Nmwa Exhibitions

View of the museum from outside showing the Neoclassical building from one corner. The building is a tan-colored stone with an arched doorway, long vertical windows, and detailed molding around the roof.

Mixed Media Majesty: Petah Coyne

Posted: July 10, 2017
Category: Nmwa Exhibitions
In celebration of NMWA’s 30th anniversary, and inspired by the museum’s focus on contemporary women artists as catalysts for change, Revival illuminates how women working in sculpture, photography, and video use spectacle...
Installation view of a sculpture hanging from the ceiling in a gallery space. The sculpture consists of myriad layers of melted pink and white wax that encrust and obscure the metal armature for this abstract sculpture, which hangs from satin-wrapped chains. Its color and shape, as well as the bumpy, lacy texture, evoke a frilly tutu, lavishly frosted wedding cake, or coral accretions.

Hair’s the Thing: Sonya Clark

Posted: July 6, 2017
Category: Nmwa Exhibitions
In celebration of NMWA’s 30th anniversary, and inspired by the museum’s focus on contemporary women artists as catalysts for change, Revival illuminates how women working in sculpture, photography, and video use spectacle...
A circular wreath made of dark, tightly coiled hair with strands escaping and resembling laurels.

Not So Itsy Bitsy: Louise Bourgeois

Posted: July 3, 2017
Category: Nmwa Exhibitions
In celebration of NMWA’s 30th anniversary, and inspired by the museum’s focus on contemporary women artists as catalysts for change, Revival illuminates how women working in sculpture, photography, and video use spectacle...
Bronze sculpture of a spider on a white platform against a magenta background.

Color Blocking & Blending: Polly Apfelbaum’s Prints

Posted: June 26, 2017
Category: Nmwa Exhibitions
Polly Apfelbaum (b. 1955) is best known for her large-scale installations and “fallen paintings,” compositions of dyed synthetic fabrics that she places directly on the floor.
Twelve vertical columns, each a different color, of repeating flower, pinwheel, and starburst shapes on a white background.

Who Did Simone de Beauvoir Inspire?

Posted: June 21, 2017
Category: Nmwa Exhibitions
In the installation From the Desk of Simone de Beauvoir, visitors can consider the influence and intellect of writer Simone de Beauvoir in an interpretation of her Paris studio alcove. Museum...

Can Art Rouse the Spirit? Experience “Revival” this Summer!

Posted: June 15, 2017
Category: Nmwa Exhibitions
On June 23, NMWA’s second floor will come alive with brilliant contemporary sculpture and photo-based art by 16 women artists in the summer exhibition Revival. The show explores the featured artists’ representations...
Three photographs join to show a woman lying on a bed on her back. Turning her head to look at the viewer, she wears airy light clothing and a heavy, wide gold belt and her long hair falls to the floor. A metallic surface covers everything - the walls, furniture and the woman.

What Did Simone de Beauvoir Write?

Posted: June 6, 2017
Category: Nmwa Exhibitions
In the installation From the Desk of Simone de Beauvoir, visitors can consider the influence and intellect of writer Simone de Beauvoir in an interpretation of her Paris studio alcove. Museum...

What Did Simone de Beauvoir Read?

Posted: May 24, 2017
Category: Nmwa Exhibitions
In the installation From the Desk of Simone de Beauvoir, visitors can consider the influence and intellect of writer Simone de Beauvoir in an interpretation of her Paris studio alcove....

What #BeauvoirSays to NMWA

Posted: May 15, 2017
Category: Nmwa Exhibitions
Visitors ask me why the National Museum of Women in the Arts has a dedicated installation to honor Simone de Beauvoir. Beauvoir was not an artist, not a patron, and...

Artist Friendships: Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo

Posted: May 13, 2017
Category: Nmwa Exhibitions
Inspired by the special exhibition New Ground: The Southwest of Maria Martinez and Laura Gilpin, we are celebrating famous artist friendships. Did you know that Leonora Carrington (1917–2011) and Remedios...
Surrealist painting shaped like an animal skin dominated by a foreboding human-like shape hovering over narrative scenes of animals, human hybrids, and reverse-handwritten Celtic references. At the center, a bright blue circle containing a chimeric figure sits atop a seated camel.