WASHINGTON—This spring, the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) presents an exhibition of paintings and works on paper by the trailblazing American artist Shirley Gorelick, known for her distinctive large-scale portraits of women and couples. Described by the artist as “psychological portraiture” and developed within an explicitly feminist practice, Gorelick’s works reflect the experimental art scene of 1970s New York. Shirley Gorelick: Figuring it Out will be on view from March 27 through June 28, 2026.Through the 1960s and 1970s, Shirley Gorelick (b. 1924, Brooklyn, N.Y.; d. 2000, Washington, D.C.) developed a bold realist style that combined vigorous brushwork, heightened shadows and touches of vivid patterns to make every figure pulsate with life. Part of a group of New York-based figure painters, Gorelick caught the eye of critics who praised her exhibitions. Yet historians writing about art of the period typically focus on the rise of the Pop Art, Minimalist and Conceptual Art movements, omitting Gorelick and other progressive realist artists.Gorelick was a notable figure within the establishment of the era’s burgeoning feminist art movement, and she helped establish several artist-run, women’s cooperative galleries. In 1973, she served as a founding member of Central Hall Artists Gallery, an organization in Port Washington, New York. One year later, Gorelick also joined SOHO20 Gallery in Manhattan, one of the first spaces in New York City to showcase the work of an all-women-artist membership.The exhibition centers on three large-scale paintings by Gorelick in the museum’s collection, which are exhibited together for the first time. These canvases include the first work in the artist’s “Three Graces” series; a triple portrait of Gorelick’s friend and fellow social activist Libby Ourlicht; and a work depicting longtime family friends Gunny and Lee Benson, a couple in late middle age. The exhibition also features more than 30 related paintings, drawings and prints that further illuminate Gorelick’s practice and the sitters she portrayed in NMWA’s works.In a fitting nod to Gorelick’s legacy, the exhibition’s opening coincides with Women’s History Month. Building on decades of advocacy for gender equity in the arts, the museum is presenting a dynamic series of programs in March that amplify women’s creative voices and invite every visitor to engage, reflect and take action. For more details visit NMWA’s website.
About the Artist
Born and raised in Brooklyn, Shirley Gorelick was instructed and mentored by esteemed American artists of the mid-20th century, including Helen Frankenthaler, Grace Hartigan, Alfred Leslie and Larry Rivers. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, Gorelick painted figures, landscapes, cityscapes and still-lifes in easel-sized works that reflect a breezy facility with styles such as abstraction, Cubism, Precisionism and Abstract Expressionism. Through the 1960s, Gorelick pursued an ambitious engagement with old and modern masters’ depictions of the female nude.
Gorelick’s work has been exhibited at numerous museums, including a 1978 group exhibition at PS1 in New York (now MoMA PS1), with work by Alice Neel, Sylvia Sleigh and May Stevens. Her work is in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum, NY; Baltimore Museum of Art; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington D.C.; Minneapolis Institute of Art; Rowan University Art Gallery and Museum, Glassboro, NJ; Housatonic Museum of Art, Bridgeport, CT; and the Provincetown Art Association and Museum, MA, among others.
National Museum of Women in the Arts
The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) is the first museum in the world solely dedicated to championing women through the arts. With its collections, exhibitions, programs and online content, the museum inspires dynamic exchanges about art and ideas. NMWA advocates for better representation of women and nonbinary artists and serves as a vital center for thought Leadership, community engagement and social change. NMWA addresses the gender imbalance in the presentation of art by bringing to Light important women artists of the past while promoting great women artists working today. The collection highlights a wide range of works in a variety of mediums by artists including Rosa Bonheur, Louise Bourgeois, Lalla Essaydi, Lavinia Fontana, Frida Kahlo, Hung Liu, Zanele Muholi, Faith Ringgold, Niki de Saint Phalle and Amy Sherald.
NMWA is Located at 1250 New York Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. It is open Tues.-Sun., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and closed on Mondays and select holidays. Admission is $16 for adults, $13 for D.C. residents and visitors 70 and over, and free for visitors 21 and under. Admission is free the first Sunday and second Wednesday of each month. For information, call 202-783-5000, visit nmwa.org, Broad Strokes blog, Facebook or Instagram.
Media Contact
National Museum of Women in the Arts
Katrina Weber Ashour, kweber@nmwa.org