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Annu Matthew's Types, Two rectangular, black and white portrait photographs. On the left is an old picture of a Native American woman. On the right, the artist recreates the photo as a self portrait.

Annu Palakunnathu Matthew (b. 1964), United States, Types, 2005, from the series An Indian from India, inkjet print, Museum Purchase: Carl and Alice Bimel Endowment for South Asian Art, 2019.216.2, © Annu Palakunnathu Matthew courtesy sepiaEYE

Corita Kent's Daily, a painting of yellow, brown and blue, rectangles aligned vertically. Intersecting the rectangles are thin, white speech bubbles with crude hand writing that read: Life is difficult isn't is Charlie Brown. Yes it is. But I've developed a philosophy...I only dread one day at a time.

Corita Kent (1918 – 1986), United States, Daily, 1967, color serigraph, Museum Purchase, 1969.574, © 2020 Immaculate Heart Community and Corita Art Center

Rei Kawakubo's Dress, Belt, Shoes, and Socks. A gray-blue, large dress with an asymmetrical shape. A large, thick, black fur skirt hangs at the waist

Rei Kawakubo (b. 1942), designer, Comme des Garçons (est. 1969), design house, Japan, Dress, Belt, Shoes and Socks, Spring 2016, polyester, rayon, cotton, triacetate, nylon, wool, leather, ostrich feathers, Museum Purchase: Funds provided by Friends of Fashion, 2016.42a – f

Shahzia Sikander's A Slight and Pleasing Dislocation. A rectangular abstract painting of what appears to be a beige colored, headless, female figure with thick lines for arms and feet, seemingly floating in a black abyss.

Shahzia Sikander (born Lahore, Pakistan 1969; active United States), A Slight and Pleasing Dislocation, 1993, gouache and gesso on board, Cincinnati Art Museum; Alice Bimel Endowment for Asian Art, 2019.195, © 2019 Courtesy of Shahzia Sikander Studio, New York

Mary Sheerer's Newcomb Pottery, an ornamental vase with a small neck, and wide shoulder that tapers downward then flares out at the bottom, decorated in a floral design

Newcomb Pottery, Mary Sheerer, 1898, ceramic, Gift of the Artist, 1898.221a-b

Maria van Oosterwijck's Flower Still Life, a dimly lit painting of various colorful flowers sitting on a table

Flower Still Life, Maria van Oosterwijck, 1669, oil on canvas, Bequest of Mrs. L.W. Scott Alter, 1988.150

Maria Longworth Nichols Storer's Vase, a large wide neck vase with a metallic net pattern covering red and blue fish swimming around black and white currents

Vase, Maria Longworth Nichols Storer, 1882, 19th Century, ceramic, Gift of Florence I. Balasny-Barnes in memory of Parents Elizabeth C. and Joseph Balasny, 1992.86

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Women Breaking Boundaries

October 11, 2019–April 12, 2020

Version 2.0: September 18, 2020–January 10, 2021

 

Free | Press Release

Explore the role of women in art and art history at the Cincinnati Art Museum through works from the museum’s permanent collection created from the seventeenth century to today. Art from across Europe, North America, Africa and Asia in a range of mediums will be featured together, including oil on canvas, ceramic, prints, photography, and fashion. The exhibition will encourage visitors to think critically about gender, representation, and diversity and how that translates to the museum’s collecting practices and gallery installations.

Women Breaking Boundaries, the visitor-favorite exhibition that closed early due to the pandemic, has been recreated for an extended run. Women Breaking Boundaries Version 2.0  continues to explore identity through the lens of gender, race, and representation through works that manipulate medium, historical sources, and form. Captivating works by Helen Frankenthaler, Mary Cassatt, Elizabeth Catlett and others remained, while over two-thirds of the exhibition space was reconceptualized. Prominent artists added to the show included Eleanor Antin, Zanele Muholi, Annu Palakunnathu Matthew, Kiki Smith, Julie Mehretu, Corita Kent and Rei Kawakubo, founder of Comme des Garçons. Visitors are encouraged to view Women Breaking Boundaries and explore the Cincinnati Art Museum permanent collection galleries that feature women.

Women Breaking Boundaries will be on view in the Vance Waddell and Mayerson Galleries (Galleries 124 and 125). Admission is free. Photography is encouraged, but no flash. On social media, use #WomenBreakingBoundaries and #PowerofHer.