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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

Preserving the Past, Securing the Future: Donations of Art, 1987-1997

A chubby, light-skinned man in a white suit sprawls on the ground atop a wooden swing seat and frayed rope. A mirthful group of men, women, and children surround him. In the right foreground, a dark-skinned servant watching these antics splashes liquid on a surly older woman.
Apr 11, 1997, to Apr 26, 1998

Please note: Information about this exhibition is limited.

Featured Artists

Grace Arnold Albee

As a child, Grace Thurston Arnold had become fascinated with the engraved illustrations in her grandfather’s books; as an adult, she made this medium her specialty.
A black-and-white photograph of a woman seated at a table by a window. Her face, in profile, is in shadow. She looks down at a wood engraving. One hand steadies her woodblock while the other carves. Engraving and printing tools are scattered on the table, along with a small print.

Anni Albers

Anni Albers, the most influential 20th-century textile designer, fearlessly experimented and blurred traditional boundaries between art and craft.
Black-and-white photograph of a light-skinned adult woman looking slightly to her right against a white background. Her dark, curly hair is styled neatly away from her face, and she wears a white collared button-up shirt.

Frida Baranek

Frida Baranek is one of a generation of sculptors using industrial materials to comment on industrialization and the health of Brazil’s environment.

Cecilia Beaux

Sought-after portraitist Cecilia Beaux created paintings that were favorably compared with those of John Singer Sargent.
A painting of a light-skinned adult woman gazing to her right against a brown background. Her brown hair is neatly pulled back and she wears a voluminous white top with puffy sleeves and a high brown collar. The top is rendered in thick brush strokes, while her face is finely detailed.

Isabel Bishop

A member of New York's 14th Street School, Isabel Bishop is best known for her graphic art and urban subject matter.
A black ink drawing of a woman on a beige ground. She is drawn from the neck up in three-quarter profile with a slight smile, her hair pulled back, her right hand held up to her right cheek, and her head tilted.

Louise Bourgeois

Louise Bourgeois is considered one of the most inventive and influential sculptors of the 20th century for her use of unconventional materials and allusive psychological content.
Black-and-white photograph of an older woman with her short, dark hair brushed back. Sitting with her left hand raised, her deeply lined face looks off-camera, her eyes squinting slightly and her lips pursed. She wears a gold earring, gold wedding ring and a white shirt.

Lola Álvarez Bravo

Dolores (Lola) Álvarez Bravo was one of Mexico’s first professional women photographers, documenting daily life in Mexico and portraying an array of international leaders.
Soft-focus black-and-white studio portrait of the head of a light-skinned young adult woman in profile. Her curly dark hair is pulled back in a low bun.

Leonora Carrington

Through her paintings and sculptures, Leonora Carrington often explored notions of femininity in the whimsical, dreamlike style of Surrealism.
Black-and-white photograph of a light-skinned adult woman with dark curly hair. She sits with her back to the viewer, looking over her left shoulder, her face in profile, surrounded by art supplies. A painting of nuns in a boat on rough seas sits on an easel in front of her.

Mary Cassatt

Recognized as one of the foremost 19th-century American painters and printmakers, Mary Cassatt is known for her prolific career and Impressionist artwork.
Black-and-white photograph of a seated older woman with light skin. She wears a dark dress with a fur stole and long necklace. Her dark hat is adorned with a group of large, wispy feathers and covers her hair. Her expression is open and calm.

Elizabeth Catlett

Sculptor and printmaker Elizabeth Catlett used her art to advocate for social change in both the U.S. and her adopted country of Mexico for almost three-quarters of a century.
A medium skin-toned older woman with short gray hair smiles at the viewer. She wears clear-framed glasses and a black, floral patterned shirt.

Eulabee Dix

Eulabee Dix was one of a group of women artists who were instrumental in the miniature revival at the turn of the 20th century.
A watercolor of a young, lightskinned woman with brown hair piled on top of her head. She is depicted from the neck up, and is wearing a purple shirt with a high collar. The brushstrokes are visible and short.

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.

Elaine de Kooning

Though associated with the Abstract Expressionists, Elaine de Kooning created figurative works, including portraits, for much of her career.
A black-and-white photograph of a light-skinned older woman. She has closed cropped light hair and is shown from the chest up. She wears a long sleeved shirt with a ruffled collar and sleeves and a large silver necklace. In one hand she holds a lit cigarette.

Dorothy Dehner

Award-winning sculptor Dorothy Dehner produced abstract works in various mediums.
A black-and-white photograph of a light-skinned older woman with short hair stands looking at a black rectangular sculpture. She wears a dark long sleeved shirt and several beaded necklaces. Both her arms are outstretched as she touches other black sculptures beside her.

Helen Frankenthaler

Helen Frankenthaler, a second-generation Abstract Expressionist painter, pioneered a stain technique that influenced Color Field painters like Morris Louis and Kenneth Noland.
A light-skinned older woman with short, wavy, red hair and brown eyes stands with her arms crossed. She leans against a white wall with part of a blue abstract painting behind her. She wears round silver-color earrings and a blue denim long-sleeve button-up shirt.

Élisabeth Louise Vigée-LeBrun

Renowned French artist Élisabeth Louise Vigée-LeBrun was Marie Antoinette's favorite painter for a decade and was elected to art academies in 10 cities.
Wearing a white, gold-trimmed head wrap and matching scarf, a light-skinned woman looks at the viewer, shown in a three-quarter pose against a dark backdrop in a portrait painting. Tousled curls of brown hair rest on her forehead and shoulders.

Hollis Sigler

Hollis Sigler created psychologically complex paintings, drawings, and prints grounded in personal experience.
A black-and-white photograph of a smiling adult light-skinned woman with dark, bobbed hair. She wears a dark high-neck garment with a large heart-shaped brooch at the neck, drop earrings, and dark eyeshadow. Behind her is a painting with two figures and a spiral staircase.

Alison Saar

Alison Saar creates artworks that frequently transform found objects to reflect themes of cultural and social identity, history, and religion.
A light-skinned, adult woman speaking with one hand extended and the other touching her neck in a white gallery filled with her colorful artworks depicting African-American women. She has curly gray hair, glasses, and wears a simple, black, sleeveless top and a necklace.

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith created work that addresses the myths of her ancestors in the context of current issues facing Native Americans.
A black-and-white photograph of a light-skinned adult woman with long dark hair, shown in full face from the chest up, standing in front of a light-colored wall. She wears large earrings and a black turtleneck top.

Lilla Cabot Perry

Although she had no formal art training until age 36, Lilla Cabot Perry became a professional painter and a devotee of French Impressionism with a formidable body of work.
Black-and-white interior photograph of a light-skinned adult woman in profile with dark hair in a bun and a light-color dress. She stands in front of an easel and holds a palatte and brushes in her left hand. She rests her right hand on a painting of a light-skinned young girl.

Lilly Martin Spencer

Lilly Martin Spencer’s still-life and portrait paintings were popular, but she became particularly well known for humorous domestic genre scenes.
Black-and-white studio portrait of a light-skinned older woman white hair pulled back. She sits in a chair next to an easel and holds a palatte and brushes. She wears a high-neck, long-sleeve, dark-color long dress.

Céline Marie Tabary

Influenced by Impressionism, Céline Marie Tabary’s abstracted landscapes feature recognizable scenes of France, her home country, as well as images of New England and Old Georgetown.

Angelica Kauffman

Angelica Kauffman was a founding member of the Royal Academy of Arts and one of London’s most sought-after portraitists.
A painting of a light-skinned adult woman delicately holding a paintbrush and small canvas. Her brown hair is piled carefully in large curls atop her head, and she wears a flowing, billowy yellow and white dress.

Käthe Kollwitz

German-born Käthe Kollwitz used her prints and sculptures to confront social injustice and suffering.
Black ink drawing on yellow-beige ground of the head and shoulders of an adult woman. She frowns, looks to her left, and holds her right hand up to her right temple. Her hair is pulled back and she wears a dark garment.

Fanny Sanín

Fanny Sanín, one of Colombia’s second-generation abstract artists, turned to geometric abstraction in 1969 and never looked back.
An older woman with light skin tone and short, light brown hair stands in front of an abstract painting. She wears a black and white striped shirt with two beaded necklaces. The painting behind her depicts grey and red rectangles framing grey, brown, and green triangles.

Lotte Laserstein

Painter Lotte Laserstein, who moved to Sweden when her career in Germany was thwarted by Nazism, gained prominence in the European art world for her realist portraiture style.
Grainy black-and-white photograph of a light-skinned adult woman with short dark hair. She stands in profile in front of a large painting of three figures around a table before a cityscape. She wears a white collared blouse and holds a brush in her right hand up to the painting

Georgia Mills Jessup

Washington, DC-native Georgia Mills Jessup demonstrated diverse talent as a painter, sculptor, ceramicist, muralist, and collage artist.
A black-and-white photograph of an adult woman with long dark hair in a braid. She wears a plaid shirt, jacket, large belt and hoop earrings. Her hand is touching her braid. She stands next to a painting which depicts an abstract street scene.

Loïs Mailou Jones

In a career spanning more than 70 years, Loïs Mailou Jones overcame racial and gender prejudices to become a successful and influential painter, designer, and educator.
Black-and-white photograph of a smiling medium-skinned older woman with white curly hair. She wears a patterned blouse and necklace with figure pendant. She holds brushes in her left hand and rests her right hand on her hip. Behind her is a painting with a figure and shapes.