Women’s Work examines the depiction of feminized labor–historically defined as work undertaken by women, especially tasks of a domestic nature–within sociopolitical contexts that have affected women’s economic agency and identity from the late-nineteenth century to today. Drawn primarily from the Kemper Art Museum’s permanent collection, the exhibition is divided into three sections that explore themes of agency, equity, and performance in Britain, France, and the United States. Through a diverse range of representations across a variety of media, including prints, photographs, drawings, and videos, each section explores these works in relation to modernization, the rise of First Wave and Second Wave Feminism, and other salient forces shaping the reality and social norms of women’s work.  

Women’s Work is curated by Lydia McKelvie (AB '22), Alice Nguyen (AB '22), and Hannah Ward (AB '21), the recipients of the 2019 Arthur Greenberg Undergraduate Curatorial Fellowship. It is accompanied by an exhibition brochure authored by the curators. 

View the exhibition brochure

The Arthur Greenberg Undergraduate Curatorial Fellowship is a competitive program offered every three years that provides upper-level undergraduate art history majors the opportunity to curate an exhibition in the Museum’s Teaching Gallery. This year’s advisors are Ila Sheren, associate professor in the Department of Art History & Archaeology in Arts & Sciences, and Meredith Malone, curator at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum.

Support for the program is generously provided by the Arthur Greenberg Exhibition Program Fund, the Mark Weil Tribute Fund, and members of the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum.