Women in Construction

Women in Construction is a thematic group exhibition that explores the myriad ways women-identifying artists literally and figuratively construct their identities through their artworks. Isabel Bishop, Janet Cook, Perle Fine, Iria Leino, Diane Love, Louise Nevelson, Mavis Pusey, and Anna Walinska are among the many esteemed League artists included.

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Join us for the opening reception, October 24 at 6pm.

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The construction of identity, whether physical, mental, or emotional, is complex. Artists often use artworks to shape their sense of self. This includes representing themselves as figures in realist or abstract styles within their artworks as well as foregrounding different experiences, like that of motherhood. The trope of the artist as subject is also featured in this exhibition. Other times, expression of self is manifested in gesture or color.  

The exhibition is inspired by the League’s acquisition of its first works by Louise Nevelson to its permanent collection – a 1934 drawing from life, produced in and around the time she attended the League, and a collage made much later in her career in her mature style that combined found materials in three-dimensional forms. Together they represented the diverse range of this inimitable artist, who would have been 125 this year. This fall the League is celebrating Nevelson with a public program, featuring Pace Gallery Chairman and Founder Arne Glimcher, who gave Nevelson her first exhibition in 1961, as well as by honoring her at its 2024 gala with a posthumous award.  

Nevelson was active at the League from 1924 to 1934—a significant period in her life and career. Nevelson returned to art after the birth of her son Michael in 1922, and, after studying in Europe, the League welcomed Nevelson back to New York in the 1930s. While at the League, she studied life drawing with some of the institution’s most well-known instructors: Hans Hofmann, Kenneth Hayes Miller, Kimon Nicolaides, and George Grosz. During this time she also met and was influenced by other instructors, including William Zorach – the husband of Marguerite Zorach -- and Chaim Gross, as well as fellow students like Anna Walinska. Zorach and Walinska feature prominently in this exhibition.  

The exhibition primarily draws works from the League’s permanent collection; however, it contains some key loans – from artist Diane Love and the Estates of Iria Leino and  Walinska.