This summer, the National Gallery of Victoria will cast a powerful spotlight on the trailblazing women behind some of the twentieth century’s most influential images. Opening 28 November 2025, Women Photographers 1900–1975: A Legacy of Light brings together more than 300 rare and innovative works by over 70 photographers, drawn from across continents and decades.
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08 October 2025
From Melbourne to Paris, Tokyo to Buenos Aires, the exhibition captures the complexity of modern life through the eyes of women who not only documented history but helped shape it.
Featuring icons such as Diane Arbus, Dorothea Lange, Lee Miller, Dora Maar and Olive Cotton alongside lesser-known but equally compelling figures, the exhibition presents a dynamic portrait of photography’s evolution across 75 transformative years. Audiences will encounter everything from fashion and portraiture to landscape, photojournalism and avant-garde experimentations, all set against the backdrop of seismic cultural shifts: the suffrage movement, the Great Depression, world wars, and the rise of women’s liberation.
The NGV has prioritised women photographers as part of its collection efforts in recent years, and more than half of the works on display are new acquisitions — 170 collected since 2020, with over 130 being shown publicly for the first time.
Among the highlights is Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother (1936), perhaps the most haunting image of the Great Depression, and Dora Maar’s portraits of Pablo Picasso, which turn the gaze of the lens back on one of modern art’s most celebrated men. Olive Cotton’s Teacup Ballet (1935) transforms simple crockery into a dance of shadow and form, while Ilse Bing’s mirrored Self-portrait (1931) cements her reputation as the “Queen of the Leica.” The exhibition also explores Melbourne’s own history, with Ponch Hawkes’ photographs from the 1970s capturing communal living, activism, and the burgeoning women’s movement in gritty, lived-in detail.
Other works challenge conventions of gender and identity directly. Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore’s 1930 artist book Aveux non Avenus uses photomontage and poetry to question sexuality and self-expression, while Lola Álvarez Bravo’s Las Lavanderas (c.1940) transforms everyday labour into striking formalism, emphasising the global importance of women’s perspectives.
In celebrating this breadth, A Legacy of Light highlights the often-overlooked contributions of women to twentieth-century photography. It serves as both a scholarly correction and an evocative journey, encouraging audiences to consider how women behind the camera helped reshape visual culture and collective memory.
The exhibition coincides with the fiftieth anniversary of International Women’s Year, offering timely recognition of how far society has come, and how these images continue to shape the way we see the world today.
Women Photographers 1900–1975: A Legacy of Light will be on display at NGV International, St Kilda Road, Melbourne, from 28 November 2025 to 3 May 2026.
LEARN MORE https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/women-photographers-1900-1975/
