated Women Artists 1550–1950 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1976. Thirty-one years later, she co-curated Global Feminisms at the Brooklyn Museum.

Exploring the Archive Nochlin diligently maintained files chronicling her work, correspondence, and travels. Born and raised in a prosperous, cultured, and politically progressive family in the Crown

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Her answer to that was captured in her groundbreaking 1971 ARTnews magazine essay of the same name. She wrote, “The question of women’s equality—in art as in any other realm—devolves . . . on the very nature of our institutional structures themselves and the view of reality which they impose on the human beings who are part of them.”

“She has spent her entire professional career . . . making trouble, embodying the position of the maverick.” MAURA REILLY

Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, Nochlin began school at age five. She attended the Brooklyn Ethical Culture School as well as Ethical Culture Summer Camp. Her family members, teachers, and camp leaders encouraged progressive thinking and nurtured her interests in dance, poetry, theater, and art. Nochlin would muse, “I think everything in my life led up to the fact that I was going to be a feminist.” Her drawings and poems appeared in camp publications and college

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Nochlin’s influential essay “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?,” published in the January 1971 issue of ARTnews magazine, opened with a full-page image of Artemisia Gentileschi’s Judith Beheading Holofernes (ca. 1620); Betty Boyd Dettre Library and Research Center, NMWA

magazines. Nochlin graduated from Midwood High School in Brooklyn at age sixteen. She graduated from Vassar College, then received a master’s degree in English from Columbia University and a PhD in art history from New York University. In 2018 the New York office of the Smithsonian Institution’s Archives of American Art (AAA) acquired Nochlin’s trove of forty boxes of documents. The Linda Nochlin Papers, circa 1876, 1937–2017 collection includes childhood memorabilia, the fragile pages of Nochlin’s dissertation on the French artist Gustave Courbet, a box labeled “My Life in Postcards,” letters from fans of her writing, drafts of lectures and articles, correspondence with colleagues, artists, and other associates, and more. In keeping with the imperatives of the Smithsonian’s American Women’s History Initiative and NMWA’s ongoing goal of carrying out strong collaborative projects with other institutions, AAA and NMWA’s Library and Research Center (LRC) partnered to display a selection of the artifacts at NMWA. The resulting exhibition, Linda Nochlin: The Maverick She, marks the first time the materials have been available for public viewing. The archival collection is chock full of early drafts of lectures and articles. The NMWA exhibition includes Nochlin’s notes for lectures touching on artists

PHOTO BY MEL ROSENTHAL

The exhibition features ephemera from Nochlin’s career such as (far left) a flyer for “Women, Art & Power,” a lecture held at Emory University; (above) a photograph of Nochlin (standing, pictured with artist Joyce Kozloff) receiving an award; and (left) reading material such as Self and History: A Tribute to Linda Nochlin, edited by Aruna D’Souza; Flyer and photo courtesy of the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution; Linda Nochlin Papers, circa 1876, 1937–2017

Want to Learn More? LRC team members have begun a new web-based project creating research guides on the library’s exhibitions and collections. The guides serve as entry points for the study of themes concerning women in the visual arts as well as individual art world figures such as Nochlin, Graciela Iturbide, and Judy Chicago. Each guide points visitors to resources such as selected reading materials, videos, and other primary sources. To learn more about Nochlin and her work, visit the LRC’s research guide “Linda Nochlin: The Maverick She,” at https://nmwa.libguides.com. // Lynora Williams is the director of the Betty Boyd Dettre Library

and Research Center at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. Linda Nochlin: The Maverick She is on view in the Betty Boyd Dettre Library and Research Center; check https://nmwa.org for updated schedule information.

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Berthe Morisot and Alice Neel, as well as her hasty but insightful handwritten notes in response to the artwork of Sophie Calle. Twenty items on view from the AAA archival collection are supplemented by the LRC’s own holdings. These include original copies of the 1971 ARTnews magazine and the program for a critical 1972 gathering, Conference of Women in the Visual Arts, held at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Among speakers at the conference were Nochlin, who spoke on “The Image of Women in Art,” and artists Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro. Linda Nochlin: The Maverick She introduces a probing woman of unyielding standards who Aruna D’Souza, editor of a collection of essays in tribute to Nochlin, described as “brilliant, incisive, ornery, contrary, funny, and deeply humane.” Nochlin once argued that “feminist art history is there to make trouble.” Maura Reilly, her collaborator, added of Nochlin, “She has spent her entire professional career doing just that, making trouble, embodying the position of the maverick.”

ON VIEW

Welcoming Audiences to Graciela Iturbide's Mexico // Orin Zahra

SUMMER 2020

Celebrating Graciela Iturbide Iturbide arrived at the museum for a busy opening week of talks, tours, and celebrations in late February. Our team had adapted the exhibition for NMWA’s unique space in consultation with the artist and Kristen Gresh, the Estrellita and Yousuf Karsh Senior Curator of Photographs at the MFA. Encompassing several large spaces on the museum’s second floor, the presentation is organized by

PHOTO BY KEVIN ALLEN PHOTOGRAPHY

This spring, NMWA invited visitors to experience Graciela Iturbide’s Mexico, a groundbreaking exhibition of 140 photographs from the artist’s prolific five-decade-long career. Iturbide’s signature blackand-white gelatin silver prints present nuanced insights into the daily lives and customs of indigenous and urban societies in Mexico. Powerful portrayals of lavish fiestas, processions honoring the dead, and other rites and rituals highlight the syncretism of the country’s pre-Hispanic and Spanish heritages. The photographer renders her subjects, whether people, animals, plants, or inanimate objects, with profound sensitivity and depth. These works reflect Iturbide’s personal journey to discover her homeland. The exhibition, organized by the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), Boston, opened at NMWA to great fanfare on February 28 and was originally scheduled to close on May 26. Due to the temporary closure, Graciela Iturbide’s Mexico has been extended through Sunday, August 23. We hope to welcome visitors back to enjoy this exhibition over the summer.

major themes that Iturbide has explored throughout her work. It was a moving experience to walk with Iturbide through the galleries—walls are hung densely with her photography, and contact sheets in nearby cases illuminate her artistic process.

The opening reception was truly festive, filled with admirers of the artist and museum patrons. In her opening remarks, NMWA Director Susan Fisher Sterling noted the museum’s longstanding support for the artist—Iturbide’s art has featured in solo and group

exhibitions over the past several decades, introducing members and audiences to different aspects of the artist’s work. Iturbide herself voiced her admiration for NMWA and her relationship with our institution. After congratulatory toasts and speeches, guests

Opposite: At NMWA for the opening celebration in late February, Graciela Iturbide stands by an enlarged image of her famed photograph Nuestra Señora de las Iguanas (Our Lady of the Iguanas), Juchitán (1979)

Left: Iturbide welcomes attendees to the exhibition and discusses her photography

mingled among the commanding photographs, many of which prompted provocative conversations. The week also included previews for the press and museum members. We were delighted that Gresh was able to lead members of the press through the galleries, sharing her expertise, after which journalists had the opportunity to sit in brief one-on-one interviews with Iturbide. On Member Preview Day, the curatorial and education departments offered a series of thirty-minute gallery talks, which were attended by around 150 members. A very special part of opening week was a public

“When you see these photographs, you really feel that you are entering the deep soul of Mexico.” Her Excellency Ambassador Martha Bárcena of Mexico

program held at the Mexican Cultural Institute featuring a conversation with Iturbide and Gresh. With her characteristic humor and eloquence, Iturbide delivered a presentation that displayed the sheer breadth of her work throughout her career. It was followed by questions from the audience, who gave her a standing ovation. Her Excellency Ambassador Martha Bárcena hosted the evening event and remarked on her experience of walking through NMWA’s galleries: “I was at the museum, and when you see these photographs, you really feel that you are entering the deep soul of Mexico.”

Digital Engagement Just two weeks later, the museum closed due to the pandemic. Not wanting visitors to miss the experience of the exhibition, our team quickly turned to online engagement as an avenue to share these works with the public. The online exhibition presents each of the nine themes (Early Work, Seri, Juchitán, La Mixteca, Death, Fiestas, Birds, Botanical Garden, and Frida’s Bathroom), along with a selection of key images and bilingual texts in English and Spanish that accompany the presentation. To give a further sense of the exhibition as it appears in the galleries, the online offering also includes

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PHOTOS BY KEVIN ALLEN PHOTOGRAPHY

Below, left to right: Visitors enjoy the exhibition, and the artist greets admirers during the reception

Top to bottom: Online resources connecting web-based visitors with Graciela Iturbide’s Mexico include an online exhibition and a video gallery featuring the artist’s talk at the Mexican Cultural Institute

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an interview conducted by the MFA team in the artist’s studio in Mexico City. On the museum’s Broad Strokes blog, a series of posts explores many of the ideas and motifs presented in the show. Don’t Miss It! In an insightful review of the exhibition, the Washington Post describes Iturbide’s practice: “By immersing herself in the world of her subjects, Iturbide is able to capture the unexpected, not in relation to her expectations but in relation to the place itself....Rather than center herself in the process, Iturbide trusts her subjects to reveal themselves to her over time.” And CNN Style writes of Iturbide's work, “It is a rare chance to witness a thriving and proud culture that is so often overlooked by the mainstream.” Graciela Iturbide’s Mexico is eye-opening, timely, and important, revealing glimpses of a multifaceted country. We invite visitors to explore the variety of digital content the

“It is a rare chance to witness a thriving and proud culture that is so often overlooked by the mainstream.” CNN Style exhibition review

museum has offered online and hope that audiences can safely return to NMWA soon to experience the art of this visionary. Please check https:// nmwa.org for reopening details and updates.

Presentation of the exhibition at NMWA is made possible by RBC Wealth Management and City National Bank, with additional support provided by the Sue J. Henry and Carter G. Phillips Exhibition Fund and Agnes Gund.

// Orin Zahra is the assistant curator at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

Graciela Iturbide’s Mexico is organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

The museum extends appreciation to the Embassy of Mexico and the Mexican Cultural Institute in Washington, D.C.

Museum Events Opening celebrations for Graciela Iturbide’s Mexico

1. NMWA Director Susan Fisher Sterling (center), Her Excellency Ambassador Martha Bárcena of Mexico, and Graciela Iturbide welcome attendees to the event 2. NMWA Board Vice-Chair Winton Holladay and Mary Clark 3. Graciela Iturbide (center) with NMWA Trustees Marcia Myers Carlucci and Marlene Malek

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4. NMWA Director Susan Fisher Sterling and Amy Sturtevant 5. Her Excellency Ambassador Martha Bárcena of Mexico at NMWA with Frida Kahlo’s Self-Portrait Dedicated to Leon Trotsky (1937) 6. NMWA Assistant Curator Orin Zahra, MFA Boston Estrellita and Yousuf Karsh Senior Curator of Photographs Kristen Gresh, and Graciela Iturbide

7-9. Attendees enjoy exploring Iturbide’s photographs 10. A group of women staff members from the Embassy of Mexico visiting the exhibition with the Ambassador (center right)

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PHOTOS 1–9 BY KEVIN ALLEN PHOTOGRAPHY

PHOTO 10 SERGIO OCHOA/EMBASSY OF MEXICO

Cultural Capital: Hair Love

2.-3. Young attendees ask questions from the audience and enjoy signed copies of the book Hair Love

PHOTOS BY SANCHA MCBURNIE

1. Film producer Monica Young, writer/director Matthew Cherry, and illustrator Vashti Harrison hold a conversation and screening of the Oscar-winning short film Hair Love

International Women’s Day 4. In the museum’s Great Hall, visitors enjoy listening to local women-led music groups Tamika Love Jones and Sweet Yonder during a free community day 5. Bank of America Senior Vice Presidents Darlene Mackey and Derrick Perkins and NMWA Director Susan Fisher Sterling 6. Girl Scouts sell cookies to benefit their chosen charities, A Wider Circle and So Others Might Eat 4.

PHOTOS BY SANCHA MCBURNIE

7. Event attendees explored exhibitions including Delita Martin: Calling Down the Spirits

8. NMWA Director of Public Programs Melani N. Douglass visits with attendees during the reception for Ava DuVernay 9. NMWA Director Susan Fisher Sterling welcomes the audience

PHOTOS BY SANCHA MCBURNIE

Screening of Ava DuVernay’s 13th with live music by Jason Moran, in partnership with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Cultural Capital: Motherhood Redux, in partnership with the Folger Shakespeare Library

11. After reading their work about motherhood, poets Tina Chang, Beth Ann Fennelly, and Camille Dungy sign books and chat with attendees

EDITOR’S NOTE: All events took place before the museum’s mid-March closure and the D.C. Mayor’s stay-at-home order.

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PHOTOS BY SANCHA MCBURNIE

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10. Moderator Christina Daub

Museum News

The Spring Gala is NMWA’s largest and most important annual fundraising event, benefiting the museum’s highimpact special exhibitions and diverse education and public programming initiatives. Our gala this year was scheduled for April 17, and it was set to raise over $600,000 to support the museum. Preparations were well underway, but due to the global situation with COVID-19, we were unable to host the event. We are so pleased to announce that nearly 100% of our gala sponsors and supporters agreed to transfer their support into fully tax-deductible contributions to the museum. We greatly depend on revenue from the annual gala to meet our budget goals and fulfill our mission. The support from our donors this year was truly a miracle. Our deepest gratitude goes to our 2020 Spring Gala Co-Chairs, Grace Bender, Rose Carter, Ashley Davis, Marlene Malek, and Lauren TalaricoCohen, for their tireless efforts preparing for a memorable evening celebrating women in the arts, as well as our incredible honorees, Graciela Iturbide and Vera Wang. We especially want to thank 2020 Spring Gala Presenting Sponsor RBC Wealth Management and City National Bank. All of our supporters have been incredibly generous, and we are so grateful. This extraordinary support means more now than ever.

Presenting Sponsor

Gold Patron Jacqueline Badger Mars Pearl Patrons Grace and Morton Bender Rose and Paul Carter Martha Dippell and Daniel Korengold Marlene Malek

Silver Patrons Marcia Myers Carlucci Ashley Davis and Joel Frushone Wilhelmina Cole Holladay Winton and Hap Holladay Lauren Talarico-Cohen and Marc Cohen Patti and George White

Crystal Patrons The Honorable Stuart Bernstein and Wilma E. Bernstein Tracy and Adam Bernstein The Carl M. Freeman Foundation Diane Casey-Landry and Brock Landry Marcy and Neil Cohen Lisa and Porter Dawson Nancy and Marc Duber Joseph and Shelley Galli Elva Ferrari-Graham and John Graham Robin and Jay Hammer Pamela Johnson and Wesley King Dr. Sachiko Kuno Kristen and George Lund

Linda and Larry Mann The Honorable Mary V. Mochary Sara O’Keefe Alejandra and Enrique Segura / Securiport Sheila and Richard Shaffer Karen and William Sonneborn Kathleen Elizabeth Springhorn and Thomas J. Dillman Debra Therit Annie Simonian Totah Whiting-Turner Contracting Company Supporters Eileen Bakke Elizabeth Boe Katherine and David Bradley Rita Braver Barbara and Russell Brown Margaret Brown Charlotte and Michael Buxton Jane and Calvin Cafritz Buffy Cafritz Gilan and Milton Corn Byron Croker Julie B. Crosswell Lynn Finesilver Crystal Mary Lou Dauray and Alan Davis Betty B. Dettre Kenneth Dutter Claire Dwoskin Gerry Ehrlich Sarah G. Epstein and Donald A. Collins Lynn Gagnon Elizabeth and Michael Galvin Susan Goldberg and Geoffrey Etnire Pamela Gwaltney Mary Haft Laurie S. Harrison Shelley and Allan Holt JoAnne and Jiggie Johnson Nancy Keefe Mary N. Lamont Mary Ann and Allen Lassiter Elizabeth Lodal Susan and Frank Mars Priscilla Martin Juliana E. May Ann M. McGraw Leila W. Mischer Nancy Moorman Kristine Morris Ann and Patrick Murphy

Susan Neely Melanie and Lawrence Nussdorf Kay W. Olson Nancy B. Ordway Anna Marie Parisi-Trone Olwen Thorpe Pongrace Jacqueline L. Quillen Christine Rales Lucy Rhame Elizabeth C. Richter Marion Rosenthal Anikó G. Schott Dot and Ned Snyder Linda Sorkin Patti Spivey Alice and Kenneth Starr Susan and Scott Sterling Judy and Charles Tate Brooke and Heyward Taylor Elzbieta Chlopecka Vande Sande Amy Weiss Pam Willeford Betty Bentsen Winn Jean and Donald Wolf Mei Xu Suzanne and Glenn Youngkin Dick & Betsy DeVos Family Foundation EastCoast Entertainment MJ Valet

Thank you, Members! A BIG thank you to all of our members! By joining the museum, renewing your membership, and making special gifts, you kept the museum strong during our temporary closure. The whole NMWA team sincerely appreciates your steadfast commitment to our shared mission. Thank you for helping us continue to advocate for women in and through the arts.

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Thanks to Spring Gala Supporters!

Supporting Roles 28

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Wilhelmina Cole Holladay—Chair of the Board, Winton S. Holladay— Vice-Chair of the Board, Martha Dippell—President, Gina F. Adams— First Vice President, Susan Goldberg— Second Vice President, Sheila Shaffer— Acting Treasurer and Finance Chair, Rose Carter—Secretary, Pamela Parizek—Audit Chair, Marcia Myers Carlucci—Building Chair, Amy Weiss— Communications Chair, Carol Matthews Lascaris—President Emerita and Endowment Chair, Ashley Davis— Government Relations Chair, Nancy Duber—Nominations Chair, Nancy Nelson Stevenson—Works of Art Chair, Susan Fisher Sterling— Alice West Director**, Janice Lindhurst Adams, Charlotte Clay Buxton, Diane Casey-Landry, Lizette Corro, Betty Boyd Dettre, Deborah I. Dingell, Anjali Gupta, Cindy Jones, Sally L. Jones, Marlene Malek, Jacqueline Badger Mars, Juliana E. May, Bonnie McElveen-Hunter, Mary V. Mochary, Jackie Quillen, Stephanie Sale, Julie Sapone**, Kathleen Elizabeth Springhorn, Jessica H. Sterchi, Joanne Stringer, Mahinder Tak, Annie S. Totah, Sarah Bucknell Treco**, Frances Luessenhop Usher, Ruthanna Maxwell Weber, Alice West, Patti White **Ex-Officio

SUMMER 2020

NMWA ADVISORY BOARD

Sarah Bucknell Treco—Chair, Noreen Ackerman, Kathe Hicks Albrecht, Sunny Scully Alsup, Jo Ann Barefoot, Gail Bassin, Arlene Begelman, Sue Ann Berlin, Catherine Little Bert, Susan A. Block, Margaret C. Boyce Brown, Deborah G. Carstens, Rebecca Chang, Paul T. Clark, Amb. Maria Eugenia Chiozza, Elizabeth Christopher, Barbara Cohen, Marcella Cohen, Marian Cohen, Donna Paolino Coia, Linda Comstock, Elizabeth Crane, Prof. Byron Croker, M.D., Lynn Finesilver Crystal, Elizabeth Cullen, Verónica de Ferrero, Belinda de Gaudemar, Kitty de Isola, Katy Graham Debost, Betty B. Dettre, Alexis Deutsch, Kenneth P. Dutter, Christine Edwards, Anne N. Edwards, Gerry E. Ehrlich, Elva Ferrari-Graham, Lisa Claudy Fleischman, Anita Forsyth, Lucrecia Forsyth, Rosemarie C. Forsythe, Anita Friedt, Claudia Fritsche, Barbara S. Goldfarb, Sally Gries, Michelle Guillermin, Anjali Gupta, Pamela Gwaltney, Florencia Helbling, Sue J. Henry, Jan Jessup, Alice Kaplan, Paulette Kessler, Janece Smoot Kleban, Arlene Fine Klepper, Doris Kloster, Malinda Krantz, Nelleke Langhout-Nix, Robin Leeds,

Cynthia Madden Leitner, Gladys Lisanby, Sarah H. Lisanby, M.D., Fred M. Levin, Bonnie Loeb, Clara M. Lovett, Joanne Ludovici, Patricia Macintyre, Linda Mann, Maria Teresa Martínez, C. Raymond Marvin, Ellen Stirn Mavec, Pat McCall, Dee Ann McIntyre, Cynthia McKee, Fatima McKinley, Constance C. McPhee, Suzanne Mellor, Morgan Miller, Milica Mitrovich, Claudia Pensotti Mosca, Deborah E. Myers, Jeannette T. Nichols, Kay Woodward Olson, Monica T. O'Neill, Katherine D. Ortega, Margaret Perkins, Sarah (Patti) Pyle, Drina Rendic, Helena Ribe, Barbara Richter, Elizabeth Robinson, Tara Rudman, Elizabeth A. Sackler, Stephanie Sale, Consuelo Salinas de Pareja, Steven Scott, Marsha Brody Shiff, Kathy Sierra, Ann Simon, Geri Skirkanich, Dot Snyder, Denise Littlefield Sobel, Patti Amanda Spivey, Kathleen Elizabeth, Springhorn, Sara Steinfeld, Jo Stribling, Susan Swartz, Cheryl S. Tague, Judy Spence Tate, Lisa Cannon Taylor, MaryRoss Taylor, Brooke Taylor, Debra Therit, Deborah Dunklin Tipton, Sarah Bucknell Treco, Marichu Valencia, Sara M. Vance Waddell, Paula S. Wallace, Harriet L. Warm, Krystyna Wasserman, Patti White, Carol Winer, Betty Bentsen Winn, Rhett D. Workman LEGACY OF WOMEN IN THE ARTS ENDOWMENT CAMPAIGN

We wish to thank all of the supporters of the Legacy of Women in the Arts Endowment Campaign, whose generosity guarantees that NMWA will endure and forever inspire for generations to come. Although we can only list donations of $10,000 and above due to space limitations, NMWA is grateful to all donors to the endowment. Endowment Foundation Trustee ($1 million+) Anonymous, Betty B. and Rexford* Dettre, Estate of Grace A. George, Wilhelmina C. and Wallace F.* Holladay, Sr., Carol and Climis Lascaris, Estate of Evelyn B. Metzger*, The Honorable Mary V. Mochary, Rose Benté Lee Ostapenko*, The Madeleine Rast Charitable Remainder Trust*, The Walton Family Foundation Endowment Foundation Governor ($500,000–$999,999) Noreen M. Ackerman, P. Frederick Albee and Barbara E. Albee*, Catherine L. and Arthur A. Bert, M.D., J.W. Kaempfer, Jr., Nelleke Langhout-Nix, Joe R. and Teresa L. Long, James R. and Suzanne S. Mellor, National Endowment for the Humanities, Drs. A. Jess and Ben Shenson*, MaryRoss Taylor, Alice W. and Gordon T. West, Jr.

Endowment Foundation Fellow ($200,000–$499,999) Catharina B. and Livingston L. Biddle, Jr.*, Marcia and Frank* Carlucci Charitable Foundation, Costa del Sol Cruise, Kenneth P. Dutter, Estate of E. Louise Gaudet, Lorraine G. Grace*, William Randolph Hearst Foundation, Estate of Eleanor Heller*, Fred M. Levin and Nancy Livingston*/The Shenson Foundation, in memory of Drs. Ben and A. Jess Shenson, Dorothy S. Lyddon*/ Seven Springs Foundation, Marlene McArthur and Frederic V.* Malek, Victoria J. Mastrobuono*, Sea Goddess I and II Trips, Alejandra and Enrique Segura, Sheila and Richard Shaffer, Clarice Smith Endowment Foundation Counselor ($100,000–$199,999) Gina and Eugene Adams, Janice L. and Harold L. Adams, Nunda and Prakash Ambegaonkar, Carol C. Ballard, Baltic Cruise, Charlotte Clay Buxton, Eleanor and Nicholas D. Chabraja, Clark Charitable Foundation, Hilda and William B. Clayman, Julia B. and Michael M. Connors, Martha Lyn Dippell and Daniel Lynn Korengold, Gerry E. and S. Paul* Ehrlich, Jr., Enterprise Rent-A-Car, FedEx Corporation, The Geiger Family Foundation, Barbara A. Gurwitz and William D. Hall, Caroline Rose Hunt*/ The Sands Foundation, Cindy and Evan Jones, Alice D. Kaplan, Dorothy* and Raymond LeBlanc, Lucia Woods Lindley, Gladys K. and James W.* Lisanby, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Adrienne B. and John F. Mars, Juliana and Richard E.* May, Bonnie McElveenHunter, Irene Natividad, The Miller and Jeanette Nichols Foundation/ Jeannette T. Nichols, Nancy O’Malley*, Lady Pearman, Reinsch Pierce Family Foundation/Lola C. Reinsch and J. Almont Pierce, Julia Sevilla Somoza, Marsha Brody Shiff, Ann Simmons*, June Speight*, Kathleen Elizabeth Springhorn, Mahinder K. and Sharad Tak, Sami and Annie Totah Family Foundation, Elzbieta Chlopecka Vande Sande Endowment Circle ($50,000–$99,999) Linda Able Choice*, George* and Ursula Andreas, Arkansas Fifty, Lulu H. Auger*, Virginia Mitchell Bailey*, Sondra D. and Howard M. Bender*/The Bender Foundation, Inc., Patti Cadby Birch*, Laura Lee and Jack S. Blanton, Sr.*/ Scurlock Foundation, Anne R. Bord*, Caroline Boutté, BP Foundation, Inc., M. A. Ruda* and Peter J. P. Brickfield, Margaret C. Boyce Brown, Martha Buchanan, Sandra and Miles Childers, Mary and Armeane Choksi, Donna Paolino Coia and Arthur Coia, Margaret and David Cole/The Cole Family Foundation, Holland H. Coors*, Porter and Lisa Dawson, Courtenay Eversole, Suzy Finesilver*/The Hertzel and Suzy Finesilver Charitable Foundation, Karen Dixon Fuller, Alan Glen Family Trust, Peter and Wendy Gowdey, Laura

L. Guarisco, Jolynda H. and David M. Halinski, Janie Hathoot, Hap and Winton Holladay, I. Michael and Beth Kasser, William R. and Christine M. Leahy, Louise C. Mino Trust, Zoe H. and James H. Moshovitis, Joan and Lucio A. Noto, Marjorie H. and Philip Odeen, Nancy Bradford Ordway, Katherine D. Ortega, Margaret H. and Jim Perkins, Ramsay D. Potts*, in honor of Veronica R. Potts, Elizabeth Pruet*, Edward Rawson, Jane S. Schwartz Trust, Jack and Dana* Snyder, Judith Zee Steinberg and Paul J. Hoenmans, Susan and Scott Sterling, Nancy N. and Roger Stevenson, Jr., Jo and Thomas Stribling, Susan and Jim Swartz, Elizabeth Stafford Hutchinson Endowed Internship—Texas State Committee of NMWA, Frances and William* Usher, Stuart and Chancy West, Betty Bentsen Winn and Susan Winn Lowry, Yeni Wong Endowment Patron ($25,000–$49,999) Micheline and Sean Connery, Stephanie Fein, Sheila ffolliott, Georgia State Committee of NMWA, New York Trip, Mississippi State Committee of NMWA, Northern Trust, Estate of Mary Marvin, Breckinridge Patterson, Chris Petteys*, Lisa and Robert Pumphrey*, Elizabeth A. Sackler, Estate of Madoline W. Shreve*, Patti Amanda and Bruce Spivey, Sahil Tak/ST Paper, LLC, In honor of Alice West, Jean and Donald M. Wolf, The Women’s Committee of NMWA Endowment Sponsor ($15,000–$24,999) Deborah G. Carstens, Martha and Homer Gudelsky*, Sally L. Jones, Louise H. Matthews Fund, Lily Y. Tanaka, Liz and Jim Underhill, Elizabeth Welles, Dian Woodner Endowment Friend ($10,000–$14,999) Carol A. Anderson, Julia and George L. Argyros, Mrs. Joseph T. Beardwood, III, Catherine Bennett and Fred Frailey, Susan G. Berk, Mary Kay Blake, Booz Allen Hamilton, Lynne V. and Richard Cheney, Esther Coopersmith, Darby Foundation, Juliet De Laricheliere*, Jack J. Dreyfus, Jr.*, Patricia M. and Clifford J. Ehrlich, Mary Page and Thomas B. Evans, Lois Lehrman Grass, Anna Stapleton Henson, Alexine C. and Aaron G.* Jackson, Jan Jessup, Pamela Johnson and Wesley King, Helga and Peter-Hans Keilbach, Howard and Michelle Kessler, Ellen U. and Alfred A. King*, Jacqueline Badger Mars, C. Raymond Marvin, Clyde and Pat Dean McCall, Edwina H. and Charles P. Milner, Evelyn V. and Robert M.* Moore, Harriet Newbill, Estate of Edythe Bates Old, PepsiCo., Inc., Anne and Chris Reyes, Savannah Trip, Mary Anne B. Stewart, Paula Wallace/Savannah College of Art and Design, Marjorie Nohowel Wasilewski, Jean S. and Gordon T. Wells * Deceased (all lists as of May 15, 2020)

Museum Shop

Shop NMWA online at https://shop.nmwa.org or call 202-783-7994

Lemon Stress Ball Keychain When life gives you lemons… squeeze this limited edition stress ball made in collaboration with artist Leah Martha Rosenberg. $12/Member $10.80 (Item #29880)

Canopy Incense Incense has been used for centuries to clear stagnant energy and promote calm, positive spaces. 20 sticks; notes of teakwood, water lily, and eucalyptus. $16/Member $14.40 (Item #31069)

Multi-Circle Dangle Earrings Add a cool and colorful statement to any outfit with these mint multi-circle dangle earrings. Acetate and resin; 2 ¾ in. long. $28/Member $25.20 (Item #20793)

“Bathing with Flowers” Puzzle Find zen in the art of puzzle making with this whimsical scene by illustrator Alja Horvat. Puzzle glue not included. 800 pieces; 17 ½ x 23 ½ in.; $48/Member $43.20 (Item #29928)

The Feminist Activity Book This crafty book features Feminist All-Star Trading Cards, Destroy the Page-Triarchy, Sexist Social Media Bingo, and A Feminist ABC. Softcover, 64 pages. $12/Member $10.80 (Item #3452)

Graciela Iturbide: Mi Ojo This limited-edition book presents a personal selection of Iturbide’s black-and-white photographs, a true exploration of the photographer’s eye. Paperback, 128 pages; 5 ½ x 5 ¼ in.; $39/Member $35.10 (Item #1432)

HommeGirls magazine: Volume 1 This large-format magazine is part of an initiative dedicated to women who shop in the men’s department. Featuring fashion portfolios by photographers Vanina Sorrenti, Cass Bird, and Ben Grieme. Softcover, 40 pages. $10/Member $9 (Item #1428)

WO M E N I N T H E A RTS

Rainbow Socks A fun and comfy pair of cotton socks in classic rainbow colors. One size fits all. $14/Member $12.60 (Item #27296)

1250 New York Avenue NW Washington, DC 20005-3970

COMING SOON

Paper Routes Women to Watch 2020

Paper Routes, the sixth installment of NMWA’s exhibition series Women to Watch, showcases objects made from paper—from intimate and minutely detailed works to immersive installations. The twenty-two featured artists demonstrate that paper is not always merely a support for drawings, prints, and photographs, but instead a thriving contemporary medium in and of itself. Some works in the exhibition highlight the delicate properties of paper through thousands of meticulous cuts. Others compact and consolidate

PHOTO BY WELANCORA GALLERY

Now scheduled to open October 8, 2020

the material, forming surprisingly dense and monumental sculptures. Whether cut, folded, glued, stacked, burned, or embossed, paper works comprise a wide variety of objects. Paper Routes celebrates this diversity of approaches and the transformation of this ubiquitous

and eclectic material into complex works of art. // Paper Routes—Women to Watch 2020

is organized by the National Museum of Women in the Arts. The Women to Watch exhibition series features emerging and underrepresented artists from the states and countries in which NMWA has outreach committees.

Consulting curators in their respective regions created shortlists of artists working with paper; from these proposals NMWA selected the final artists to be featured in Paper Routes. Oasa DuVerney, Black Power Wave: Drawing for Protest, 2017; Graphite and neon ink on paper, dimensions variable; Courtesy of the artist