Joan Semmel
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Biography
Joan Semmel (b.1932) has centered her practice around representations of the body from the female perspective. Born in the Bronx, NY, she studied at The Cooper Union, Pratt Institute, and the Art Students League of New York. Trained as an Abstract Expressionist in the 1950s, Semmel began her painting career in Spain and South America. Returning to New York in the early 1970s, she turned toward figurative painting, constructing compositions in response to censorship, popular culture, and concerns around representation. Her practice traces the transformation that women’s sexuality has seen in the last century, and emphasizes the possibility for female autonomy through the body.
In the 1970s, Semmel began exploring female sexuality with her Sex Paintings (1971) and Erotic Series (1972). In these large-scale works, Semmel employs expressive color and loose, gestural brush strokes to depict couples entwined in various intimate positions. Produced in a cultural landscape shaped by second-wave feminism, the two series celebrate female sexuality, heralding a feminist approach to painting and representation. In 1974, Semmel radically shifted her practice, adopting her own body as the focus of her paintings. With this shift, she transformed her point of view from that of an observer—a viewer outside of the canvas—to that of both an observer and subject. Using a camera to frame her body, she created a series of paintings that reflect her commitment to marrying abstraction with realism. In the 1980s, Semmel built on these works, painting dynamic scenes that featured her camera and body reflected and refracted through mirrors.
Since the late 1980s, Semmel has meditated on the aging female physique. Continuing the artist’s exploration of self-portraiture and female identity, recent canvases represent the artist’s body doubled, fragmented, and in motion. Her gestural technique and palette of intensely saturated and diluted hues often blur the distinction between representation and abstraction, occupying a liminal space in which flesh is transfigured into pure pigment. Approaching her own form as a site of self-expression, she challenges the objectification and fetishization of women’s bodies by redefining the female nude through radical imagery that celebrates the aging process—refuting centuries of art historical idealization.
Semmel’s work was the subject of a career retrospective, Skin in the Game, presented by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA in 2021, followed by Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY in 2022. Her work has been featured in exhibitions at Tate Modern, London, United Kingdom (2023); Brooklyn Museum, NY (2023 and 2016); The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY (2020); Stadtgalerie Saarbrücken, Germany (2018); The Jewish Museum, New York, NY (2018 and 2010); Whitney Museum of American Art, NY (2016); Dallas Contemporary, TX (2016); The Museum of Modern Art, NY (2014); National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC (2014); The Bronx Museum of the Arts, NY (2013); Museum voor Moderne Kunst, Arnhem, The Netherlands (2009); and Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH (2008); among others. The artist’s paintings are in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL; Brooklyn Museum, NY; Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, TX; Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA; Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA; The Jewish Museum, New York, NY; Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, NE; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; The Museum of Modern Art, NY; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC; Orange County Museum of Art, CA; Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, NY; Tate, London, United Kingdom; and Whitney Museum of American Art, NY, among others. She is the recipient of numerous awards and grants, including the Women’s Caucus for Art Lifetime Achievement Award (2013), Anonymous Was a Woman (2008), and National Endowment for the Arts awards (1985 and 1980). She is Professor Emeritus of Painting at Rutgers University.
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Exhibitions
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Joan Semmel
Against the Wall 7 September - 21 October 2023 New YorkAlexander Gray Associates, New York presents Joan Semmel: Against the Wall, the artist’s eighth exhibition with the Gallery. These new paintings—all made on the advent of Semmel’s ninth decade—continue her...Read more -
Joan Semmel
A Balancing Act 23 April - 20 June 2021 GermantownAlexander Gray Associates presented A Balancing Act, a two-venue exhibition of new works by Joan Semmel (b. 1932) in the Gallery's New York City and Germantown, NY spaces. In these...Read more -
Joan Semmel
A Balancing Act 15 April - 12 June 2021 New YorkAlexander Gray Associates presented A Balancing Act, a two-venue exhibition of new works by Joan Semmel (b. 1932) in the Gallery's New York City and Germantown, NY spaces. In these...Read more -
Joan Semmel
A Necessary Elaboration 10 January - 16 February 2019 New YorkAlexander Gray Associates presented A Necessary Elaboration, an exhibition of new work by Joan Semmel (b.1932), in its fifth exhibition with the artist. In paintings made during the last two...Read more -
Joan Semmel
New Work 8 September - 15 October 2016 New YorkAlexander Gray Associates presented Joan Semmel: New Work, an exhibition of recent paintings and drawings. In this body of work, Semmel explores a central motif in her practice: her own...Read more -
Joan Semmel
Across Five Decades 2 April - 21 May 2015 New YorkAlexander Gray Associates presented a survey of work by Joan Semmel, featuring paintings across five decades, from abstraction to figurative. Semmel’s artistic practice has consistently questioned female representation and subjectivity,...Read more -
Joan Semmel
17 April - 25 May 2013 New YorkThe exhibition featured the works of Joan Semmel, including recent paintings and mixed media collages from the late 1970s and early 1980s. Together, the paintings and works on paper demonstrate...Read more -
Joan Semmel
13 April - 21 May 2011 New YorkAlexander Gray Associates was pleased to debut recent self-portraits by Joan Semmel, in the Gallery’s first solo exhibition with this acclaimed artist. Working consistently with figurative painting for over four...Read more
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Public Collections
Art Institute of Chicago, IL
Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas, Austin, TX
Brooklyn Museum, NY
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA
Dallas Museum of Art, TX
Douglass College, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
Greenville County Museum, SC
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA
The Jewish Museum, New York, NY
Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, NE
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
Museum of Fine Art, Houston, TX
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Museum of Plastic Arts, Montevideo, Uruguay
National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.
New Jersey State Museum of Art, Trenton, NJ
Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA
Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, NY
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
Pizzuti Collection, Columbus, OH
Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
Stadtgalerie Saarbrücken, Germany
State University of New York, Albany, NY
Sweet Briar College Museum, VA
Tate, London, United Kingdom
Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY -
Videos
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Joan Semmel and Diana Campbell | In Conversation
Xavier Hufkens 13 June 2024Joan Semmel discusses her exhibition, An Other View (25 April—22 June 2024), with curator Diana Campbell. “It’s difficult to find ways to deal with ageing...Watch -
Joan Semmel on "Skin in the Game"
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) 23 March 2022A Virtual Tour of the first retrospective of this groundbreaking artist, on view through April 3, narrated by Joan Semmel. This video is made possible...Watch -
Artist Interviews | Joan Semmel on painting the aging body
Artforum 25 January 2013In 2013, “Joan Semmel: A Lucid Eye,” the artist’s first solo museum exhibition, opened at the Bronx Museum of the Arts. To mark that occasion,...Watch
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News / Events
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Joan Semmel
Ordinary People: Photorealism and the Work of Art since 1968 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles November 16, 2024–May 4, 2025Joan Semmel is included in the group exhibition, Ordinary People: Photorealism and the Work of Art since 1968 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los...Read more -
Harmony Hammond, Carrie Moyer, and Joan Semmel
Making Their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) October 27, 2024–April 20, 2025Carrie Moyer, Harmony Hammond, and Joan Semmel are included in the group exhibition, Making Their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection at the Berkeley...Read more -
Ronny Quevedo and Joan Semmel
Get in the Game at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMoMA) October 19, 2024−February 18, 2025Ronny Quevedo and Joan Semmel is included in the group exhibition, Get in the Game at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California, on...Read more -
Disobedient Bodies
Joan Semmel, Cecily Brown, and Jenna Gribbon moderated by Connie Butler 25 January 2024Join Shah Garg Foundation, New York for a conversation between Joan Semmel, Cecily Brown, and Jenna Gribbon moderated by Connie Butler, Director of MoMA PS1 on Thursday, January 25, 2024.
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Harmony Hammond, Carrie Moyer, and Joan Semmel
Making Their Mark Curated by Cecilia Alemani at Shah Garg Foundation November 2, 2023—March 23, 2024Harmony Hammond, Carrie Moyer, and Joan Semmel are included in a group exhibition, Making Their Mark Curated by Cecilia Alemani at the Shah Garg Foundation, New York.
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Harmony Hammond and Joan Semmel
It’s Pablo-matic: Picasso According to Hannah Gadsby at Brooklyn Museum June 2–September 24, 2023Harmony Hammond and Joan Semmel are included in the group exhibition It’s Pablo-matic: Picasso According to Hannah Gadsby at the Brooklyn Museum in Brooklyn, New York.
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Joan Semmel
Hardcore at Sadie Coles HQ May 25–August 5, 2023Joan Semmel is included in the group exhibition Hardcore at Sadie Coles HQ in London.
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Joan Semmel
Painting in New York: 1971–83 at Karma September 21–November 5, 2022Joan Semmel included in the group exhibition Painting in New York: 1971–83 at Karma, New York.
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Joan Semmel: Skin in the Game
Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art July 2–August 21, 2022Joan Semmel's retrospective, Joan Semmel: Skin In The Game, travels to the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, following its premiere at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
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Joan Semmel
HANGING / LEANING: Women Artists on Long Island, 1960s–80s at Eric Firestone Gallery May 28–June 26, 2022Joan Semmel's group exhibition Hanging / Leaning: Women Artists on Long Island, 1960s–80s will have a panel discussion led by Director and Chief Curator of Guild Hall, Christina Mossaides, at Eric Firestone Gallery in East Hampton, NY.
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Joan Semmel
Women Painting Women at Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth May 15–September 25, 2022Joan Semmel included in the group exhibition Women Painting Women at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, TX.
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Joan Semmel: Recent Work
Morán Morán April 20–May 26, 2022A survey of recent paintings for the artist’s first one-person exhibition in Mexico at Morán Morán, Mexico City.
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Member Tour of Joan Semmel: Skin in the Game
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts 3 April 2022Tour of Joan Semmel's one-person exhibition Skin in the Game at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts led by Curatorial Fellow, Juan Omar Rodriguez.
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Spotlight on Joan Semmel: A Women's History Month Tour
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts March 18, 2022Tour of Joan Semmel's one-person exhibition Skin in the Game at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts led by Museum Coordinator Christiana Cruz-Council.
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I Know It When I See It Series: Codpieces and Fig Leaves
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts February 15, 2022Joan Semmel's PAFA exhibition, Skin in the Game, is accompanied by a series of four evening lectures that explore issues suggested by her work, particularly "erotic art." The third lecture of the series, discusses the "ingenious ways artists emphasize, or obscure, the member in question" in relation to artists Joan Semmel, Ming-Yi Sung, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Thomas Eakins and Sylvia Sleigh.
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Joan Semmel
In Conversation with Amelia Jones at The Brooklyn Rail January 17, 2022Joan Semmel featured as a special guest on the Brooklyn Rail's "The New Social Environment" series to discuss her exhibition at the Pennyslvania Academy of Fine Arts.
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Melvin Edwards, Harmony Hammond, and Joan Semmel
Making Community: Prints from Brandywine Workshop and Archives, Brodsky Center at PAFA, and Paulson Fontaine Press at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts February 1–April 12, 2020Melvin Edwards, Harmony Hammond, and Joan Semmel included in Making Community: Prints from Brandywine Workshop and Archives, Brodsky Center at PAFA, and Paulson Fontaine Press at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA.
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Articles / Reviews
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Joan Semmel's ‘An Other View’: The Ageing Female Body and the Subversion of the Cult of Youth
The Female Body15 August 2024 As the curtain fell earlier this year on Joan Semmel's poignant exhibition, An Other View, at Xavier Hufkens in Belgium,... Read more -
In Rome, a Collection of Contemporary American Art Makes a Baroque Statement
Artsy14 June 2024 This exhibition, “Day for Night: New American Realism,” draws entirely from the private collection of Beirut-based collectors Tony and Elham... Read more -
Ida Panicelli on Joan Semmel
Artforum1 February 2024 Joan Semmel has never displayed any embarrassment about portraying her own body, confronting without compromise all the subtle modifications wrought... Read more -
At Frieze New York 2023, One-Person Shows That Shine
The New York Times18 May 2023 At its debut in 2012, Frieze New York, a spinoff of Frieze in London, came off as an imperious enterprise.... Read more -
The Artists Depicting the Power and Strangeness of Breasts
The New York Times T Magazine: Australia16 May 2023 Women’s breasts have been a fixation of Western artists since Western art began. The prehistoric sculptor who carved a hunk... Read more -
What the World’s Top Collectors Bought in 2022, From Warhol Digital Works to Dazzling Abstractions
ARTnews6 October 2022 The collectors who rank on ARTnews’s annual Top 200 list are often avid travelers, heading to various locales around the... Read more -
Joan Semmel, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Museum
Artforum5 May 2022 Joan Semmel’s “Skin in the Game” at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts—her first retrospective—evinced a sustained, fearless, and... Read more -
These Are the Standout Moments from Frieze Los Angeles 2022
Galerie Magazine22 February 2022 Two years ago, the art world descended on Los Angeles for Frieze L.A., in what would turn out to be... Read more -
Joan Semmel – interview: ‘I was simply not excluding those who did not conform to any preconceived notions of beauty’
Studio International18 February 2022 From her abstract expressionist paintings in the 1970s, evolving into figurative work that confronts and subverts mainstream representations of the... Read more -
‘I Wanted a Real Person to Be Seen’: Joan Semmel on Her 60-Year Career Painting the Female Form—for the Female Gaze
artnet News28 December 2021 This interview has been excerpted from the recent collection New Waves: Contemporary Art and the Issues Shaping Its Tomorrow (September... Read more -
Joan Semmel Takes an Unflinching View of Her Own Body
T: The New York Times Style Magazine9 December 2021 JOAN SEMMEL WAS defiant from the start, not the sort to go with the flow even as a young girl.... Read more -
3 Art Gallery Shows to See Right Now
The New York Times2 June 2021 Joan Semmel Through June 12. Alexander Gray Associates, 510 West 26th Street, Manhattan. 212-399-2636; alexandergray.com . Joan Semmel is famous... Read more -
Joan Semmel
The New Yorker22 May 2021 This electrifying New York painter has dedicated herself to feminist figuration for sixty years, and the characteristically glorious works in... Read more -
In her view
The Washington Post19 May 2021 Joan Semmel kicked off the 1970s with two series of brightly colored paintings depicting heterosexual couples having sex. No commercial... Read more -
Beauty and imperfections: The pleasures of painting skin
CNN17 March 2020 The first time I really understood the appeal of making a figurative painting, I was at Joan Semmel’s exhibition at... Read more -
The Kids are Always Right
Artforum1 January 2020 THE VIBE started to trickle out via Instagram. For a few days, my feed was inundated with pictures of all... Read more -
Art Basel’s Unlimited Section: By the Numbers
ARTnews14 June 2019 It’s not exactly a secret that super-size artworks have proliferated in recent decades, and especially in the last few years,... Read more -
Our Guide to All 7 Art Fairs Coming to Basel This Year, From the Blue-Chip to the Tongue-in-Cheek
artnet News6 June 2019 The global art calendar’s most sophisticated fair, Art Basel, is upon us again. That means dealers will be bringing their... Read more -
Joan Semmel
Art in America1 March 2019 While first-wave feminist artists were experimenting with video, installation, and other new media, Joan Semmel —along with Sylvia Sleigh, Betty... Read more -
Reflections on the Body and Self in Joan Semmel’s New Paintings
IFA Contemporary8 February 2019 Despite a month of chilling temperatures, Joan Semmel’s captivating new paintings on view in A Necessary Elaboration at Alexander Gray... Read more -
Joan Semmel
4Columns1 February 2019 Joan Semmel: A Necessary Elaboration, Alexander Gray Associates, 510 West Twenty-Sixth Street, New York City, through February 16, 2019 •... Read more -
Joan Semmel: In the Flesh
Elephant Magazine7 January 2019 One of the highlights of the Frieze Masters Spotlight section for late-career artists deemed worthy of attention year was undoubtedly... Read more -
Beer with a Painter: Joan Semmel
Hyperallergic25 August 2018 On a July afternoon, Joan Semmel and I met at her home in the Springs, on the East End of... Read more -
JOAN SEMMEL with Laila Pedro
The Brooklyn Rail1 November 2016 Although she started out as an abstract painter, Joan Semmel’s career has come to be understood primarily in terms of... Read more -
On Sexual Paintings and Shifting Images: An Interview with Joan Semmel
Hyperallergic6 May 2015 I have known about Joan Semmel for a long time. But recently I began thinking about the parallel concerns between... Read more -
JOAN SEMMEL: Across Five Decades
The Brooklyn Rail6 May 2015 One step into Alexander Gray gallery and you know that Joan Semmel is a fearless woman. Semmel chose to work... Read more -
CAMERA EYE: THE ART OF JOAN SEMMEL
Artforum5 September 2013 OVER THE PAST HALF CENTURY, JOAN SEMMEL has pursued a painterly enterprise that brings extraordinary wit and acumen to representations... Read more -
From Abstract Expressionism to Nude Self-Portraits
The New York Times2 February 2013 Like most painters of her generation, Joan Semmel, who was born in the Bronx in 1932, started off painting abstractly.... Read more -
Joan Semmel: Recent Paintings
New York Art World5 June 2000 The canvas space is filled with bodies, and fragments of bodies. Bodies are the surface of the painting, though they... Read more -
Women's Views on Women
The New York Times7 July 1991 A COUPLE of years ago, it was 'Bad Girls' at Aljira; now, it is 'Designing Women' here at Rutgers, and... Read more -
FULL-FLEDGED TALENT IN FIVE SOLO FLIGHTS
The New York Times21 June 1987 AMID a stream of feature articles highlighting young artists who have hit stardom quickly, it is nice to be reminded... Read more -
Joan Semmel: Sex to Hang Art On
New York Magazine11 February 1974 'A few years ago, several of us got together to 'split' a model, only in this case, there were two... Read more
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