A Beauteous Tree: Margaret Fuller’s Femality

The Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art and the UNLV Jean Nidetch CARE Center are proud to present A Beauteous Tree: Margaret Fuller’s Femality. Curated by Jenessa Kenway, a doctoral candidate in literature at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, this exhibition illuminates the under-studied nineteenth-century author Margaret Fuller’s concept of “femality” by pairing artworks from the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art’s permanent collection with quotes from Fuller and other feminist writers. A Beauteous Tree includes work by Las Vegas artist Lolita Develay, along with a series of contemporary artists’ self-portraits inspired by Fuller’s writings. Visitors will be able to take part in an interactive activity that invites them to explore Fuller’s expansive ideas about gender by visualizing themselves as trees.

“Misconceptions regarding gender roles and issues of gender inequality persist within society,” says Kenway. “Considering gender in new ways will help us examine heterocentric norms while finding common ground. Fuller’s feminist and transcendentalist notions of fluidity and transformation offer a path towards a more holistic perspective on gender and reconsideration of what constitutes masculine and feminine gender aesthetics.”

Fuller addresses the issue of gender in her 1841 essay, The Great Lawsuit, in which she urges equal rights for women and defines “femality”: “Male and female represent the two sides of the great radical dualism. But, in fact, they are perpetually passing into one another. Fluid hardens to solid, solid rushes to fluid. There is no wholly masculine man, no purely feminine woman.” Kenway curates excerpts from The Great Lawsuit, and the works of other authors - including Mary Wollstonecraft, Virginia Woolf, and Donna Harraway - together with paintings, sculptures, and prints by a range of artists such as Mary Warner, Lance L. Smith, Harold Paris, and James Gobel, to create verbal-visual connections that provide a focal point for theory and story.

Local artists have been commissioned to create tree self-portraits to probe ideas that Fuller explores in her 1841 short story, The Magnolia of Lake Pontchartrain. Here, tree imagery displaces traditional gender binaries and instead constructs identity from leaves, flowers, fruit, and branches. Members of the community are invited to submit tree-portraits of their own, either digitally or in person at the Museum. This portion of Beauteous Tree will include work by Elee Oak, Martin Hackett, Beverley Neas, and others.

Kenway says, “The focal point of trees reflects upon gender, but also visually manifests new growth and the period of renewal occurring within our community, coinciding with springtime and feelings of hope as COVID-19 vaccinations become increasingly available. A Beauteous Tree is an opportunity to share positive gender representation and grow together as a community after the long winter of the pandemic lockdown.”

Beauteous Tree features artwork by Lolita Develay, James Gobel, Mary Cady Johnson, Holly Lay, Eric LoPresti, Zully Mejia, Amadeo Modigliani, Harold Paris, JK Russ, Lance L. Smith, Xiaomeng Tang, and Mary Warner.

A Beauteous Tree: Margaret Fuller’s Femality runs from May 28 - July 24, 2021. Entry to the museum is free. Please see the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art website to read our safety guidelines and make a timed reservation before you visit.

Jenessa Kenway would like to give thanks to the Nevada Humanities, The National Endowment for the Humanities, Bobbie Ann Howell for their generous support; to Margaret Campe at the Jean Nidetch CARE Center for partnering with her and seeing the merit in her project and showing patience through every step of the process; to the Margaret Fuller Society for their exceptional support and encouragement; for the swift and helpful guidance of Michele Frankovich and Stephanie Paige at UNLV Office of Sponsored Programs; to all the participating artists for taking a chance on her tree portrait idea; to Dr. John Hay for introducing her to Margaret Fuller and nurturing her interest; to Dr. Beth Rosenberg for guiding her through feminist theory; to the wonderful staff of the Marjorie Barrick for believing in her exhibition concept and for their willingness to stop whatever they were doing and talk about the show with her whenever she needed.

Support for this exhibition is provided by the UNLV Jean Nidetch CARE Center, a Nevada Humanities Project Grant, The National Endowment for the Humanities, and the WESTAF Regional Arts Resilience Fund, a relief grant developed in partnership with The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support arts organizations in the 13-state western region during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A Beauteous Tree Press Release (PDF)

Digital catalog for "A Beauteous Tree"

The Magnolia of Lake Ponchartrain by Margaret Fuller

Talking with a Magnolia Tree by Jenessa Kenway