Deconstructing Venus Examines Womanhood Through the Eyes of Women Artists
For thousands of years, artists depicted the Roman goddess Venus as the embodiment of feminine beauty, youth, desire, and motherhood. A new exhibit by the Hofstra University Museum of Art set to open on Tuesday, September 8, explores what happens when 20th and 21st century women artists reinterpret those ideals through their experiences and modern perspectives.
Deconstructing Venus, running at Hofstra’s Emily Lowe Gallery through December 11, 2026, challenges, reconsiders, and expands traditional ideas about femininity and women’s roles in society. Featured artists include Lee Krasner, Käthe Kollwitz, Elizabeth Catlett, Marisol, Lori Horowitz, Dee Shapiro, and featured contemporary artist Susan Grabel.
Their works approach long-standing expectations of women from different vantage points, explained Sasha Giordano, director of the Hofstra Museum. “Some challenge conventional gender roles and beauty standards, while others embrace aspects of traditional womanhood or examine the constraints women have encountered in a male-dominated society,” she said. “Together, they explore themes including beauty, aging, intergenerational relationships, activism, identity, and significant life experiences.”
Deconstructing Venus also includes works of non-Western art, demonstrating how women outside Europe and North America have responded to similar societal expectations and ideas surrounding gender and womanhood.
“By bringing these varied perspectives together, Deconstructing Venus asks viewers to consider how ideas about women have been constructed over centuries – and what changes when women become the creators rather than simply the subjects of art,” Giordano added.
For more information about the exhibition, gallery hours, and related public programs, visit hofstra.edu/museum.
Image:
Käthe Kollwitz (German, 1867-1945)
Self-Portrait (Selbstbildnis), 1912
Etching, 10 x 8.125 inches
Hofstra University Museum of Art
Gift of Philip James
HU70.104
Opening Reception
Thursday, September 24, 2026
5:30-7:30 p.m.
Emily Lowe Gallery
Join us in celebrating the opening of the exhibition Deconstructing Venus. Remarks at 6 p.m. by Sasha Giordano, director of the Hofstra University Museum of Art; Presley Rodriguez, assistant director of exhibitions and collections; and contemporary artist Susan Grabel
RSVP to 516-463-5672 or museum@hofstra.edu