Emily Liebert - Böcker

Collective insights from a diverse and global group of contemporary artists whose works challenge traditional representations of motherhoodPicturing Motherhood Now brings together work by a range of contemporary artists who reimagine the possibilities for representing motherhood. Drawing on a range of feminisms, this exhibition catalogue challenges familiar archetypes of motherhood, construing motherhood as a multivalent term. The artists in the catalogue see motherhood as a lens through which to examine contemporary social issues. While focusing on art made in the past two decades, the catalogue also integrates work by significant pioneers, narrating an intergenerational and evolving story. This richly illustrated volume features painting, sculpture, photography, and installations by 30 contemporary artists, including Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Latoya Ruby Frazier, Titus Kaphar, and Aliza Nisenbaum, alongside works by feminist pioneers who inspired them, such as Louise Bourgeois, Alice Neel, and Betye Saar. Scholarly essays examine dimensions of matrilineage and contemporary art, enlarging our understanding of motherhood in today’s culture. The catalogue also includes a roundtable conversation among artists and thinkers, animating the themes of the exhibition through a dynamic exchange.Distributed for the Cleveland Museum of ArtExhibition Schedule:Cleveland Museum of Art(October 16, 2021–March 13, 2022)

A comprehensive look at the career of an important American artist, highlighting the global histories, traditions and techniques of production that shaped his work Over the last five decades, Martin Puryear (b. 1941) has pioneered an influential sculptural language that integrates wide-ranging aesthetic traditions and techniques of production with roots around the world. Through his innovative use of form, materials, and process, Puryear’s work exemplifies the expressive potential for abstraction in our time. This book highlights the global histories that have shaped Puryear’s practice, offering a fresh and timely perspective on his art. It emphasizes the unique ways that the artist combines the diverse histories of making that he has encountered throughout his travels, observations, research, and study. A range of eminent thinkers and makers, including Thelma Golden (b. 1965), Maya Lin (b. 1959), Billie Tsien (b. 1949), and Kerry James Marshall (b. 1955)—some of whom are longtime interlocutors of Puryear—provide a nuanced and multifaceted look at the significance and context of Puryear’s work. These perspectives complement in-depth essays by a new generation of scholars and responses to Puryear’s work by artists at earlier stages in their careers. The book’s dramatic, oversize design and plentiful images allow the reader to clearly see the intricacies of the artist’s celebrated work. Distributed for the Cleveland Museum of Art Exhibition Schedule: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston(September 27, 2025–February 8, 2026)Cleveland Museum of Art(April 12–August 9, 2026)High Museum of Art(September 25, 2026–January 17, 2027)

An exploration Emma Amos’s ambitious portraiture project The Gift, celebrating its enduring legacy and contemporary importanceAmerican artist Emma Amos (1937–2020) originally created The Gift (1990–94) as a birthday present for her daughter. However, this dazzling collection of portraits that honors creative kinship among women speaks to a much larger audience. A groundbreaking artist, Amos worked across the mediums of paint, print, and textile to celebrate the lives of women, especially Black women. Inspired by a book proposal that Amos herself drafted, Emma Amos: Among Friends contextualizes The Gift and explores its legacy.Rooted in Amos’s own creative community in New York City, The Gift is composed of forty-eight watercolor portraits of artists, writers, and curators, including Elizabeth Catlett, Anna Deavere Smith, and Faith Ringgold. To great effect, the vast grid of faces, each slightly larger than life, projects the force of its subjects. With essays by a new generation of scholars, a historic interview of Amos by bell hooks, and a roundtable conversation among notable contemporary artists, including Jordan Casteel, Aliza Nizenbaum, and Amy Sherald, this publication reflects on the intersections of portraiture and community and honors the power of Amos’s work.Distributed for the Cleveland Museum of ArtExhibition Schedule:The Cleveland Museum of Art(September 13, 2026–January 17, 2027)

The definitive publication on internationally acclaimed artist Shahzia Sikander, one of the most influential feminist artists working todayBorn in Pakistan and active in New York since the 1990s, Shahzia Sikander navigates the interplay of multiple identities, encompassing a range of artistic disciplines in her work and critically reinterpreting South Asian material history. Sikander’s distinctly feminist iconography focuses on the narratives of immigrant women to challenge Eurocentric art histories and counter Orientalist scholarship. This volume, published to coincide with a major mid-career retrospective that premiered during the Biennale Art in Venice and will be held concurrently at the Cincinnati Art Museum and the Cleveland Museum of Art, is the first comprehensive exploration of Sikander’s ideas and art. With hundreds of images, many presented as a full page or an entire spread, the richly illustrated book immerses readers in Sikander’s vibrant and subversive art.