Architects of Being: Louise Nevelson and Esphyr Slobodkina

Bringing together nearly eighty artworks across sculpture, painting, collage, textile, fashion, jewelry, and design, Architects of Being: Louise Nevelson and Esphyr Slobodkina places pioneering artists Louise Nevelson (1899–1988) and Esphyr Slobodkina (1908–2002) in dialogue for the first time. Though neither artist was formally trained as an architect, both employed architectural design principles— including spatial construction, material assemblage, and installation—to shape their artistic practices and personas. Taking its title from Nevelson’s assertion that “character is the architecture of the being,” the exhibition considers how both artists engaged architectural thinking to construct objects, artworks, environments, as well as identities and legacies.

Born nine years apart in different regions of the former Russian Empire, Nevelson and Slobodkina came from Eastern European Jewish families who immigrated to the United States in the early 1900s. Tenaciously devoted to their artistic pursuits, Nevelson and Slobodkina moved to New York City in the 1920s, and emerged as pioneers of abstraction in the decades to follow. Nevelson gained acclaim for her monumental wood constructions, immersive installations, and architecturally inspired garments and jewelry, famously declaring herself an “Architect of Shadow.” Slobodkina, informed by her studies in mechanical drawing, designed two modern houses and collaborated on interior environments; her sustained engagement with mechanics and engineering is evident across her sculptures, paintings, and designs.

Through their multimedia practices, Nevelson and Slobodkina challenged conventional definitions of art, abstraction, and architecture in mid-century America. Spanning the 1930s to the 1970s, Architects of Being foregrounds women who, undaunted by the challenges of a male-dominated art world, embraced interdisciplinary and experimental approaches to art and architecture as modes of self-fashioning and creative agency.

Related Programming:

Members Opening Reception
Thursday, July 30, 5-7 p.m.

Distinguished Lecture | Designing Lives: Stories Behind Architects of Being
Thursday, July 30, 6 p.m.
Catharine M. Rogers Lecture Series

Lecture | "From the Ancient to Avant-Garde: The Art of Louise Nevelson and Esphyr Slobodkina" with Lisa Hayes Williams
Thursday, October 8, 5:30 p.m.

Featured Press:

How Louise Nevelson and Esphyr Slobodkina employed architectural design principles
See Great Art, July 26, 2026

NBMAA to open new exhibit on Louise Nevelson and Esphyr Slobodkina
Claudia S. Hilario, New Britain Herald, July 17, 2026

New Britain Museum of American Art announces new Louise Nevelson and Esphyr Slobodkina exhibition
Finding Connecticut, July 3, 2026

Artwork Images: 

Louise Nevelson (Pereiaslav, Ukraine (formerly Russian Empire), 1899–1988, New York, New York), Dawn's Presence, 1972–1975, painted wood, 93 x 32 x 32 in. 3 x 32 x 32 in. (base), On loan from the Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia: Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 77.1241.

Esphyr Slobodkina (Chelyabinsk, Russia, 1908–2002, Glen Head, New York), Abstraction with Red Circle, 1938, oil on canvas, 29 x 13 x 1 ¼ in., New Britain Museum of American Art: Olga H. Knoepke Fund. 1994.02.