backstory: Janet Langsam
A year ago or so, I was at Janet Langsam’s house for breakfast… delicious French toast… (Thank you, Joe!) Wandering into the living room I noticed some paintings on the wall. They were good. “Who made these?” Janet replied, “I did.” “What???? You made these? These are good. I had no idea you were an artist.” “Nobody really does,” she responded.
Then, last fall, Janet asked me to come for a studio visit. I brought our curatorial assistant, Rem Ribeiro, with me for what you might think of as a pair of “back-up eyes.” We looked through many kinds of objects that she produced in the 1960s and 1970s—paintings, collages, and drawings as well as what she described as her first work—an assemblage she made out of her kids’ toys that she kept having to pick up off the floor.
As Rem and I left, I looked at her and I said, “They’re really good, right?” “Yeah, they’re really good,” Rem responded. I decided then and there that I wanted to do a project with Janet, bringing to light her artistic body of work. Janet Langsam: Improbable Feminist opens in three weeks, on April 2. You can learn more about the exhibition here. And I hope you’ll join us for the opening reception beginning at 5:30pm.
Tracy Fitzpatrick
Director, Neuberger Museum of Art
Watch for a new backstory every Wednesday and follow us on social media as Museum Director Tracy Fitzpatrick shares behind-the-scenes stories from the Neuberger Museum of Art.