Featuring works by Aïda Muluneh, Mary Cassatt, Paula Rego and Meryl McMaster, the exhibition reconsiders how women have looked—and been looked at—across more than a century of artmaking
Aïda Muluneh, Rules of Engagement, 2016. Art Gallery of Alberta Collection, gift of Viviane Mehr and Jay Mehr. Courtesy of the artist and the Art Gallery of Alberta.
How do we look—and how are we looked at? The Art Gallery of Alberta’s exhibition ‘Seeing and Being Seen’ opens a compelling conversation around the representation of women in art, exploring themes of intimacy, identity, power and perception. Spanning more than a century of artistic production and anchored by a remarkable donation of British and European prints, the exhibition presents a diverse and thoughtful examination of the female subject, sometimes idealised, sometimes interrogated, often created by women themselves.
Catalysed by the recent addition of works by Frank Auerbach, Lucian Freud and Paula Rego, ‘Seeing and Being Seen’ takes these acquisitions as a starting point to consider how women have been depicted—and how they’ve depicted themselves—in the visual arts. Additional major gifts of works on paper by Mary Cassatt and Pablo Picasso expand this context, situating the show within a broader examination of gender, gaze and the evolving role of women in both society and the art world.
As the title suggests, the exhibition explores dualities: subject and observer, private and public, and passive and assertive. Some works emerge from formal arrangements with professional models, while others stem from deeply personal relationships—artists sketching their partners, photographing children, or painting themselves. Whether through portraiture, figurative studies or narrative scenes, each work bears the imprint of its moment and maker, often revealing more than just a likeness.
Significantly, the show moves beyond the well-trodden terrain of the male gaze to centre artworks by women artists from Canada and abroad. Drawing on the Art Gallery of Alberta’s own holdings, the exhibition brings together a wide range of practices and periods to trace the shifting contours of womanhood—from girlhood and domesticity to self-fashioning and subversion.
Among the more than 50 artists represented are figures such as Mary Hiester Reid, Suzy Lake, Gathie Falk, Aïda Muluneh, Janet Werner and Meryl McMaster. Their works, along with those of artists like Kathe Kollwitz, Jessie Oonark, Marie Laurencin and Clara Gutsche, speak to the power of self-representation and the nuanced complexity of how women choose to portray themselves and others.
Scenes of women at rest, in motion, at work or in contemplation unfold across media and generations. They ask viewers to consider what it means to look—and be looked at—in a world shaped by cultural expectation and visual tradition. Who gets to see? Who gets to be seen? And how does authorship complicate the story?
‘Seeing and Being Seen’ ultimately invites us to slow down and look more closely—not just at the works on the wall, but at the systems and histories that have shaped them. Curated by Catherine Crowston and organised by the Art Gallery of Alberta, the exhibition offers a timely meditation on visibility, agency and the enduring power of art to reveal and reframe.
The exhibition opened on April 18, 2025 and will run until January 4, 2026. For more information, please visit the Art Gallery of Alberta.
