ELISE ANSEL | FOLGER SHAKESPEARE LIBRARY

ON VIEW: ELISE ANSEL | Part of Contemporary Art at the Folger

While “Old Master” paintings were largely created by men for men, Elise Ansel disrupts this exclusionary viewpoint by using oil paint to create feminist translations. By employing the open-ended visual languages of color and abstraction, she creates new ways of looking and engaging for modern viewers. As a fellow, Ansel deploys this framework to reinterpret Henry Fuseli’s Macbeth Consulting the Vision of the Armed Head (1793), held in the Folger collection.

The exhibition is on view from October 3 through November 9 at the Stuart and Mimi Rose Rare Book and Manuscript Exhibition Hall, Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, DC.

About Contemporary Art at the Folger

Each year, the Folger Shakespeare Library awards fellowships to artists whose creative work is grounded in research on the stories, art, and objects in our collection. From October 2025 to April 2026, the Folger will feature boutique-style solo shows highlighting selected works by artist fellows from across the country. The series will conclude with a final exhibition at Transformer DC, in the Logan Circle neighborhood.

Folger Shakespeare Library —