New Jersey Stage | Montclair Art Museum Presents Four New Exhibitions Opening This Fall

Taking Space: Contemporary Women Artists and the Politics of Scale; Opening Friday, September 15. Inspired by a show at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) in 2021, the new exhibition Taking Space: Contemporary Women Artists and the Politics of Scale will display ten stunning artworks from PAFA alongside foundational works from the Montclair Art Museum’s collection of American women artists.

This groundbreaking exhibition invites viewers to consider how space, size, scale, and repetition can be interpreted as political gestures in the practices of many women artists. Together, this comprehensive group of artworks 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. On view in Taking Space for the first time at MAM since 2018 is Kara Walker’s cut-paper silhouette installation Virginia’s Lynch Mob (1998).

The diverse array of artists represented in Taking Space includes: Mequitta Ahuja (b. 1976, Grand Rapids, MI), Edna Andrade (1917–2008, b. Portsmouth, VA), Jennifer Bartlett (1941–2022, b. Long Beach, CA), Nanette Carter (b. 1954, Columbus, OH), Lalla Essaydi (b. 1956, Marrakesh, Morocco), Eiko Fan (b. 1951, Tokyo, Japan), Hope Gangloff (b. 1974, Amityville, NY), Clarity Haynes (b. 1971, McAllen, TX), Barbara Kruger (b. 1945, Newark, NJ), Suzanne McClelland (b. 1959, Jacksonville, FL), Elizabeth Murray (1940–2007, b. Chicago, IL), Alice Neel (1900–1984, b. Gladwyne, PA), Betty Parsons (1900–1982, b. New York, NY), Jaune Quick-to- See Smith (Cree/Salish/Shoshone, b. 1940, Saint Ignatius, MT), Ana Vizcarra Rankin (b. 1977, Maldonado, Uruguay), Alyson Shotz (b. 1964, Glendale, AZ), Sandy Skoglund (b. 1946, Weymouth, MA), Mickalene Thomas (b. 1971, Camden, NJ), Kara Walker (b. 1969, Stockton, CA), Kay Walkingstick (Cherokee, b. 1935, Syracuse, NY), Carrie Mae Weems (b. 1953, Portland, OR), Dyani White Hawk (Sičáŋǧu Lakota, b. 1976, Madison, WI), and Emmi Whitehorse (Diné [Navajo Nation], b. 1957, Crownpoint, NM).