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.

Xaviera Simmons: “How might our entire history have been different…?”

Posted: January 8, 2020
Category: Nmwa Exhibitions
In her writings on racial and social justice, Xaviera Simmons has expressed a desire to understand what it takes to shift political systems. Her art works to shift our notions...

In Her Own Hand: Judy Chicago’s Use of Text in “The End”

Posted: December 19, 2019
Category: Nmwa Exhibitions
Judy Chicago has a long history of incorporating handwritten text into her bold and colorful artworks. Whether embroidered into cloth or painted in watercolor, Chicago uses words within a visual...
Painted black glass with handwritten words in white paint relating to death and dying, such as, 'End of Life,' 'Rigor Mortis,' 'Pop off,' 'Dead as a doornail.'

Visualizing Extinction in Judy Chicago’s “The End”

Posted: December 9, 2019
Category: Nmwa Exhibitions
As artists contend with the urgency of climate change, some portray nature’s stunning grandeur to inspire viewers into protecting the planet; others show human-caused damage that provokes shock and anguish....
Painting on black glass of three penguins. The smallest is standing in the middle with its bill open to the sky as if waiting to be fead while the two larger penguins stare towards it. The words 'Only 1600 pair left' and 'killing them off' is written by hand at the bottom.

Women Artists of the DMV: Malaka Gharib’s “I Was Their American Dream”

Posted: November 27, 2019
Category: Nmwa Exhibitions
Malaka Gharib's graphic memoir, I Was Their American Dream, chronicles her multicultural upbringing as the daughter of a Filipino Catholic mother and an Egyptian Muslim father.

Judy Chicago—The End: Mortality

Posted: November 20, 2019
Category: Nmwa Exhibitions
In the “Mortality” section of The End, Judy Chicago explores her own death across 20 black glass panels. The figure in each work has the artist’s shock of bright curls...

Women Artists of the Dutch Golden Age: Illuminating the Natural World

Posted: November 13, 2019
Category: Nmwa Exhibitions
The lives and works of women artists of the Dutch Golden Age reveal connections between artists, patrons, and the subject matter of the natural world. The Dutch took pleasure in...
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.

Now Open: DMV Color

Posted: November 4, 2019
Category: Nmwa Exhibitions
Washington, D.C., and its surroundings have long been home to a rich community of artists of color, including those born and raised here and others who built connections to the...

Power in My Hand: Five Women Artists in Conversation with Emily Dickinson

Posted: October 23, 2019
Category: Nmwa Exhibitions
Five works in the Betty Boyd Dettre Library and Research Center’s exhibition Power in My Hand: Women Poets, Women Artists, and Social Change testify to the enduring legacy of Emily...

Landscape of Change: Janaina Tschäpe’s “100 Little Deaths”

Posted: October 15, 2019
Category: Nmwa Exhibitions
Janaina Tschäpe began her "100 Little Deaths" series in 1996 as an exploration of landscape, transmutation, and death. Each self-portrait depicts the artist sprawled face down in different environments around...

Opening this Week: Women Artists of the Dutch Golden Age

Posted: October 8, 2019
Category: Nmwa Exhibitions
Still life painting features a reddish ceramic colander with several types of fish. In the foreground, a cat stands alert next to shrimp and oyster shells on a gleaming pewter dish.