Events - Event View

In the Flesh juxtaposes 16 paintings by the artist, drawn from several periods across her career, many monumental in scale, with nearly 50 modern and contemporary artworks from the Museum’s expansive holdings. The works from the collection—encompassing painting, sculpture, photography, and works on paper—were selected by the artist for their engagement with themes present in her work, including her exploration of beauty, agency, and self-perception.

Born in 1932 into a secular Jewish family in the Bronx, Semmel trained as an Abstract Expressionist in New York before moving to Spain in 1963, where she enjoyed early success on an international stage. Upon her return to New York in 1970 as a newly divorced mother of two, she found community within the burgeoning feminist and anti-censorship movements, alongside her peers, including Judith Bernstein, Louise Bourgeois, Joyce Kozloff, Joan Snyder, Anita Steckel, Hannah Wilke, and other trailblazing women artists.

In the Flesh foregrounds the artist’s diligent, life-long investigation of embodied female experience. Spanning over 50 years of the artist’s practice, the exhibition offers new points of entry to some of Semmel’s most pivotal series. Works on view include her 1978 painting “Sunlight”, one of Semmel’s iconic self-images and a defining work of the feminist movement, together with examples from her bold, high-key “Erotic Series” of the early 1970s, as well as complex multi-figure compositions, such as the recent large-scale “Skin in the Game” (2019).

After our private docent tour, the entire museum will be available for you to visit and explore.  

* Optional -Pay-Your-Own Lunch
Following the tour, we’ll head to the museum cafe for an optional lunch to continue the conversation and enjoy each other’s company. Please plan to bring cash to cover your meal.  You are welcome to tour the rest of the museum afterward.

*Members: please make sure you are logged in with your Women's Connection Password to receive the member discount.