Exhibitions drawn from museum collections can be tiresome affairs — at times boastful displays of unrelated objects or themeless reconfigurations that leave viewers with a distinct sense of déjà vu. The McNay Art Museum handily defies those expectations with "Womanish: Audacious, Courageous, Willful Art" — a powerful and engaging exhibition organized entirely by women.
Presented as a second chapter to 2010's "Neither Model Nor Muse: Women as Artists," a broad showcase built on the collection of artist and museum founder Marion Koogler McNay, "Womanish" is an expansive celebration that unites 80 artists and spans a century — bookended by a 1919 drawing by Laura Knight and a 2022 costume design by Margaret Mitchell. Rightfully peppered throughout are works by San Antonio artists including Marilyn Lanfear, Leigh Anne Lester, Kelly O'Connor, Antonia Padilla, Katie Pell, Eva Marengo Sanchez, Ethel Shipton and Liz Ward.
As for the show's slightly quirky title, it's borrowed from Pulitzer-winning author Alice Walker's In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose, a 1983 collection exploring womanhood, womanist theory and unsung heroines. Notably, the collection removes the derogatory connotations of the word "womanish" and reclaims it as a term of empowerment.
During a media preview on Mar. 1, recently appointed McNay Director Matthew McLendon told the crowd that the timing of "Womanish" opening just after his arrival in San Antonio "couldn't have been more ideal."
"It is such a wonderful entree for me as I get to learn the McNay and learn our collection, to go to these galleries, and really understand the long commitment and legacy the McNay has had to supporting women artists and collecting women artists and bringing their voices into our permanent collection," McLendon said. "It's been an absolute treat for me, wandering through during the installation, seeing artists that I have long loved and admired, but also seeing a lot of artists that are new to me, particularly San Antonio and Texas artists. I'm thrilled to start learning about them and their important work."
Perhaps more importantly, McLendon stressed the collaborative nature in which "Womanish" came together and congratulated the curatorial team of McNay Assistant Curator Lauren Thompson, Collections Manager Liz Paris, Tobin Theatre Arts Fund Assistant Curator Kim Neptune and Semmes Foundation Intern Paula Contreras.
"It's a real testament to how museums are trying to work today, which is much more collaboratively within departments," McLendon said. "We know that that kind of collaborative working method produces a very strong product when you bring different voices, different perspectives, different visions together in this way. And I think 'Womanish' really shows how strong that collaborative approach can be."
Before passing the reins to Lauren Thompson to begin a walkthrough of the Tobin Exhibition Galleries, McNay Head of Curatorial Affairs René Paul Barilleaux — a key figure at the museum since 2005 — offered a bit of historical context.
"From our founding in 1954, we've always championed the work of women artists — we were founded by a woman who collected the work of women artists."
Diverse depictions
As Thompson explained, "Womanish" is not organized chronologically but by themes that shift from room to room — beginning with depictions of women and finishing with diverse interpretations of domesticity.
"In each of the gallery spaces, we really want to encourage our viewers to think about why the works of art are grouped together," Thompson said.
Simultaneously alluring and confrontational, self-taught Pittsburgh artist Vanessa German's 2020 assemblage Black Girl With Snakes anchors the introductory section, welcoming museum-goers with a wealth of imagery and symbols to unpack and interpret.
"This work of art was created during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic," Thompson continued. "Vanessa German often creates assemblages from objects that she finds within her neighborhood. The theme of this work of art is rebirth and renewal. So you'll see snakes throughout the work. Snakes shed their skin. And so it's this very optimistic look at the [post-pandemic] future."
Commanding attention between works by Fort Worth-based Letitia Huckaby and former San Antonio fixture Bettie Ward, German's altar-like Black Girl With Snakes is also the McNay's 2023 "Spotlight." Launched in 2013, that program each year welcomes thousands of students, educators and families to creatively explore a specific work in the museum's collection.
Another early standout is a selection of screenprints viewers may recall from the McNay's vibrant 2012 exhibition "Estampas de la Raza: Contemporary Prints from the Romo Collection." Representing four artists, the arrangement includes El Paso-born Barbara Carrasco's 2002 portrait of labor leader Dolores Huerta and Los Angeles-based Shizu Saldamando's snapshot-like Poster Girl — a 2000 print that helped inspire the exhibition's bold blue walls. When asked about its subject — a woman sporting a sharp black bob, red lipstick and retro shades — Thompson explained that Saldamando based the print on a photograph she took of a friend waiting in line for Morrissey's autograph. "It doesn't get much more San Antonio than that," she said with a laugh."
Moving pictures
Beyond its thematic construct, "Womanish" provides an enlightening view of all corners of the McNay's growing collection — which encompasses modern and contemporary art, works on paper and theater arts — with a keen focus on acquisitions of the last dozen years. Intriguingly, those acquisitions include a fair amount of video works, three of which are featured in "Womanish."
Held in the Smithsonian's collection and previously shown at the McNay during 2019's "Transamerica/n: Gender, Identity, Appearance Today," Brooklyn-based Martine Gutierrez's three-minute video Clubbing lays down a groovy '60s soundtrack as the artist dons both masculine and feminine attire — not to mention surrealist eye makeup — and dances with parallel versions of herself. Speaking to New York magazine in 2017, the trans Latinx artist explained, "My work continues to inform how I see myself or want to be seen — it is the only way I have found to validate my beauty and my expression of gender without being manipulated by social constructs."
Expressive movement continues in Kakyoung Lee's Dance, Dance, Dance, a 2011 video that opens a window into the New York-based Korean artist's creative process. Set to esoteric music by sound artist Natacha Diels, the animated short layers 348 drypoint prints of a dancing female figure — until the stacked images obscure the foreground into a chaotic jumble of lines. Writing about Dance, Dance, Dance for a University of Maryland exhibition, Nick Duque offered, "Both the process and the cathartic result of this work reflect a pattern of intense study and relief, and suggest the necessity for meditation and creative action to support mental health."
If it's meditation you're after, look no further than nearby Botanic 3 — a hypnotic digital animation by Los Angeles-based installation artist Jennifer Steinkamp. Part of a dazzling series that activated a Times Square Jumbotron in 2016, the large-scale work depicts intricately rendered flowers blowing about, colliding and breaking apart against a background as dark as the night sky. In her statement about the looped video, Steinkamp writes, "Plants have a wonderful way of responding to their environment. My work draws our attention to the atmosphere around us. As plants move, they reveal the invisible currents of the air."
Inspired pairings and presentations
Beyond the smart selection of artwork, "Womanish" excels with thought-provoking pairings, deft use of color and tight geometric arrangements. Conversations emerge between objects, the wall colors — avocado green and the aforementioned deep blue — play exceptionally well with the work, and certain framed pieces are presented in meticulous configurations, at times with no space at all between them.
A gleaming highlight of the gallery exploring domestic trappings, late San Antonio artist Katie Pell's lowrider-inspired Candy Dryer (2006) beckons from a corner, accompanied by Peri Schwartz's 2015 aquatint Bottles and Jars III and The Big Suit — an oversized costume Lesley Dill designed for a production dubbed Worst Case Scenario. Agnes Martin's 30-piece print suite On a Clear Day (1973) is hung in a fashion the late grid-obsessed artist would surely approve of. And San Antonio-based Kelly O'Connor's retro-fabulous mixed-media collage Magnetic Fields (2009) looks entirely at home on a green wall evocative of a 1960s refrigerator.
Hidden treasures
Further kudos to co-curators Thompson, Paris, Neptune and Contreras, "Womanish" is organized in a way that prompts investigation and discovery. Nuances, secrets and humorous flourishes emerge when considering the placement of works.
Situated near the entrance, San Antonio artist Leigh Anne Lester's painted wood and plexiglass duo Residuum of a Variety of Forms Recovering From Transubstantiated Clarity (2016) is hung high in a corner, suggesting her alienesque organisms could be sprouting from the wall.
Speed through the show and you'll miss them, but two mysterious boxes installed in the galleries invite viewers to crouch down and peer through a tiny viewing window. Inside are tiny dioramas — painstakingly created by members of the McNay's education department — inspired by nearby artworks.
In a shining example of the bold creativity that went into curating "Womanish," the team split apart the 15 components of Laredo-born San Antonio artist Ethel Shipton's print suite Another Fifteen Minutes (2011) and dispersed them among the galleries. As a result, Shipton's series — which nods to Andy Warhol's iconic quote and aptly celebrates everyday objects — seems to be around every corner. As viewers navigate the space, these scattered puzzle pieces might bring to mind an artsy scavenger hunt — which is exactly the point. As guests arrive, they're invited to pick up a free postcard and check off each Shipton print they find. Those who complete the challenge can report to the front desk and have their postcards stamped in ink.
When asked about this interactive component, Thompson replied, "Ethel considers Another Fifteen Minutes a playful series, so we decided to have fun with it."
"Womanish: Audacious, Courageous, Willful Art," $10-$20, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesday, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Thursday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, noon-5 p.m. Sunday through July 2, McNay Art Museum, 6000 N. New Braunfels Ave., (210) 824-5368, mcnayart.org.
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