The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) is presenting "Shirley Gorelick: Figuring It Out," an exhibition running from March 27 to June 28, 2026, that centers on three large-scale paintings by the American realist artist Shirley Gorelick (1924–2000). The show brings together these works from NMWA’s collection for the first time, including the first canvas in her "Three Graces" series, a triple portrait of activist Libby Ourlicht, and a depiction of longtime friends Gunny and Lee Benson. More than 30 additional paintings, drawings, and prints further illuminate Gorelick’s practice and her subjects. Gorelick, who was active in New York artist-run women’s cooperative galleries in the 1970s, developed a bold realist style that combined vigorous brushwork, heightened shadows, and vivid patterns, yet she was largely omitted from art historical narratives that focused on Pop art, Minimalism, and conceptual art.
This exhibition matters because it corrects a historical oversight by bringing renewed attention to a progressive female realist painter whose work was marginalized by the dominant art-historical canon of the 1960s and 1970s. By showcasing Gorelick’s dynamic, expressive portraits of friends and activists, NMWA highlights the importance of recovering underrepresented artists and expanding the story of American art beyond the well-known movements of the period. The show also underscores the role of women’s cooperative galleries in supporting artists like Gorelick, and it offers a timely reconsideration of figurative painting’s place in postwar art history.