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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

From the Collection: Portraits of Women by Women

A black-and-white photograph of a light-skinned adult woman holding a newspaper with news about World War II. She wears a coat and her short, curly hair is caught in the wind.
Jul 14 to Dec 17, 2006

Please note: Information about this exhibition is limited.

Featured Artists

Berenice Abbott

Berenice Abbott is recognized as the originator of documentary photography or photojournalism. No other photographer had yet envisioned it as a tool of realistic documentation.
A black-and-white photograph of a light-skinned adult older woman wearing a long winter coat and white knitted cap. She has short hair and stands against a backdrop resembling a cloudy sky with her hands in her pockets.

Gertrude Käsebier

Gertrude Käsebier was a leading member of the pioneering photographic movement known as Pictorialism, which emphasized a subjective, painterly approach to photography.
A sepia-toned photograph of a light-skinned adult woman. Standing against a wall, she dons a large black hat with a feather in the brim. She wears a dark dress with a white collared shirt and a long baggy dark coat. She places her left hand on the wall beside her.

Louise Dahl-Wolfe

As a staff photographer for Harper’s Bazaar, Louise Dahl-Wolfe introduced a witty naturalism to the staid conventions of fashion photography and helped pioneer the use of color film.
Black-and-white photo of a light-skinned adult woman leaning out from behind a large studio camera. Wearing glasses, a white turban and a stripped top, she smiles with an expression of humor. A large spotlight sits behind her and she holds a piece of large format film.

Barbara Morgan

Barbara Morgan is best known for her photography of dancers, demonstrating an understanding of and empathy for her subject.
A black-and-white photograph of a light-skinned adult woman standing against a white backdrop and holding a large, antique camera in her hands at an angle. She gazes to the side and has dark, wavy hair and wears a collared, buttoned jacket and slacks.