Taking Space: Contemporary Women Artists and the Politics of Scale

September 15, 2023-January 7, 2024

Taking Space: Contemporary Women Artists and the Politics of Scale invites viewers to consider how space, size, scale, and repetition can be interpreted as political gestures in the practices of many women artists. Inspired by a 2021 exhibition at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), Taking Space features 10 works from that original show by Mequitta Ahuja, Jennifer Bartlett, Eiko Fan, Hope Gangloff, Clarity Haynes, Elizabeth Murray, Ana Vizcarra Rankin, Alyson Shotz, Mickalene Thomas, and Dyani White Hawk. In addition to these loans from PAFA that form the core of the exhibition, Taking Space features 13 works from the collection of the Montclair Art Museum.

Together these works reveal the varied approaches of women artists for whom space is a critical feature of their work, whether they occupy significant space on walls or engage three-dimensionally with gallery spaces through sculpture and installation. Also addressed is the visual power of seriality and repetition as spatial visual practices, as well as the diverse methods of asserting and reclaiming the spaces of women’s bodies.

Hear from Chief Curator, Gail Stavitsky, as she discusses Taking Space: Contemporary Women Artists and the Politics of Scale on All Of It with Alison Stewart.

PREVIEW THE EXHIBITION

Mequitta Ahuja, A Real Allegory of Her Studio, 2015.

Nanette Carter, Illuminations #28, 1988.

Barbara Kruger, Untitled (Seeing through You), 2004-05.

Dyani White Hawk (b. 1976). She Gives (Quiet Strength VII), 2020. Acrylic on canvas. 84 x 120 in. PAFA 2020.17.

Kara Walker (b. 1969). Virginia’s Lynch Mob, 1998. Cut paper and adhesive wall installation. Installation dimensions variable; approx. 112 x 444 in.Montclair Art Museum. Museum Purchase; Centennial Fund. 2016.9

The conceptual framework of this show provides a rare opportunity for visitors to engage with one of the most significant works in MAM’s permanent collection: Kara Walker’s cut-paper silhouette work entitled Virginia’s Lynch Mob (1998)—last on view at the Montclair Art Museum in 2018. This monumental work exemplifies the central tenets of Taking Space, which invites dialogues across history, generations, geographies, and media, as well as around the political impulses of these female artists who claim intellectual and physical spaces.

^{Image Credits:}

^{Mequitta Ahuja (b. 1976). A Real Allegory of Her Studio, 2015. Oil on canvas, 80 x 96 in. Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia. PAFA 2017.47.}

^{Nanette Carter (b. 1954). Illuminations #28, 1988. Oil pastel on black paper, frame: 43 3/4 x 59 1/2 x 2 in. object (overall): 39 7/8 x 55 1/2 in. Museum purchase; Samuel Wilde Fund, 1988.10.}

^{Barbara Kruger (b. 1945). Untitled (Seeing Through You), 2004-05. Color photograph, Ed. Of 10, 72 x 62 in. Montclair Art Museum Museum purchase; Acquisition Fund, 2006.11.}

^{Dyani White Hawk (Sičáŋǧu Lakota, b. 1976). She Gives (Quiet Strength VII), 2020. Acrylic on canvas. 84 x 120 in. Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia. PAFA 2020.17.}

^{Kara Walker (b. 1969). Virginia’s Lynch Mob, 1998. Cut-paper and adhesive wall installation. Installation dimensions variable; approx. 112 x 444 in. Montclair Art Museum. Museum Purchase; Centennial Fund. 2016.9. Photo courtesy of Peter Jacobs.}

^{Major Supporters

The Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Horowitz 19th and 20th Century Fund for American Art

Lyn and Glenn Reiter Endowed Special Exhibition Fund

Christine James and Nick De Toustain

Margo and Frank Walter}

^{Supporters

Cynthia Corhan-Aitken and Murray Aitken

Ann and Mel Schaffer

Cheryl and Marc Slutzky

Joan and Donald Zief}

^{Additional Supporters}
^{AAPI Montclair

Women’s Club of Caldwell}

^{All MAM programs are made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, The Vance Wall Foundation, Partners for Health Foundation, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, and Museum members.}