Washington, D.C. – This summer the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NWMA) will present an exhibition that chronicles how women artists have explored gender issues since the 1960s. On view from June 14 to August 11, 2002, the exhibition will include groundbreaking artists such as Judy Chicago, May Stevens, Ana Mendieta, and the Guerrilla Girls, as well as Laura Cottingham’s documentary NOT FOR SALE: Feminism and Art in the U.S.A. in the 1970s.

American culture in the 1960s, radicalized by the Vietnam War and the civil rights movement, was more open to new methods for creating art and new ways of thinking about women artists’ place in history. Feminists were successfully pushing the envelope in the art world with their art and their activism. New processes and unorthodox materials, including those traditionally ascribed to women such as crafts and decoration, were elevated and respected as a result of the feminist art movement.

Reshaping the history of art to include women was an important component to the feminist artist agenda in the 1970s and 1980s. May Stevens’ SoHo Women Artists (1977-78) wryly documents women artists and feminists from 1970s New York with a composition traditionally used by men, such as Raphael with the School of Athens. In the Guerrilla Girls’ Does a Woman Have to be Naked to Get into the Met? (1989), fact and wit highlight the shortcomings of the artistic world in recognizing women’s contributions.

Increased feminist awareness led women to create art that was more intensely personal, often closely tied to their experiences. Critics have credited the feminist art movement with re-introducing figural representation into art in the 1970s, in obvious contrast to modernist abstraction that was so prevalent in the 1960s. In Ana Mendieta’s photograph from her performance piece Volcano Series, no. 2 (1979), the earth itself is used to create a primitive female form that bursts into flames with gunpowder, evoking fertility, death, and destruction. Continuing into the 1990s, Petah Coyne’s sculptural Untitled #781 (1994) interprets her childhood idea of what it means to be a grown-up and beautiful woman, visualized in a frilly pink-and-white petticoat made of wax. Coyne’s variety of materials in her work, including dead fish, mud, and birdcages, describe her ideas in graphic terms that often differ from stereotypical ideas of femininity.

Women played important roles in developing new art forms, including performance, video, collaborative projects, and installation art. Looking beyond the realms of painting, sculpture and drawing, these alternative art forms fulfilled the personal and politically topical messages of second-wave feminism. Laura Cottingham’s video compilation NOT FOR SALE: Feminism and Art in the U.S.A. during the 1970s (1998) offers a wide-ranging view of women’s experiments in new media. Featuring over 100 artists, Cottingham sets these works within the context of broader social change.

Three films by Bette Gordon that explore male-female politics and social stereotypes will be offered during the summer at NMWA. Included is the Washington, D.C. premiere of Luminous Motion (1998) on Wednesday, June 26, at 7 p.m. Call 202.783.7370 for tickets and information.

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 28 state committees. Nearly 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 more than 35,000 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.