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A woman with light colored skin, wearing a black top and white pants, talks to a group of people in a gallery room. She stands in front of a large, painted portrait of a woman in a high-collared red dress.
NMWA Tickets
National Museum of Women in the Arts

Doris Lee: American Painter and Illustrator

Two rows of colorfully painted fruits on a white background, mostly red apples with slices cut out of them. Other fruits depicted include plums, a banana, grapes, a green apple, and a lemon.
Nov 17, 2014, to May 8, 2015

Please note: Information about this exhibition is limited.

Doris Emrick Lee (1905–1983) was an American painter and illustrator best known for her painting Thanksgiving, which won the prestigious Logan Prize at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1935.

In her wide-ranging career, she painted murals for the United States Post Office buildings, participated in annual exhibitions at the Carnegie Institute in Washington, D.C., created commissioned work for Life magazine, and illustrated children’s books. Lee’s art was also featured on greeting cards, calendars, menus, pottery, and fabric. This exhibition showcases photographs, sketches, and objects from the Doris Lee Papers housed in the Betty Boyd Dettre Library and Research Center.

Featured Artists

Doris Lee

Throughout her career, Doris Lee sought to portray everyday, contemporary American life in a style that that was easily understandable to viewers.
A black-and-white photograph of a light-skinned adult woman, shown from her chest up. Her head rests against her fist. She wears a floral, collared shirt and has dark hair that is pinned back from her face. She is slightly smiling and looking away from the viewer.