Architects of Being
Architects of Being: Louise Nevelson and Esphyr Slobodkina brings together two pioneering mid-20th-century female artists who redefined what it means to be an artist. The exhibition explores the lives of Louise Nevelson, an artist you may know, and Esphyr Slobodkina, an artist who is now receiving her much overdue moment in the spotlight.
In addition to presenting these two artists together in dialogue for the first time, Architects of Being is also the first exhibition to showcase the iconic wardrobes of both Nevelson and Slobodkina alongside their artwork.
Dr. Catherine Walworth, the Jackye and Curtis Finch, Jr., Curator of Drawings at AMFA, is the visionary behind Architects of Being. This groundbreaking exhibition introduces new research to the field and advances scholarship on both artists through a fully illustrated catalog.
Following the debut of Architects of Being at AMFA, the exhibition will travel to the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk, Virginia, and the New Britain Museum of American Art in Connecticut in 2026.
Architects of Being: Louise Nevelson and Esphyr Slobodkina is supported in part by the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Alan Dubois Fund for Contemporary Craft, Ellsworth Kelly Foundation, Anita Davis, and the Jewish Federation of Arkansas.
The catalog for Architects of Being: Louise Nevelson and Esphyr Slobodkina is supported in part by the Wyeth Foundation for American Art.
This exhibition is organized by the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts.
ARTWORK: Louise Nevelson (Pereiaslav, Ukraine (formerly Russian Empire), 1899 – 1988, New York, New York), Tide Garden IV, 1964, painted and assembled wood construction, 91 x 140 x 10 in., Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts Foundation Collection: Gift of Sidney Singer, Sr., Stephens Inc., Gerald Cramer, Martin Oppenheimer, Edward Rosenthal, and John Rosenthal. 1983.030.