Washington, D.C. – Thirty-five of Edda Renouf’s meditative abstract paintings and oil pastels will be on view from Feb. 20 through May 16, 2004, in Edda Renouf: Revealed Structures, at the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA). By removing threads from the linen canvas or incising lines into paper and then painting and sanding them, the artist uncovers their abstract structures to address themes of time and the four elements – air, earth, fire/sun, and water.

Dr. Judy L. Larson, NMWA director, notes, “Renouf’s works captivate the viewer with their geometric order and striking colors, inviting a closer look at the very make-up of the canvases.”

Nature and time have a large impact on Renouf’s work. The artist sees a connection between the four elements and the materials she uses to create her paintings and drawings. Beginning with organic linen and paper, she then chooses paint colors that reflect the natural world. The motif of time is embodied in the rhythms created through the repetition of horizontal, vertical, or diagonal marks. Reminiscent of a diary, Renouf names her works after a month or a season, signifying when they were created.

In 1999 Renouf created A Drawing a Day, comprising 365 drawings, one for each day of the last year of the millennium. These drawings, some of which are on view in the exhibition, became a source of ideas for later, larger works. Also included in the exhibition is the painting Earth Echoes, (Summer) (2003), in which a cluster of short vertical marks left by removing threads from the canvas symbolizes her sense of the earth’s cosmic energy.

An American born in Mexico, Renouf began drawing at an early age. She moved to the United States to attend Sarah Lawrence College and completed her BA in 1965. Studying painting with Jack Tworkov and Richard Pousette-Dart at Columbia University School of the Arts in New York City, she received her MFA in 1971 and a fellowship to paint in Paris. While working there, she noticed a particular linen in an art store, which led her to discover her personal technique of thread removal. Working with it from within the weave, she removed threads from the grid structure of the canvas which she then painted and sanded to reveal the life within its structure.

Since 1972 Edda Renouf has continually exhibited in solo and group exhibitions both in galleries and museums in the United States and Europe. Her works are in many public collections, a selection of which are: MOMA, Whitney Museum of American Art, and Metropolitan Museum in New York City; National Gallery of Art and National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; and British Museum, London.

The exhibition is organized by NMWA and is co-curated by Susan Fisher Sterling, chief curator, and
Britta Konau, associate curator of modern and contemporary art. An expanded exhibition will be on view at Brenau University Galleries in Gainesville, Ga., June 21-Sept. 26, 2004. The accompanying catalogue contains an introduction by Jean Westmacott, director of Brenau University Galleries, and an interview with the artist by Britta Konau. Illustrated with 17 color reproductions, the publication
Edda Renouf: Revealed Structures will be available for $18.95 through the Museum Shop.

The presentation of Edda Renouf: Revealed Structures at NMWA is made possible through the generous support of the Scaler Foundation, The Clarence Westbury Foundation, and Nielsen & Bainbridge, LLC. Additional funding is provided by the following sponsors: Susan B. Dunton, Judith Goodwin Pott,
Tom Hicks, Dale Johnson, Doris H. McClory, Boris Pleskovic, Randy Rabinowitz, Anne Renouf,
Barbara Spillinger, Jane Studabaker, and Anne Armstrong Thompson.

Admission to the museum from Feb. 20-29, 2004, and April 23-May 16, 2004 will be $8 for adults, $6 for students and visitors 60 and over, and free for NMWA members and youth 18 and under. Admission to the museum March 1-April 22, 2004 will be $5 for adults, $3 for students and visitors 60 and over, and free for NMWA members and youth 18 and under. Free Community Days are the first Sunday and Wednesday of each month.

About the women’s museum

The National Museum of Women in the Arts, founded in 1981 and opened in 1987, is the only museum dedicated solely to celebrating the achievements of women in the visual, performing, and literary arts. Its permanent collection contains works by more than 800 artists, including Judith Leyster,
Maria Sibylla Merian, Mary Cassatt, Camille Claudel, Georgia O’Keeffe, Frida Kahlo, Elizabeth Catlett,
Lee Krasner, Helen Frankenthaler, and Louise Bourgeois. The museum also conducts multidisciplinary programs for diverse audiences, maintains a Library and Research Center, publishes a quarterly magazine, and has organized national and international committees. More than 120,000 people visit the museum each year, including thousands of young people who come with schools and scouting groups. NMWA’s national membership of nearly 40,000 is among the top ten percent of museum memberships nationwide. The museum is located at 1250 New York Avenue, NW, Washington, DC, in a landmark building near the White House. It is open Monday-Saturday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Sunday noon – 5 p.m.
For information call 202.783.5000 or visit the museum’s website, www.nmwa.org.