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.
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Women with Wanderlust

Posted: June 10, 2015
Category: Nmwa Exhibitions
During the press preview for Super Natural, NMWA Chief Curator Kathryn Wat stressed one fact above all others about featured artist Maria Sibylla Merian: this woman was radical. Not only...
A detailed engraving portrays a large, black and tan lizard with a white belly in precise detail. Facing right and positioned over a green surface and a hatching egg, the reptile bites a long, red and black snake attacking another egg and curling around the lizard's tail.

5 Questions with Jennifer Celio

Posted: June 8, 2015
Category: Nmwa Exhibitions
The fourth installment of NMWA’s biennial exhibition series, Organic Matters—Women to Watch 2015 is presented by the museum and participating national and international outreach committees. The exhibition’s artists redefine the...
View of a gallery space. In big letters green , the text on the wall reads "Women to Watch: Organic Matters, 2015."

5 Fast Facts: Rachel Ruysch

Posted: June 2, 2015
Category: Nmwa Exhibitions
Impress your friends with five fast facts about Rachel Ruysch, whose work will be on view at NMWA in Super Natural, June 5–September 13, 2015.
A still life painting featuring an asymmetrical arrangement of flowers; the central section features pink, orange, yellow, and blue flowers and is dramatically highlighted compared to the background and outer edge of arrangement.

Not Losing their Luster—Ceramics by Daisy Makeig-Jones

Posted: May 28, 2015
Category: Nmwa Exhibitions
NMWA exhibition Casting a Spell: Ceramics by Daisy Makeig-Jones features work that the artist (1881–1945) created for the Wedgwood pottery company. She is best known for Fairyland Lusterware, a Wedgwood...
Porcelain pedestal bowl featuring an iridescent lustreware glaze. Around the bowl, winged fairies and sprites cavort on a vibrant green field set against a deep blue background. The figures and the decorative elements along the rim and foot of the bowl are outlined in gold cloisonne.

Uncommon Ground: Summer Exhibitions at NMWA

Posted: May 15, 2015
Category: Nmwa Exhibitions
What is natural? Porcelain grass lawns and anthropomorphic scooters may not be the first objects to come to mind, although they are likely to make a lasting impression. Visitors can...
Detail photograph of ceramic sculpture made to look like a patch of lawn. Individual squares consisting of multiple upright blades of porcelain grass, glazed green, fit together to form a lush rectangular field of grass.

The Magic of Daisy Makeig-Jones

Posted: April 21, 2015
Category: Nmwa Exhibitions
The upcoming exhibition Casting a Spell: Ceramics by Daisy Makeig-Jones brings the magic of the 20th-century ceramic designer to the National Museum of Women in the Arts, May 1–August 16....
Interior view of a colorful, iridescent lusterware bowl featuring gold cloisonne and an ornamental Art Nouveau design. At the center, a light-skinned mermaid bathes in the ocean. Radiating outward, and repeated five times, is a lush agrarian scene.

Expanding Mary’s narrative: Apocryphal influences in Picturing Mary

Posted: April 9, 2015
Category: Nmwa Exhibitions
For being the mother of Christ, Mary is a surprisingly scarce figure in the Bible. The primary canonical source for information about Mary is the New Testament, yet the basic...
View of a gallery space with blue walls. On the left is a painting of a woman in a dark blue dress in a golden frame. Next to it is a red cloth framed in glass.

Allusions in Picturing Mary

Posted: March 26, 2015
Category: Nmwa Exhibitions
The art of Picturing Mary: Woman, Mother, Idea overflows with religious symbolism and iconography. Images of Mary hold a prominent place in Christian iconography and operate on two distinct levels:...
View of a gallery space with blue walls. On the left is a painting of a woman in a dark blue dress in a golden frame. Next to it is a red cloth framed in glass.

The Female Form through Female Eyes

Posted: March 12, 2015
Category: Nmwa Exhibitions
Nearly 300 years apart, Italian artist Artemisia Gentileschi (1593–1656) and French artist Suzanne Valadon (1865–1938) both used their perspectives as women to capture the power and complexity of the female...
Against a dark black and brown background, a light skinned woman in a red dress with wavy reddish-brown hair wears a white cloth and gold crown around her head. Her right hand clutches a palm while her left grazes a spiked breaking wheel. She stares straight at the viewer.

Mary and the Colors of Motherhood

Posted: February 20, 2015
Category: Nmwa Exhibitions
In the landmark 2015 NMWA exhibition Picturing Mary, images capture the multifaceted nature of motherhood along with the multifaceted nature of the Mother of God herself.
A young, light-skinned, brunette woman gazes down lovingly at the plump baby she holds on her lap. She wears a loose, tan turban, vivid blue cloak, and red dress with white sleeves. The light-skinned child returns her gaze, leaning back to crown the woman with a circlet of roses.