Letting Their Hair Down: “Wild” Women at NMWA

February 6, 2013

From The Collection

What can you guess about a woman from her hair? Whether the ill-fated Ophelia’s disheveled tresses or Rapunzel’s ladder-long locks, hair is often a significant tool in characterization. In art,...

Side-by-side portraits of a light-skinned couple with dark hair sitting in formal postures. Gazing outward, they wear dark clothing with light accents and the woman wears a gold earring and pin. They both hold objects: the woman a brocaded red cloth and the man a book.

Petah Coyne: From Dickens to Dutch Still-life Painting

January 30, 2013

From The Collection

Disturbingly alluring, Petah Coyne’s Untitled #781 certainly packs a visual punch. The wax-work evokes a plethora of associations, both pleasant and disconcerting. Viewers may be surprised to learn, however, that...

A sculpture hangs in a dark gallery. The sculpture comprises layers of melted pink and white wax that form a dress-like shape hanging from satin-wrapped chains. Its color, shape, and bumpy, lacy texture, evoke a frilly tutu, lavishly frosted wedding cake, or coral.

A Harmony of Opposites: Jiha Moon’s Floating Landscapes

January 23, 2013

From The Collection

As a “cartographer of cultures,” Jiha Moon strives to be “a visual interpreter of the mixed cultural worlds of [her] generation.” The Atlanta-based artist creates kaleidoscopic works of art that...

Abstract painting features translucent, wave-like turquoise, aquamarine, and fuchsia washes mingled with red lines and hard-edged, matte-pink sinuous shapes bounded by blue and green scales. Other details resolve into a human hand, tree-sprigged mountains, and craggy branches.

Happy Birthday, Judy Chicago!

July 20, 2012

From The Collection

Her vision is to “move beyond the construct of femininity into the un-gendered and free space that should be available for every human being”; her means of achieving it is...

Four hard-edged octagons, each divided into eight pie-slice shapes painted red, pink, orange, yellow, olive green, blue, violet, or lavender, occupy a square, white background. Dark at the wide and narrow ends of each wedge, the hues create the illusion of 3-dimensional forms.

Isadora Duncan: A Revolutionary Dancer

June 15, 2012

From The Collection

In the mid-19th century, dance was ready for a revolution. The ballet theater had been nearly reduced to a peep show in Paris by 1850, as is reflected in the...

Bronze sculpture of a standing woman gazing over her right shoulder, holding a fan by her side. She wears a long, loose gown that gathers at her feet, with her hair swept off her neck. Her left hand holds a flower by her bust.

Surrealist Artist Dorothea Tanning Dies at 101

February 2, 2012

From The Collection

Dorothea Tanning was an American woman artist unto herself. Overflowing with spirited opinions and ambition, she displayed an eccentric artistic soul that endured for over six decades and earned her...

A portrait of a woman with a light skin tone is hanging on the wall to the right, and two small Surrealist works are hanging to the left.

Curator's Travelogue: Women Artists of Bologna

November 10, 2011

From The Collection

In this series of blog posts, NMWA Curator of Book Arts Krystyna Wasserman recounts a recent trip to Europe: The focus of a journey could be the exploration of a...

A woman with light skin tone stands in a richly brocaded red dress, her right hand reaching down to pet a small, white dog. Adorned in jewelry, she wears flowers in her hair, parted in the center. The pelt of a small mammal, its head encased in a jeweled holder, hangs from her heavily decorated belt.

Statistics in The Guerrilla Girls Talk Back: Revealing the Hard Facts on Discrimination

August 31, 2011

From The Collection

The Guerrilla Girls Talk Back, on view at NMWA through October 2, immediately strikes viewers with overwhelming statistics and figures. The Girls have combined eye-grabbing graphics and startling numbers to...