The selection is drawn from the museum’s international collection of artwork by women and nonbinary artists from across time, mediums, and backgrounds. On view in the Great Hall, the installation is an extension of the museum’s thematically organized collection galleries. The presentation also complements the museum’s month-long series of programs celebrating Women’s History Month, which kicks off on Sunday, March 1, and includes talks, workshops, and opportunities for advocacy around gender equity in the arts.

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Museum programming coinciding with America’s 250th anniversary will continue with an exhibition of Pueblo pottery from the American Southwest, drawn from the museum’s collection, on view from May 8 through September 27, 2026. A schedule of diverse solo exhibitions by additional American artists are on view throughout the year, featuring the works of Ruth Orkin, Tawny Chatmon, Shirley Gorelick, Marlo Pasqual, and others. This fall, the museum will present Routed West: Twentieth-Century African American Quilts in California, on view September 18, 2026, to January 17, 2027.

Learn more about the artists featured in Ms. Americana:

• In addition to being an acclaimed painter, designer, etcher, commercial artist, and illustrator, Jennie Augusta Brownscombe (1850 to 1936) was a founding member, student, and teacher at the influential Art Students League of New York.
• In 1933, first lady Eleanor Roosevelt presented Cecilia Beaux (1855 to 1942) with the Chi Omega fraternity’s gold medal, honoring her as “the American woman who had made the greatest contribution to the culture of the world.”
• Ellen Day Hale (1855 to 1940) came from a family of notable figures, from her great-great-uncle, Revolutionary War hero Nathan Hale, to her great-aunt, abolitionist author Harriet Beecher Stowe. She was known for Impressionist-style landscapes, religious murals and figure studies.
• Self-taught artist Clementine Hunter (1886 or 1887 to 1988) earned critical acclaim for her prolific output. She created thousands of vibrant paintings, though she only began painting in her late 50s. Hunter labored on the Melrose plantation in central Louisiana, and most of her works chronicle her memories and experiences of daily life, such as harvests, baptisms, and funerals.
• Over the course of her career, Impressionist and Expressionist painter Jane Peterson (1876 to 1965) gained widespread recognition, presenting her work in more than 80 solo exhibitions.
• Lilla Cabot Perry (1848 to 1933), who successfully advocated to raise the profile of Impressionist art in the U.S., exhibited her works at the Paris Salon and the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. She also earned medals for her paintings at important exhibitions in Boston, St. Louis, and San Francisco.
• Sisters Sarah Miriam Peale (1800 to 1885) and Anna Claypoole Peale (1791 to 1878) became the first two female members of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.
• Lilly Martin Spencer (1822 to 1902), best known for paintings of family and domestic life in the mid-19th century, exhibited her work in Europe and America, including at the Women’s Pavilion of the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition. She was also the principal breadwinner of her family; she gave birth to 13 children, seven of whom survived to adulthood.

Since its opening in 1987, NMWA has been steadfast in its commitment to celebrating women artists for their important contributions to art and culture. Recognizing women in the story of America, from cultural expression to global influence, remains central to our mission.

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Powering the Art Market

Women were crucial to the artistic economy of the Low Countries, and their labor was a significant factor in the unprecedented expansion of trade and the thriving market for art and luxury goods in this era. In an essay for the exhibition’s catalogue, research assistant Katie Altizer Takata writes, “Women were involved in nearly every aspect of these luxury markets, making some of the most expensive and sought-after objects of the time, including paintings (Rachel Ruysch), paper cuttings (Johanna Koerten), botanical volumes (Maria Sibylla Merian), and lace, as well as more common items such as prints, books, and ceramics.”

Local Networks, Global Reach

Women painters and printmakers catered to the art market just as their male counterparts did, innovating and adapting along the way. Painting for the first open art market in Antwerp, where buyers could procure finished paintings (instead of having them commissioned), Clara Peeters (ca. 1587-after 1636) relied on skill and technique to reproduce her popular imagery quickly. She strategically repeated motifs across works, such as the carp in the center of Still Life of Fish and Cat (after 1620). Collectors would have appreciated the verisimilitude with which Peeters depicted varied textures in her still lifes, a genre in which she was a pioneer. 

One of the visitors Johanna Koerten (1650-1715) welcomed to view examples of her work was Tsar Peter the Great of Russia, an indication of her international reputation. Koerten created his portrait, as she did with many other illustrious people of the time, including King William III of England. In her portrait of the Russian Tsar, Koerten skillfully uses shading cuts to render different materials, such as his soft ermine stole and rigid armor.

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The Dutch edition of a book on the life cycle of caterpillars by Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) indicates the popularity of her scientifically exacting work in the Dutch Republic, her adopted home (the volume was first published in German in 1679 while she was living in Nürberg). Merian’s documentation of the metamorphoses of butterflies and moths, both written and illustrated, were observed from specimens that she raised for study. While living in Amsterdam, Merian was part of a wide network of artists, collectors, and scientists interested in studying the natural world.

The rapidly expanding colonization of the Americas also affected the work of women: There was greater demand for lace, specifically for export to the to the Spanish colonies, where the upper classes were eager to replicate the luxuries of home. Vast quantities of lace were shipped from Flanders (and France), traveling overseas via the port of Cádiz. This example is typical of the style of lace that was produced in Flanders by women specifically for export to Spanish colonies.

Leaving Their Mark

Works in this section demonstrate that women artists were connected to each other and to their wider artistic communities. They made technical and stylistic innovations, and patrons bought their work through the open market as well as through important commissions.

Want to learn more? Visit Women Artists from Antwerp to Amsterdam, 1600-1750, through January 11, 2026, and buy the exhibition catalogue from NMWA’s museum shop.

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Choices

The options available to women artists in this period, whether to marry, pursue specialized training, and much more, depended largely on their social class and family connections. While painters tended to come from the middle and upper classes, lower-class women comprised the majority of lacemakers and embroiderers. Middle- and upper-class women could study with professionals to hone their skills. Lower-class girls and women usually had no choice but to work, and many produced textiles, often as domestic workers, in orphanages, or in correctional institutions.

Marriage and childbearing also shaped the course of women’s lives, though its effects, again, were dependent on social class: those with the means to hire domestic help were more likely to continue their work, while others found that domestic responsibilities left little time for their art. Some women who joined religious orders or remained unmarried found independence to continue their artistic pursuits.

Learning by Necessity

A 17th-century painting from the Maagdenhuis (Maiden’s House), a home for impoverished or orphaned girls in Antwerp, depicts the benefactor and his wife in the foreground, while behind them are scores of girls busy embroidering and making lace. Charitable institutions such as this one provided homes for lower-class and orphaned girls as well as training in skills for work. Lace was a highly expensive commodity, and Flanders was known for producing some of the best.

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Another painting, by Quiringh van Brekelenkam (after 1622-after 1669), shows a smaller operation: an older woman teaching three girls how to make lace. All women, regardless of social class, were expected to be proficient in the domestic tasks of spinning, sewing, and embroidery. This training could also extend to lacemaking, which was a much more complex process. The girls here might have used their skills for their own purposes, for supplemental income, or as domestic workers in wealthy homes. 

On Their Own Terms

Upper-class women had access to a wider array of training opportunities. For instance, Louise Hollandine, Princess of the Palatinate (1622-1709), studied painting with one of the most renowned teachers of the day, Gerard van Honthorst (1592-1656). She left her courtly life in The Hague in 1657 and went to France, where she converted to Catholicism and became prioress of Maubuisson Abbey in 1664. She continued to paint there, as she, like many other women, found more freedom to pursue her art within a convent, without the demands that marriage and motherhood might have brought.

Maria van Oosterwijck (1630-1693), who remained unmarried throughout her life, was trained and supported by a strong family network. Van Oosterwijck’s father, who was not an artist himself, but a minister, encouraged her talent for painting. Through extended family, she was in contact with other artists, and she apprenticed with still-life painter Jan Davidsz de Heem (1606-1684) in Utrecht before moving to Amsterdam. There, Van Oosterwijck lived and worked as a respected and sought-after painter.

Lasting Legacies

Taken together, these examples underscore the structural limitations placed on women, as well as the opportunities, and the resourcefulness with which they navigated them. Each left a legacy of artistic labor that was diverse, resilient, and deeply embedded in the social fabric of their time.

Want to learn more? Visit Women Artists from Antwerp to Amsterdam, 1600-1750, through January 11, 2026, and buy the exhibition catalogue from NMWA’s museum shop.

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Ruth Orkin: Women on the Move, drawn from the museum’s collection of works by Orkin, explores the experience of women in public spaces, the artist’s own life, and her artful inversion of the “male gaze.” Featured photographs range from glamour shots of Hollywood celebrities to scenes from everyday life. Collectively, they convey a rich and engaging vision of women’s experiences during midcentury America.

Women in Public Spaces

Orkin possessed unwavering confidence, which she also depicted in her female subjects. American Girl in Italy (1951) depicts Ninalee Craig, an American art student whom Orkin met while traveling in Florence. The two bonded over their experiences as women travelers, so Orkin proposed that they explore the city and document the day. In this image, Craig pulls her shawl over her shoulders and holds her head high, exuding strength despite harassment from the men around her. Orkin pitched the photograph, along with others, to Cosmopolitan magazine, where they were used for an article that encouraged young women to set aside their fears and embark on solo journeys.

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In the image Actress Jane Russell at NY Recording Studio (1950), the film star and model oozes confidence as she stands with her hands on her hips, her gaze toward another figure who is barely in frame. This off-screen depiction of Russell—at the time one of the most famous women in Hollywood—illuminates the self-assurance that led to her success.

The Artist’s Story

In her teenage years, Orkin was eager to see the world. At 17, she embarked on a solo cross-country trip to photograph the 1939 World’s Fair in New York City. With just a camera, $25, and her bicycle, Orkin spent three months exploring cities across the U.S., garnering the attention of numerous newspapers along the way.

Throughout her extensive travels, she documented those around her. Photographs such as WAAC Platoon, Monticello, Arkansas (1943) reflect her time in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, while other bodies of work document the several months she spent in Israel on assignment from Life magazine or her five-month trip across Europe capturing outstanding landscapes and architecture. Later in life, she lived in New York City, where candid shots including Couple in Central Park West, NYC (ca. late 1970s) offer insight into her years as a New Yorker.

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The Female Gaze

The “male gaze,” a term popularized by feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey, refers to the objectifying lens through which women are often depicted in media. Orkin believed that identity—and in particular her identity as a woman photographer—shapes perceptions.

Many of Orkin’s works originate from the female gaze. Her photographs offer a perspective on womanhood that is fueled by admiration and empathy instead of objectification. Mother and Baby (1950s) is an intimate image of a woman breastfeeding her child, an act rarely depicted in media during its time. Other photographs by Orkin depict moments within female relationships and families, illuminating experiences long ignored. During a time when gender roles were strict and women lacked certain rights and privileges, many worked to break down barriers and challenge norms. Ruth Orkin’s legacy in photography underscores her own independence and provides a fresh look into the lives of midcentury women.

Ruth Orkin: Women on the Move is on view through March 29, 2026.

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Presence

Portraits of women artists, their signatures, and existing works in a wide range of mediums and genres attest to their presence during the 17th and early 18th centuries. Whether they depicted themselves with the tools of their trade or conspicuously and proudly placed their signatures on their work, women were not hesitant to declare their roles as creators. Portraits of them by others indicate the respect and renown they enjoyed in society. Some were immortalized in paint by peers or family members, and others enshrined within the pages of published biographies, which ostensibly ensured their legacies far and wide.

Judith Leyster (1609-1660) and Maria Schalcken (ca. 1645/50-ca. 1700) both depicted themselves at work in front of their easels, their hands holding paintbrushes and palettes. Neither is dressed in clothing appropriate for the messy work of painting; rather, they present themselves as well-dressed women with wealth and social standing. This type of self-presentation hews to a tradition begun in the Italian Renaissance, as artists sought to distance themselves from the overtones of manual labor that was associated with painting in earlier eras. Maria van Oosterwijck (1630-1693) was a highly admired and successful still-life artist whose likeness was captured in a portrait by Wallerant Vaillant (1623-1677). Like Leyster and Schalcken, she is clearly identified as a painter.

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Many women artists asserted their authorship through signatures or initials. Maria Faydherbe (1587-after 1633) carved the Latin words “MARIA FAYDHERBE ME FECIT” on the base of her sculpture Virgin and Child (ca. 1632). Translated as “Maria Faydherbe made me,” this signature is remarkable not just for its unapologetic declaration of authorship, but also because it was rare for any sculptor in the city of Mechelen at the time to sign their work. The unknown maker of an embroidered darning sampler (1761) proudly stitched her initials, “GM,” into the work itself. The border, embellished with an embroidered vine of flowers, is typical of the decoration found on high-quality clothing of the period. This type of delicate textile only rarely survives; its maker and her family likely took great pride and care in its preservation. 

Other women were written about in published and widely read sources. For instance, Arnold Houbraken’s De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schil-deressen (The Great Theatre of Dutch Painters and Paintresses) (first edition, 1715) records the names of women working in a variety of artistic fields. This multivolume tome was also illustrated with artists’ portraits, including those of Anna Maria van Schurman (1607-1678), Johanna Koerten (1650-1715), and Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717).

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Testament

In an essay for the exhibition’s catalogue, co-curator Virginia Treanor writes that examples such as the works above “…reveal that far from being dismissed, overlooked, [or] working in obscurity during their lifetimes, many women were acknowledged for their talents and contributions. [They] consistently appear in records throughout the period, attesting to their undeniable presence.”

Want to learn more? Visit Women Artists from Antwerp to Amsterdam, 1600-1750, through January 11, 2026, and buy the exhibition catalogue from NMWA’s museum shop.

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Golden

Chatmon finds inspiration in a wide variety of sources, including early Byzantine mosaics, opulent gilded portraits by Gustav Klimt (1862–1918), and 17th-century Dutch painting. Works from her series “Remnants” (2021–23), “The Redemption” (2018–19), and “Iconography” (2023–present) include gold-hued acrylic paint as well as 24-karat gold leaf. For Chatmon, the material symbolizes importance, value, and preciousness. Peace and Joy Are the Birthrights of All Beings (2021–22) depicts a young Black girl surrounded by lavish gold patterns. The background features spirals and birds, two recurring symbols in Chatmon’s work that indicate a connection to the heavens.

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Through her photography, Chatmon centers her Black subjects, conveying their magnificence and beauty. Her own children often appear as sitters. We Are the Ones We’ve Been Waiting For (2024–25) features Chatmon’s son. He wears a hoodie, rendered in mosaic-inspired collaged paper and denim. The garment, which has been stereotyped and vilified when worn by Black boys and men, acts as a symbol of visibility and vulnerability in Chatmon’s tender portrait.

In Chatmon’s art, process holds equal importance to subject and material. Each layered work starts with a portrait session with her sitter. She then digitally alters the resulting image, often elongating the subject’s limbs, amplifying their hair, and emphasizing their eyes. Next, she painstakingly collages, stitches, and adorns her prints with additional materials, embellishing her subjects’ clothing, accessories, and surroundings. These three-dimensional elements are some of the most visually striking aspects of her work, dignifying and elevating her subjects.

Reclaiming History

Chatmon’s portraits stand as antidotes to harmful misconceptions often perpetuated in politics and media about Black style, culinary traditions, and history. Her new series “The Reconciliation” (2024–present) examines foods of the African diaspora, honoring the meals that have nourished Black families for centuries. Her subjects hold foods such as watermelon and black-eyed peas, which have rich historical contexts and personal associations but have also been linked to racist stereotypes. In That Which is Planted, Shall Become the Harvest (2025), a woman—Chatmon’s mother—gazes at a billowing head of collard greens, a food at the center of many of Chatmon’s family meals. Enclosed in a golden floral appliqué frame, she appears regal and serene.

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“The Restoration” (2024–present) was born out of a desire to remove antique racist dolls and figurines from circulation. Many of the works feature children holding these objects, which the artist has lovingly repainted and reclothed. In Unstitching the Past, Becoming the Future (2023–25), Chatmon replaced the doll’s racialized features with a delicately painted face and garment sewn by the artist’s mother. This re-dressing restores dignity to the object, mirroring the noble expression of the sitter.

Honoring Legacy

Tawny Chatmon: Sanctuaries of Truth, Dissolution of Lies evokes both ancestry and descendants. The artist considers narratives that shift over time and how the stories children hear can shape who they become. Chatmon uses her camera to recenter our focus on people and histories that have been overlooked and misjudged. Her work contributes to a larger, vital narrative about value, truth, and legacy.

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Saint Phalle conceptualized Tarot Garden as “my own Garden of Joy. A little corner of Paradise. A meeting place between man and nature.” She and her team designed and constructed the park, which features monumental sculp­tural depictions of the 22 Major Arcana, the named cards in a tarot deck. NMWA’s exhibition features a range of prints that relate to the garden’s exuberant structures.

From Life

As a child and as a young self-taught artist, Saint Phalle experienced mistreatment and repression. She subsequently forged installations, sculptures, and performances that emphasize direct action and fearlessness. Her voluptuous female figures, called Nanas (“sassy young women” in French slang), subvert conventional ideals for women’s bodies and capabilities. These powerful figures are a cornerstone of the artist’s critique of patriarchal power.

In What Do You Like the Most About Me? (1970), Saint Phalle’s drawings of colorful lips, breasts, and hips, and eyes frame inscriptions such as, “Do you like my brain?” and “Do you like my tears?” These plaintive messages point to the range of emotions—both pleasant and painful—that define close human relationships.

To the Letter

Saint Phalle often reflected on her memories and observations through texts in the form of letters or journal entries. Many prints in this exhibition incorporate her free-flowing, unfil­tered style of writing. Handwritten notes in both English and French curl around her drawings of figures, which she repre­sented with her characteristic looping lines and bright colors.

On view are large silkscreens from a series that composes a visual diary of Saint Phalle’s life and work during her first year living in Southern California. Californian Diary (Shamu! Killer Whale) (1993), her depiction of an orca leaping above water, includes bands of text recounting the mammal’s fearsome power and innate ability to overcome its human trainer.

In 2001, shortly before her death, Saint Phalle created a series of prints centered on the socially conscious move­ments that she embraced. The exhibition also draws from this group of works, which assert the need for reproductive rights and a protected natural environment.

A Model Muse

NMWA developed this exhibition from an expansive gift of prints donated to the museum in 2023 by the Niki Charitable Art Foundation in honor of the building’s reopening after renovation. Saint Phalle established the foundation to share her work more broadly, and her renown now extends far beyond the fine arts sphere. Through Niki de Saint Phalle In Print, NMWA heralds this artist’s boundless and enduring inspirational force.

Niki de Saint Phalle In Print is on view at NMWA through November 30, 2025.

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Read on for an overview of the exhibition and check back for deep dives into the exhibition’s themes in a special four-part blog series.

All in the Details

The current popular understanding of Dutch and Flemish visual culture of the period has been shaped primarily by blockbuster monographic exhibitions of male painters. As a result, many people are familiar with male artists of this era such as Peter Paul Rubens (1577 to 1640) and Rembrandt van Rijn (1606 to 1669), but few have heard of even the most prominent women artists who worked during this time. While museums have organized a limited number of important monographic exhibitions on Dutch and Flemish women painters, most notably Judith Leyster (1609 to 1660), Clara Peeters (ca. 1587 to after 1636), and Michaelina Wautier (1614 to 1689), their names are still relatively unknown to the public.

This trend reflects a longstanding bias in art historical literature against not only women, but also certain mediums: painting sat atop an artistic hierarchy conceived during the Renaissance, and other creative endeavors were neglected. Within this limited scope, it is impossible to gain an accurate picture of the past. The works presented in Women Artists from Antwerp to Amsterdam, 1600-1750, therefore, include not only painting, sculpture, and printmaking, but also paper cutting, calligraphy, and textile arts such as lace and embroidery. These wide-ranging art forms help to bring women’s achievements into clearer focus.

Within thematic sections: “Presence,” “Choices,” “Networks,” and “Legacy,” this exhibition juxtaposes works in multiple mediums by different makers across material, geography, and social status. It demonstrates that women did not work in obscurity or isolation but were integral to the production, sale, and consumption of luxury goods. Women artists of this period were many, with unique, mul­tifaceted lives; these individuals come into full view when considered in context with one another and the world in which they lived.

Presence

The first section provides evidence, both textual and visual, for the public acclaim and recognition that many women artists of this era received during their lifetimes. Portraits and self-portraits by artists such as Judith Leyster (1609 to 1660), Maria Schalcken (ca. 1645/50 to ca. 1700), Maria van Oosterwijck (1630 to 1693), and Wallerant Vaillant (1623 to 1677) speak to how these women were viewed by their peers and themselves.

Choices

The options available to women artists in this period depended largely on their social class. For women of the Low Countries, opportunities for artistic advancement and independence varied greatly, largely based on family connections and socioeconomic status. The works in this section tell the stories of women, both named and unknown, who created under varying conditions.

Networks

Women were crucial to the artistic economy of the Low Countries, and their labor was a significant factor in the unprecedented expansion of trade and the thriving market for art and luxury goods in this era. Women painters and printmakers, for example, catered to the art market just as their male counterparts did, innovating and adapting along the way.

Legacy

This section explores the legacies of women artists and examines the processes by which they have been marginal­ized in art historical narratives over the last three hundred years. It demonstrates the impact of gender on an object’s value by providing examples of the relative values of items made by women during their own time, as well as in today’s art market and cultural institutions.

Unforgettable

By reclaiming the lives and legacies of women artists, we can begin to recover the broader significance of women to the cultural landscape of this period and ultimately gain a deeper appreciation of the richness of the visual culture of the Low Countries. The inclusion of women and their contributions can only strengthen our understanding of Dutch and Flemish art and culture, ensuring that their presence remains unforgettable from this point forward.

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Simple Facts, Obvious Conclusions

The Guerrilla Girls burst into the art world with their bold text- and graphics-based prints. The collective formed in the wake of the Museum of Modern Art’s 1984 exhibition An International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture. Although the exhibition claimed to represent the best artists of the time, fewer than 10% were women and none were artists of color. Protests outside the museum failed to garner attention, so members of the group set out to prove exactly how bad the art world was for women and non-white artists.

The Guerrilla Girls’ earliest works eschew imagery in favor of bold, black-and-white text with direct messages. These Galleries Show No More Than 10% Women Artists or None at All (1985) brazenly names twenty preeminent New York City galleries that disproportionately represented men. Institutions were not the group’s only targets. What Do These Artists Have in Common? (1985) lists 42 prominent artists—mostly white men—who allowed their art to be shown in spaces that exhibited work by very few, if any, women artists.

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Although their first focus was gender disparity in the visual arts, in later works the Guerrilla Girls cast a critical eye on other fields, including film, theater, politics, and pop culture. The group adapted their material, techniques, and style to suit their subject matter, often incorporating color, graphics, and humor. 10 Trashy Ideas About the Environment (1994) contains sardonic notes on the environment, ironically printed on a plastic bag. As Guerrilla Girl Eva Hesse said, “We found out quickly that humor gets people involved.”

Do You Know the Guerrilla Girls?

Members of the Guerrilla Girls wear gorilla masks in public and adopt the names of deceased women artists and writers as pseudonyms. The idea to don simian disguises emerged from a humor­ous mistake. At an early meeting, one spelling-challenged member wrote “Gorilla” instead of “Guerrilla” in her notes. In addition to anonymity, the masks embolden them to be more outspoken. “You’d be surprised at what comes out of your mouth when you wear a gorilla mask,” they’ve said.

Their aliases also buffer the Guerrilla Girls from retribution in the art world, which they both participate in and criticize. Guerrilla Girls’ Identities Exposed! (1990) purportedly lists indi­vidual members, with a touch of their signature cheekiness. “Is this or isn’t this a real list of Guerrilla Girls?” a statement released with the print asks. “Only the people on it know for sure.” With more than five hundred women named, there is strength and protection in numbers.

The Guerrilla Girls and NMWA

Many of the prints in the exhibition, including the Guerrilla Girls’ first two portfolios of posters from 1985 to 2005 (“Guerrilla Girls Talk Back: The First Five Years” and “Guerrilla Girls Talk Back: Portfolio 2”) were donated to the museum by longtime NMWA supporter and Advisory Board member Steven Scott. Inspired by the Guerrilla Girls’ direct missives, Scott has been committed to equitable representation of men and women at his own gallery in Baltimore since it opened in 1988.

The exhibition also debuts four recent acquisitions, including one of the collective’s newest works, Guerrilla Girls ManifestA: For Art Museums Everywhere (2024). Featuring direc­tives for arts institutions to adhere to equitable and principled practices, the print is both a call-out and call to action, installed at NMWA across a prominent gallery wall as a large-scale vinyl print.

Still Making Trouble

The Guerrilla Girls’ passion for advancing inclusivity in the arts fuels NMWA’s work, too. Today, museums, galleries, collectors, and patrons are more aware of gender and racial inequality than they were in previous decades. Yet new generations continue to face hurdles surrounding representation, access to resources, pay disparities, and more. Through the years, the Guerrilla Girls have continued to make waves. Guerrilla Girls: Making Trouble highlights the collective’s intrepid work and encourages museum visitors to speak up in their own activism. For 40 years, the Guerrilla Girls have disrupted the status quo in the arts and beyond, and they are not slowing down.

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In this blog series, curator Orin Zahra dives deep into the exhibition’s themes and artworks. Read on to learn more, and plan your visit to experience Uncanny in person.

The term “uncanny,” or unheimlich in German, translates to “unhomely.” This alludes to the feeling of being in an unfamiliar space that might contain and reveal something hidden. Women artists have long explored the domestic sphere as a point of political tension and a site to use in pushing back against established gender roles.

Some artists explore ghostly spaces that give the impression of being abandoned, neglected, and psychologically unwelcoming. Unpopulated interior spaces depicted by Julie Roberts (b. 1963) offer unsettling glimpses into human frailty. She places an isolated image—typically a medical instrument or facility—atop a thickly painted ground of saturated color. In works such as Gynaecology Couch (1992), Roberts examines society’s methods of exercising power, particularly on the female body, and invokes the threat of a looming, institutionalized patriarchy.

The monumental sculpture 019 (2007) by Berlinde De Bruyckere (b. 1964) presents fragments of wax-covered wood within an antique glass vitrine. The objects appear startlingly animate, as if bodies and ethnographic specimens are hanging on display. As the artist says of her work, “I don’t want people to see the sculptures as trees, but as strange, vulnerable beings.” More than nine feet tall and fifteen feet wide, the work towers over viewers with its haunting presence.

In her series “Rewriting History” (2017), Fabiola Jean-Louis (b. 1978) uses the unheimlich to explore issues of racial trauma. She carefully stages studio portraits of subjects wearing fashionable ballgowns and period costumes typical of upper-class European women. Seemingly innocuous at first glance, like familiar historical paintings of nobility, Jean-Louis’s portraits reveal images of racial and sexual violence on closer inspection—in a composition’s background or a dress’s intricate details. Through this disquieting imagery, the artist addresses generational trauma faced by Black women across history.

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