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The 1908 masonic lodge on New York Avenue NW has always been a complicated home for the National Museum of Women in the Arts, which opened in 1987. The grand limestone building lends gravity and seriousness, and the location, three blocks from the White House, demands attention. Responding to the fact that women were not allowed inside the original masonic temple, NMWA director Susan Fisher Sterling says “we took a space that forbade women and made it a place of honor for women artists.”
Because the structure is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, turning it into a contemporary museum presented challenges. Century-old architecture means awkward closed-off spaces and inadequate access for those with mobility restrictions.
The museum, the first ever with the singular mission of championing women and nonbinary artists, reopens to the public on Saturday, Oct. 21, after a comprehensive two-year renovation. Some changes will be obvious to returning visitors and others won’t be, but the latter are just as important to allow visitors to see, appreciate, and engage with the art.
Baltimore-based architecture firm Sandra Vicchio & Associates was tasked with refreshing the building, increasing technological capabilities, and improving visitor access and experience. A 15 percent increase in exhibition space means that many works on display are being shown to the public for the very first time, and returning works have been reshuffled and rehung. “All throughout the building, it’ll feel like there’s more art,” Fisher Sterling says.
City Paper got a behind-the-scenes tour in August while the space was still under renovation, where we watched the careful installation of Niki de Saint Phalle’s “Pregnant Nana,” one of the biggest sources of pride in the new collection. The colorfully painted solid marble sculpture depicts a dancing figure with curvy breasts and a rounded belly. The piece, made in 1995 and weighing over a ton, has never been on view at the NMWA before—it was acquired from the Corcoran Gallery of Art when the gallery closed in 2014. When the museum reopens, “Pregnant Nana” will be the first thing visitors see when entering the refreshed second floor gallery. Posed in front of a deep blue wall, it sets a joyful and playful tone. “Alright, undress it,” announced one of the handlers as the sculpture, still wrapped in protective layers of plastic, was lowered into place.
On the same floor is “Another Sunday Outing” by Harlem-based artist Dianne Smith. The piece, acquired in 2021, is being shown for the first time. To create it, Smith collaged a contemporary photographic self portrait on top of historic Harlem street scenes, flattening time and decentering the White gaze. Look out for other pieces by Sonya Clark and Judy Chicago.
Works you may have seen before are grouped in new ways, juxtaposing, for example, a 1990 Cindy Sherman tea set with a silver decorative tea set. While chronological presentations make sense in some cases (think 19th-century French paintings or 17th-century Dutch paintings grouped separately at the National Gallery of Art), Fisher Sterling argues that the approach leaves out overlooked artists: “A chronological hang [means] that women and people of color end up having to fit into an art historical canon that didn’t value their efforts or even allow them to be seen at all.”
Less obvious in the renovation but arguably just as important are the infrastructure updates, the stuff behind the walls and ceilings. Technological improvements make it easier to install video works or projectors, and new touchscreen stations let visitors learn more about the artists on display. The experience for visitors will be enhanced through better temperature control, less intrusive air conditioning vents and flexible track lighting. Access has been prioritized, with a nursing lounge, all-gender restrooms, and new passenger elevators (previously, if an elevator was being used to transport art, visitors had no way to get in without using stairs).
New hidden beams allow large-scale works to hang from the ceiling or drape along the walls. “We’re no longer hostage to the strange space of the building,” Fisher Sterling says. This structural work made the inaugural exhibit, The Sky’s the Limit, possible. It showcases 31 large-scale sculptures from 13 contemporary artists. The monumentality is intentional, says Fisher Sterling, who refers to the pieces as fearless: “The ‘glass ceiling’ still exists, but the museum can … provide a space beyond that ceiling.”
The National Museum of Women in the Arts reopens Oct. 21. Admission is free on Oct. 21 and 22, when the museum will host activities and performances. nmwa.org.
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