소녀 시절의 재발견: 초기 미국 ‘여학생(schoolgirl)’ 미술 속 장소와 정체성

Locating Girlhood: Place and Identity in Early American “Schoolgirl” Art 

October 9, 2026–February 28, 2027

American Folk Art Museum

Attributed to Faith Trumbull (1743–1775). Needlework Picture, 1754. Silk, mica, and gouache on silk, 23 1/8 × 54 in. Connecticut Museum of Culture and History, Hartford. Mary King. Needlework Picture (Tree of Life), 1754. Silk, metallic thread, and glass beads on silk, 18 × 24 1/2 in. Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, Delaware, Bequest of Henry Francis du Pont. 

NEW YORK, September 9, 2026 — This fall, the American Folk Art Museum presents Locating Girlhood: Place and Identity in Early American “Schoolgirl” Art, a major exhibition bringing together works from across the field. Presented during the nation’s semiquincentennial, Locating Girlhood reexamines the often-overlooked artistic production of girls and young women in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century America, highlighting their sustained engagement with representations of place long before the emergence of more widely recognized traditions of American landscape art. Drawing on loans from institutions and private collections across the United States and Canada, the exhibition offers one of the most significant explorations of early American girls’ artistic achievement ever assembled.

“The American Folk Art Museum has long championed the creative achievements of American girls and young women,” said Jason T. Busch, the Museum’s Becky and Bob Alexander Director & CEO. “Since our founding, the Museum has played a leading role in advancing the study and appreciation of these artworks through landmark exhibitions, scholarship, and publications led by pioneering figures in the field. As the nation commemorates its 250th anniversary, Locating Girlhood offers a timely opportunity to look anew at these extraordinary objects and the layered histories they embody.”

“This exhibition and the accompanying publication seek to shed new light on the rich yet underexplored genre of early American 'schoolgirl' art. Building on foundational scholarship that identified makers, teachers, and schools, Locating Girlhood turns attention to broader questions of place, identity, and experience. We ask not only who created these works, but why girls made them and what they reveal about their lives and worlds,” added Emelie Gevalt, PhD, AFAM’s Deborah Davenport & Stewart Stender Deputy Director and Chief Curatorial and Program Officer.

Locating Girlhood features nearly a hundred works drawn from AFAM’s collection in addition to more than two dozen institutions and private collections, among them: Metropolitan Museum of Art, Colonial Williamsburg, Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, the DAR Museum, Northwestern University Libraries, and the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History. Because of their fragility and sensitivity to light, many of these works are rarely exhibited, making this a unique opportunity to experience them firsthand.

Admission to the American Folk Art Museum is always free.

Lead support for Locating Girlhood is provided by Elizabeth and Irwin Warren; the Henry Luce Foundation; and the Historical Society of Early American Decoration (HSEAD). Major support is provided by Nina Beaty and the Coby Foundation. Generous support is provided by the  Americana Foundation; Every Page Foundation; Deborah Buck Foundation; David and Dixie De Luca; Alexandra L. Peters; Mary lngebrand-Pohlad Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation; the American Folk Art Society; and Jane and Gerald Katcher. Additional support is provided by Citi; the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature; and the David Davies and Jack Weeden Fund for Exhibitions. Support for the exhibition publication has generously been provided by Deborah Davenport and Stewart Stender and the Wyeth Foundation for American Art.

American Folk Art Museum 

2 Lincoln Square, New York

https://folkartmuseum.org